Initiative to reduce inappropriate venous thromboembolism prophylaxis in an 11‐hospital safety net system: An electronic health records‐based approach

BACKGROUND: While pharmacologic prophylaxis has benefits for venous thromboembolism (VTE) prevention in high-risk patients, unnecessary use carries potential harm, including bleeding, heparin-induced thrombocytopenia, and patient discomfort, and should be avoided in low-risk patients. While many quality improvement initiatives aim to reduce underuse, successful models on reducing overuse are sparse in the literature. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to create a quality improvement initiative to reduce overuse of pharmacologic VTE prophylaxis. DESIGNS, SETTINGS AND PARTICIPANTS: A quality improvement initiative was implemented across 11 safety net hospitals in New York City. INTERVENTION: The first electronic health record (EHR) intervention consisted of a VTE order panel that facilitated risk assessment and recommended VTE prophylaxis for high-risk patients only. The second EHR intervention used a best practice advisory that alerted clinicians when prophylaxis was ordered for a patient previously deemed "low risk." Prescribing rates were compared through a three-segment interrupted time series linear regression design. RESULTS: Compared to the preintervention period, the first intervention did not change the rate of total pharmacologic prophylaxis immediately after implementation (1.7% relative change, p = .38) or over time (slope difference of 0.20 orders per 1000 patient days, p = .08). Compared to the first intervention period, the second intervention led to an immediate 4.5% reduction in total pharmacologic prophylaxis (p = .04) but increased thereafter (slope difference of 0.24, p = .03) such that weekly rates at the end of the study were similar to rates prior to the second intervention.