Monoclonal gammopathies: Electronic subspecialty consultation

Abstract

Importance: Electronic consultation (e-consult) is an important component of care for patients in the Veterans Health Administration who require subspecialty consultation but not urgent face-to-face evaluation. Monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) is a common reason for e-consult. While often benign, MGUS requires careful evaluation and persistent surveillance over time.

Objective: To identify areas to improve MGUS care delivery by e-consult.

Methods: We performed a retrospective review of our e-consult database and identified a cohort of 152 MGUS patients triaged for e-consult over a 5-year period (2010-2014).

Results: The median time to completion of an e-consult was 2 days. Ninety-six percent of MGUS e-consults had a hemoglobin >10 g/dL, and 90% had a creatinine <2 mg/dL. While the majority of e-consults were low risk, paraprotein surveillance varied over time and tracked with consult utilization. With a median follow-up of 44 months, there were 6 documented progression events, representing a mean rate of progression of 1% per year.

Conclusions: E-consult is a helpful mechanism for the evaluation of MGUS, reducing the need for outpatient appointments. However, timely risk stratification and persistent surveillance over time are critical for e-consult to work well.

Keywords: electronic consultation; monoclonal gammopathy; monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance; multiple myeloma.