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. 2023 Oct 13;7(1):e222.
doi: 10.1017/cts.2023.654. eCollection 2023.

ResearchMatch on FHIR: Development and evaluation of a recruitment registry and electronic health record system interface for volunteer profile completion

Alex C Cheng  1 , Leah Dunkel  1 , Loretta M Byrne  1 , Maeve Tischbein  1 , Delicia Burts  1 , Jahi Hamilton  1 , Kaysi Phillips  1 , Bryce Embry  1 , Jason Tan  1 , Erik Olson  1 , Paul A Harris  1
Affiliations

ResearchMatch on FHIR: Development and evaluation of a recruitment registry and electronic health record system interface for volunteer profile completion

Alex C Cheng et al. J Clin Transl Sci. .

Abstract

Background: Obtaining complete and accurate information in recruitment registries is essential for matching potential participants to research studies for which they qualify. Since electronic health record (EHR) systems are required to make patient data available to external systems, an interface between EHRs and recruitment registries may improve accuracy and completeness of volunteers' profiles. We tested this hypothesis on ResearchMatch (RM), a disease- and institution-neutral recruitment registry with 1357 studies across 255 institutions.

Methods: We developed an interface where volunteers signing up for RM can authorize transfer of demographic data, medical conditions, and medications from the EHR into a registration form. We obtained feedback from a panel of community members to determine acceptability of the planned integration. We then developed the EHR interface and performed an evaluation study of 100 patients to determine whether RM profiles generated with EHR-assisted adjudication included more conditions and medications than those without the EHR connection.

Results: Community member feedback revealed that members of the public were willing to authenticate into the EHR from RM with proper messaging about choice and privacy. The evaluation study showed that out of 100 participants, 75 included more conditions and 69 included more medications in RM profiles completed with the EHR connection than those without. Participants also completed the EHR-connected profiles in 16 fewer seconds than non-EHR-connected profiles.

Conclusions: The EHR to RM integration could lead to more complete profiles, less participant burden, and better study matches for many of the over 148,000 volunteers who participate in ResearchMatch.

Keywords: FHIR; Recruitment; community engagement; electronic health record; registries.

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Conflict of interest statement

Leah Dunkel is currently acting as a contractor for VentureWell where her work is unrelated to the topics discussed in this paper. All other authors have no conflicts to declare.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
User interface for importing demographic, condition, and medication data from electronic health record to ResearchMatch profile.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Study flow. EHR = electronic health record; MHAV = MyHealth at Vanderbilt patient portal; RM = ResearchMatch.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
CONSORT diagram. MHAV = My Health at Vanderbilt patient portal.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
( a ) Post-study survey regarding ease of RM profile creation (EHR n = 94, no EHR n = 99) and ( b ) preferred EHR creation method (n = 98). EHR = electronic health record; RM = ResearchMatch.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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