Nicholas Reiners, a 2019-20 Jan Maudlin Sarcoma Scholar and UMN medical student, will present the results of a pilot study on the impact of a soft tissue sarcoma (STS) Best Practice Alert (BPA) at the CTOS 2020 Virtual Annual Meeting, November 18 – 21.

This work began in 2017 as part of the Rein in Sarcoma Hallie Anne Brown education initiative in conjunction with HealthPartners/Regions Hospital, under the direction of Dr. Randy Hurley, hematologist/oncologist at Regions Hospital and Medical Director of HealthPartners’ Cancer Care Program. In addition to Nicholas, Robert Gao, Melissa Albersheim and Andy Hughes, also former sarcoma scholars, and Brandon Diessner, UMN graduate student, have contributed to the project.

Objectives of the Pilot Study:

• • Retrospectively review STS cases in our HealthPartners (HP) system
  • Develop an EMR BPA to prompt primary care clinicians to consider MRI evaluation of a STM based on specific criteria
  • Assess primary care clinician acceptance of the BPA
  • Measure the effect of the BPA on improving primary care clinician confidence in evaluating STMs
  • Measure the impact of the BPA on patient care

Conclusion:
This pilot study linked a BPA to specific ICD9-10 codes associated with STM to prompt MRI evaluation for large or enlarging, deep, or painful masses. Seventeen MRIs were completed and three malignant or potentially malignant diagnoses were identified. Clinicians found the BPA to be a useful clinical decision-making support tool, and it improved their confidence levels when evaluating STMs. A larger healthcare system-wide project is planned.