The following is a summary of “Investigating the influence of patient eligibility characteristics on the number of deferrable rheumatologist visits: planning for a patient-initiated follow-up (PIFU) strategy,” published in the February 2024 issue of Rheumatology by Subdar et al.
Researchers conducted a retrospective study to assess how various patient eligibility characteristics impact the potential deferral of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) follow-up visits, informing the implementation of a Patient-Initiated Follow-Up (PIFU) strategy.
They conducted a chart review across seven rheumatologists’ practices at two university-based clinics (January 3, 2021, to February 28, 2022). Extracted data included visit types, frequency, disease management, comorbidities, and complexities of care. Stable disease was defined as remission or low-disease activity with consistent medication regimens across all visits. It explored the influence of patient characteristics on the potential deferral of visits among those with stable disease, focusing on four criteria sets as early disease duration, prescribed medications, presence of care complexity elements, and comorbidity burden.
The result showed that records from 770 visits were examined, involving 365 RA patients (71.5% female, 70.0% seropositive). The proportion of visits suitable for redirection ranged from 2.5% to 20.9%. The most significant proportion of deferrable visits occurred when the eligibility criteria comprised only stable disease activity and RA patients using conventional synthetic disease-modifying drugs or no medications (n=161, 20.9%).
Investigators concluded that while PIFU potentially optimizes specialist resources, its effectiveness hinges on carefully chosen patient eligibility criteria for successful implementation trials.
Source: jrheum.org/content/early/2024/01/25/jrheum.2023-0891
