Epic is launching a COVID-19 risk prediction model developed by Cleveland Clinic within its EHR software to help healthcare clients identify patients' likelihood of testing positive for the virus, according to a Nov. 9 news release.
Four things to know:
1. Cleveland Clinic researchers used clinical data from more than 11,000 patients to build the model, which makes projections based on age, race, gender, socioeconomic status, vaccination history and current medications.
2. With the calculator, patients complete a self-assessment in Epic's online patient portal, MyChart, to document symptoms they are experiencing and potential exposure to COVID-19. The model then uses that information in addition to their clinical and demographic data to calculate their risk score.
3. Patients who receive a high risk score for having COVID-19 are advised to get tested, and their care team members are automatically notified.
4. Other healthcare providers across the U.S. that have developed risk prediction models can also integrate their tools with Epic. If an organization using Epic wants to adopt an existing model rather than creating their own, they can turn on the Cleveland Clinic model on their platform.
"We have developed the first validated prediction model that can forecast an individual's risk for testing positive with COVID-19 and then simplified this tool while retaining exceptional accuracy for easy adoption," said Lara Jehi, MD, chief research information officer at Cleveland Clinic. "We are excited to make this tool available to the 250 million patients around the world who have a record in Epic."