Session S61.5

EPOCH: A Web-Based Platform for Integrating Outcomes Research and Healthcare Delivery

GE Soto*, JA Spertus

University of Missouri
Kansas City, MO, USA

Background: As a field dedicated to assessing the impact of healthcare practices on patients and populations, outcomes research is becoming an ever more integral part of the healthcare delivery process. We previously described a novel IT platform for delivering complex risk prediction models derived from multicenter registries to the bedside. We have now expanded this system to include real-time longitudinal data collection, thereby merging outcomes research capabilities with routine healthcare delivery.
Methods and Results: EPOCH® is a unified web portal and services framework for healthcare IT applications based on Microsoft®’s.NET® platform. A signature feature of the EPOCH® platform is a visually driven interface that allows outcomes researches to create sophisticated data collection and decision support tools with little or no programming effort. Extensible modules specifically geared to bridging outcomes research and healthcare delivery include: (1) ePRISM®, which encompasses all of the functionality necessary for deploying general regression models as decision-support tools or embedding them within document templates, such as informed consent documents, patient educational materials, and physician decision aids; (2) eRAPTOR™, a longitudinal data capture tool for use in clinical trials and registries, which integrates with the data collection capabilities of ePRISM®; and (3) eCliPSE™, an HL7-compliant enterprise web services platform for integrating ePRISM® and eRAPTOR™ with third-party clinical information systems. To date, this system has been used in several thousand patient encounters across multiple institutions, and multicenter trials are currently underway to further quantify its impact in patient care.
Conclusions: EPOCH® and its related modules provide a robust framework integrating outcomes research efforts with the delivery of routine clinical care.

(Abstract Control Number: 262)