Improving Engagement With a Process Measure Dashboard Through Precision Feedback

The Michigan Urological Surgery Improvement Collaborative (MUSIC) is a state-wide, physician-led quality improvement collaborative comprised of over 40 urology practices representing varied practice sites within Michigan and nationally, designed to evaluate and improve the quality of urologic care.

A recently identified area for quality improvement within MUSIC is avoidance of placing ureteral stents following uncomplicated ureteroscopy and lithotripsy for kidney stones. Such unnecessary stents do not measurably increase post-operative safety, but rather have been shown to contribute to unnecessary emergency department visits. This process measure (stent omission after uncomplicated ureteroscopy) is the subject matter for the dashboard and will serve as the focus of precision feedback.

The study team hypothesizes that a behavior change intervention bundle consisting of "precision feedback" along with communication strategies to simplify access to feedback will increase dashboard engagement (measured via click-through rate and dashboard logins) compared with standard "one size fits most" e-mail messages. Knowledge gained from this study will inform the development of other precision feedback programs within our urology quality improvement collaborative (MUSIC), and provide a framework for rapid, pragmatic trials for small to mid-sized collaborative quality initiatives nationally.