Patient Outcomes Collection: How Can we do Better?

Patient reported outcomes (PROs) are widely used by clinical providers as important tools to
help inform their clinical and research practice, and to improve quality of care for
patients. In addition, PROs are increasingly cited as a tool in measuring surgical
performance and the value of health care services being delivered. The quality of data
captured by PROs is, however, largely dependent on patients' response rates, both pre- and
post-operatively. For pre-operative surveys, higher response rates may be achieved as
patients may be reminded to complete their surveys at an office visit or prior to surgery.
However, patient non-compliance presents a major challenge post-operatively, undermining PRO
data integrity.

As clinical practices have moved to using PROs for all patients, rather than just a research
tool, automated systems have been developed to deliver and collect PRO electronically.
However, while automation has helped streamline PRO administration and data collection, this
hasn't always translated into obtaining better PRO compliance rates. In an attempt to improve
response rates, efforts have been made to reduce patient burden (by reducing the number of
questions asked, for example), to regularly remind patients to complete their forms (either
by email or telephone), or even offer patients monetary or non-monetary incentives.

Despite these measures' variable success, however, achieving high response rates remains a
challenge. This, in part, is due to the fact these platforms depend heavily on patients
receiving the request and their willingness to participate in the program, often long after
their care is completed. As data are increasingly used to measure physician performance and
quality, as well as to determine reimbursement, low patient compliance rates remain a
significant impediment and affect the validity of the data.

In this study, the invetigators hypothesize that direct patient engagement can improve
patient compliance with automated PRO capture.

Inclusion Criteria:

- Patients scheduled to undergo shoulder arthroscopy for rotator cuff condition
(sub-acromial decompression, distal clavicle resection, biceps tenodesis, partial or
full thickness rotator cuff tear repair or debridement) will be eligible for
enrollment in the appropriate cohort. There will be no restrictions to this enrollment
apart from that presented in the exclusions below.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Minors or those over the age of 80

2. Subjects lacking English proficiency to complete the PROs of interest.

3. Past or current medical history that would preclude patients from undergoing surgery.