Behavioral Economics Applications to Geriatrics Leveraging EHRs (BEAGLE R21)

The risks and benefits of many diagnostic approaches and treatments differ for older adults compared to middle aged adults. When diagnostic and therapeutic strategies are misapplied to older adults this can lead to increased morbidity and mortality. Well established examples where clinicians do not often follow best practices in the care of older adults include those identified by the American Geriatrics Society for the Choosing Wisely initiative: 1) testing and treatment for asymptomatic bacteriuria, 2) prostate specific antigen testing in older men without prostate cancer, and 3) overuse of insulin or oral hypoglycemics for type 2 diabetes.

Clinical decision support nudges, informed by social psychology and delivered via electronic health records (EHRs), are promising strategies to reduce the misuse of services in cases where optimal utilization may not be zero but should be well below current practice. These interventions seek to influence conscious and unconscious drivers of clinical decision making, are low cost to implement and disseminate, and can be incorporated into existing delivery systems. In the R21 phase of this Behavioral Economics Applications to Geriatrics Leveraging EHRs (BEAGLE) study, we will: select EHR delivered nudges to address 3 topics of potential misuse in older adults based on the main psychological drivers of overuse identified in interviews with high-using clinicians; develop and pilot test decision support tools within a health systems' EHR to understand technical feasibility, work flow fit, preliminary impact on clinical outcomes, and clinician acceptability; and develop and validate electronic clinical quality measures of potential overuse/misuse related to the care of older adults.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus; Asymptomatic Bacteriuria; Prostate Specific Antigen
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Clinical decision support

Detailed Description

The risks and benefits of many diagnostic approaches and treatments differ for older adults compared to middle aged adults. When diagnostic and therapeutic strategies are misapplied to older adults this can lead to increased morbidity and mortality. Well-established examples where clinicians do not often follow best practices in the care of older adults include those identified by the American Geriatrics Society for the Choosing Wisely initiative: 1) testing and treatment for asymptomatic bacteriuria, 2) prostate specific antigen testing in older men without prostate cancer, and 3) overuse of insulin or oral hypoglycemics for type 2 diabetes. There are several hypotheses as to why clinicians fail to incorporate best evidence into geriatric clinical care. First, they may underestimate downstream harms of testing which seems easy to do (e.g., a urinalysis for a non-specific symptom) or treatment that may be appropriate for younger patients (e.g. intensifying insulin to achieve tight control). Second, clinicians may overweigh the risks of not performing the action (e.g., missing cancer diagnosis, failing to diagnose urinary tract infection (UTI) in a patient presenting without urinary tract symptoms). Third, clinicians may respond to real or perceived social norms (from patients and their families, other clinicians or both) that set expectations to behave in specific ways. Fourth, force of habit may lead clinicians to act in a way similar to how they have done in the past even if current evidence doesn't support it. And fifth, clinicians may overuse a test or treatment to avoid feeling they are expressing an ageist bias toward their patients. Clinical decision support nudges, informed by social psychology and delivered via electronic health records (EHRs), are promising strategies to reduce the misuse of services in cases where optimal utilization may not be zero but should be well below current practice. These interventions seek to influence conscious and unconscious drivers of clinical decision making, are low cost to implement and disseminate, and can be incorporated into existing delivery systems. In the R21 phase of this Behavioral Economics Applications to Geriatrics Leveraging EHRs (BEAGLE) study, we will: select EHR delivered nudges to address 3 topics of potential misuse in older adults based on the main psychological drivers of overuse identified in interviews with high-using clinicians; develop and pilot test decision support tools within a health systems' EHR to understand technical feasibility, work flow fit, preliminary impact on clinical outcomes, and clinician acceptability; and develop and validate electronic clinical quality measures of potential overuse/misuse related to the care of older adults.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 664
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Illinois
    • Chicago, Illinois, United States, 60611
      • Northwestern Medicine

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Northwestern Medicine primary care clinician caring for adults
• Provides informed consent

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Clinical decision support intervention; Participating clinicians will receive any of three clinical decision support nudges within the electronic health record when all eligibility criteria are met within a patient's chart.	Behavioral: Clinical decision support; Clinical decision support nudges within the electronic health record

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Misuse of Urinalysis or Urine Culture in Older Women	Percentage of women patients aged 65 years and older who underwent a urinalysis and/or urine culture for suspected urinary tract infection (UTI) who did not have genitourinary specific symptoms	6 months intervention period
Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) Testing in the Elderly	Percent of male patients seen by participating clinicians 76 and older with no history of prostate cancer who had a PSA test done during the measurement period	6 month intervention period
Diabetes Overtreatment in the Elderly	Percent of diabetes patients 75 and older treated with insulin or oral hypoglycemic with hemoglobin A1c less than 7.0.	6 month intervention period

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Northwestern University
• Collaborators: University of California, Los Angeles; National Institute on Aging (NIA); University of Southern California

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): January 17, 2019
• Primary Completion (Actual): July 17, 2019
• Study Completion (Actual): August 18, 2019

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: October 9, 2018
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 11, 2018
• First Posted (Actual): October 12, 2018

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimated): October 7, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 18, 2025
• Last Verified: September 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Geriatrics; Behavioral Economics; Clinical decision support
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Endocrine System Diseases; Metabolic Diseases; Glucose Metabolism Disorders; Diabetes Mellitus; Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2
• Other Study ID Numbers: STU00205722; R21AG057383 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No