Power's Quality-First Approach: Prioritizing Qualification Rate Over Referral Volume

Site coordinators often face a frustrating challenge: long lists of poorly qualified patients.

This flood of low-quality referrals not only wastes valuable time but also hampers the efficiency of critical research. At Power, we've taken a stance to address this issue head-on, focusing on quality over quantity in our patient referral process.

The Quality Imperative in Patient Recruitment

Traditional patient recruitment and marketing initiatives for clinical trials often cast a wide net, employing broad-based strategies such as mass media advertising, generic online campaigns, and untargeted community outreach. While these methods can generate high volumes of responses, they frequently result in an influx of low-quality patient referrals. This approach typically attracts individuals who may be interested in participating but do not necessarily meet the specific inclusion criteria for the study.

Consequently, research sites find themselves inundated with a large number of potential participants, many of whom are ultimately ineligible. This leads to a significant drain on resources as staff must spend considerable time and effort screening and processing these unsuitable candidates. The high volume of low-quality referrals not only slows down the recruitment process but also increases costs, as each interaction with an unqualified candidate represents wasted time and money.

These are common concerns we hear from sites:

1. Wasted time reviewing irrelevant profiles
2. Increased administrative burden
3. Frustrated staff and decreased morale

Recognizing these challenges, we’ve made a strategic decision to prioritize quality in our referral process. We understood that by refining our approach, we could not only alleviate the frustrations of site coordinators but also significantly improve the overall success rate of recruitment campaigns.

Four Components of High Quality Referrals

We think a lot about what we call bayesian triaging: what is the probability that this patient could be qualified for a study given new information? Then, we go out of our way to enrich the patient's profile with the information most likely to update our probabilities.

1. Enriched Patient Profiles

• Combines EMR information with pre-screening surveys
• Provides a comprehensive patient picture
• Uses automated matching against study eligibility criteria
• Ensures higher relevance and reduces unqualified referrals

2. Medication History

• Highlights potentially disqualifying medications upfront
• Enables quick identification of suitable candidates
• Saves valuable time for site coordinators
• Enhances patient safety by reducing the risk of adverse interactions

3. Comorbidity Verification

• Includes relevant health conditions in patient summaries
• Empowers site coordinators to make quick, accurate assessments
• Streamlines the decision-making process
• Allows focus on the most promising candidates

4. Site-specific Geographic Preferences

• Offers flexible radius settings for each site
• Optimizes match between patient location and site resources
• Accommodates varying site needs and capabilities
• Ensures referrals align with specific site requirement

The Impact: Delighted Sites, Patients, and Sponsors

Our quality-first approach has had downstream effects for everyone:

• Sites are more excited to contact referred patients. This leads to faster response times and higher connect rates.
• Patients are more likely to get contacted while they’re still interested. They’re more motivated to schedule a visit and participate.
• Sponsors ultimately see more patients screened and enrolled in their studies.

By focusing on quality over quantity, we’re addressing a critical pain point in the patient recruitment process. Our approach demonstrates that when it comes to patient referrals, less truly can be more – more efficient, more effective, and more satisfying for all involved.

Curious how we do it? Shoot me a note and I’m happy to share more (brandon@withpower.com)