Current State of Shared Decision-Making for CT Lung Cancer Screening and Improvement Strategies

INTRODUCTION: Lung cancer remains the leading cause of oncologic mortality in the United States. Computed tomography (CT) screening has begun to combat this prevalent health problem. Prior to enrollment, a shared decision-making conversation is required to ensure a patient preference decision. This is the first and only imaging study to hold this requirement and compliance has been suspected to be low, but there is limited literature proving this. METHODS: At a single academic institution, 30 patients who declined and 38 patients who enrolled in CT lung cancer screening were interviewed about their shared decision-making provider conversation. All referring providers were surveyed regarding their methods of shared decision-making for CT lung cancer screening. Clinical notes were evaluated 9 months prior to 2 interventions and 6 months following the first intervention to improve clinical documentation. RESULTS: 85% to 89% of the interviewed patients could not recall a decision aid used during the shared decision-making conversation. Zero percent of clinical notes met the Centers for Medicare/Medicaid Services (CMS) encounter requirements for shared decision-making despite interventions to improve knowledge and ease accessibility to decision aids and documentation templates. DISCUSSION: Lack of compliance with CMS requirements has a low patient decision satisfaction. This also places the institution at risk for financial repercussions of reimbursement which may jeopardize the longevity of screening programs. Development of strategies to improve the patient experience and provider facilitation are nascent and require a dedicated leadership team with carefully constructed electronic health record support.