# Pilot Study to Develop a Functional Status Score for Children with  Acute Neurologic Illnesses and Injuries

> **NIH NIH R03** · OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $148,022

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Electronic Medical Record (EMR) data represents a promising, but under-utilized, resource for evaluating
interventions that focus on devastating pediatric health events such as neurologic injuries and illnesses.
However, a limitation to using existing data is the lack of universally used, standardized, meaningful outcome
measures within the datasets. The overall objective of this project is to demonstrate feasibility and proof of
concept for the development of a Pediatric Functional Status Score (PFSS) that uses clinically relevant claims
data from the EMR (i.e., diagnoses, procedures, pharmaceuticals, and durable goods) to accurately represent
a child’s functional mobility, self-care, and cognitive/communication status. The hypothesis is that the
constellation of claims data associated with a particular point in a child’s clinical course is an accurate
reflection of the child’s functional status at that time. The rationale for this research is that a functional status
score based on readily available, high-quality big data sources will allow researchers to compare the
effectiveness of pediatric rehabilitation interventions. Such a tool is necessary to give researchers the ability to
quickly and accurately assess functional status at any time that includes child-specific claims data. Using
consensus methodology (Delphi method and nominal group technique), this study will engage ten expert
pediatric neurology, trauma, and rehabilitation clinicians to determine which billing codes are clinically relevant
to a child’s functional mobility, self-care, and cognitive/communication status (Aim 1). Through the creation of
predictive models, researchers will then determine the feasibility of using identified billing codes to develop a
PFSS that accurately represents a child’s functional status in these domains at the time of discharge from
inpatient rehabilitation (Aim 2). The PFSS will be calibrated against the Functional Independence Measure for
Children (WeeFIM™), a validated, but not universally, used outcome measure. Aim 2 will incorporate
retrospective data from the EMR for the 1,797 children (6 months to 18 years) with acute neurologic injuries or
illnesses admitted to the Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit at large pediatric quaternary center between 2000 and
2019. The results of this work will provide the necessary proof of concept for a subsequent R01 submission
wherein we will fully develop and validate the PFSS in a multi-site proposal. Ultimately, a PFSS that relies on
highly conserved, child-specific claims data is significant because it provides a transformative tool that
researchers can use to harness big data to determine the effectiveness of interventions for acute neurologic
injury or illness at any time that has associated claims data and without additional burden to patients or
clinicians. The innovation of our design mitigates current challenges to the use of big data in pediatric
rehabilitation research by creating a clini...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10226002
- **Project number:** 5R03HD101083-02
- **Recipient organization:** OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Jared D Huling
- **Activity code:** R03 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $148,022
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-08-01 → 2023-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10226002

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10226002, Pilot Study to Develop a Functional Status Score for Children with  Acute Neurologic Illnesses and Injuries (5R03HD101083-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10226002. Licensed CC0.

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