# Using the Electronic Health Record to Identify and Promote Goals-of-Care Communication for Older Patients with Serious Illness

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON · 2020 · $777,399

## Abstract

Although discussions that address patients' goals of care are one of the most important aspects of
palliative care, this communication is often lacking in our healthcare system. Goals-of-care communication is
associated with improved patient and family outcomes and reduced intensity of care at the end of life.
Electronic health records (EHR) provide a key opportunity to identify patients who would benefit from these
discussions and to promote these discussions, yet prior interventions have not used the EHR for this purpose.
 Older adults with chronic illness, and particularly those with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias
(ADRD), are especially vulnerable to inappropriately intensive end-of-life care. To address this shortcoming,
we build on two of our most successful programs, one using the EHR to identify goals-of-care discussions and
the other a novel intervention called Jumpstart that promotes and enhances these discussions. We will
examine the effectiveness of the Jumpstart intervention for hospitalized older adults with chronic illness and
specifically oversample those with ADRD to understand the effectiveness of the intervention in this key group.
 We propose 2 linked, complementary randomized trials. Trial 1, a pragmatic trial, compares usual care
with a clinician-facing Jumpstart for hospitalized older adults with serious illness (n=2000). Trial 2, a
comparative effectiveness trial, compares this clinician-facing Jumpstart with a bi-directional, patient-specific
Jumpstart based on surveys completed by patients or family members (n=400). We hypothesize that the
clinician-facing Jumpstart will improve outcomes compared to usual care, and the bi-directional, patient-
specific Jumpstart will improve outcomes compared to the clinician-facing Jumpstart. We use an innovative
hybrid effectiveness-implementation approach to accomplish 3 aims. Aim 1 evaluates the effectiveness of the
clinician-facing Jumpstart, compared with usual care, for improving quality of care; the primary outcome is EHR
documentation of a goals-of-care discussion during the hospitalization. Secondary outcomes include intensity
of care at the end of life. Aim 2 evaluates the effectiveness of the bi-directional, patient-specific Jumpstart
compared to the clinician-facing Jumpstart; the primary outcome is the same as Trial 1. We will examine the
same secondary outcomes, but also include patient- and family-reported outcomes assessed by surveys at 1
and 3 months after randomization including occurrence and quality of goals-of-care communication in the
hospital, goal-concordant care, psychological symptoms, quality of life, and palliative care needs. We will also
examine costs of care after accounting for costs of the interventions. In Aim 3, we conduct a mixed-methods
evaluation to explore barriers and facilitators to future implementation and dissemination.
 Our team has experience conducting innovative multi-center trials with patient-centered outcomes,
economic analyse...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9953966
- **Project number:** 5R01AG062441-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
- **Principal Investigator:** J Randall Curtis
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $777,399
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-06-15 → 2024-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9953966

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9953966, Using the Electronic Health Record to Identify and Promote Goals-of-Care Communication for Older Patients with Serious Illness (5R01AG062441-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9953966. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*