Assessing Efficacy of the Rothman Index

The Rothman Index (RI), created by PeraHealth, Inc., is a clinical support system used to recognize the early stages of clinical deterioration. It uses time-updated physiological data (vital signs, lab values, nursing assessments) to calculate a single score that objectively quantifies a patient's condition in real-time. The score is used to detect a patient's declining health and predict risk of decompensation and death. Various risk thresholds exist to describe a patient's status. "Medium" risk is defined by a 30% reduction in a patient's RI score over 24 hours, "high" risk is defined by a 40% drop in the RI score over 12 hours, and "very high" risk" is having a score less than or equal to 20 on the RI. Some institutions have created protocols to be followed by providers when an RI risk threshold is reached (such as triggering rapid response team mobilization), however, there are no standardized protocols shared between hospitals, and none which have been rigorously tested to determine whether they effectively reduce mortality and adverse outcomes. This is a randomized controlled trial to determine the efficacy of the Rothman Index and an associated set of RI-triggered recommended-use protocol sin improving rates of mortality and/or discharge to hospice care among inpatients of two hospitals within the Yale New Haven Health System. All inpatients admitted to any unit within the study sites who generate at least 2 RI index scores will be automatically enrolled and randomized to either usual care, in which the patient's RI score is calculated but remains unavailable to providers (and available only to the study team), or to the intervention group in which the RI is calculated and visible to providers who will be encouraged to follow recommended protocols appropriate to the RI risk threshold achieved. The primary outcome is the rates of mortality and/or discharge to hospice care. Secondary outcomes include rates of inpatient mortality, ICU transfer, length of hospital stay, incurred costs, 30 day readmission and mortality rates, and rates of transfer to home.