Utilization of a Best Practice Alert (BPA) at Point-of-Care for Recruitment into a US-Based Autism Research Study.

Researchers tested a computer alert system in doctors' offices to help recruit families for autism research. When doctors' computers reminded them about research opportunities, 64% of families showed interest and many joined the study. Families who learned about research from their doctors were more likely to stay involved compared to families recruited other ways. This shows that having your doctor tell you about research studies can be very effective.

This study evaluated the effectiveness of using Best Practice Alerts (BPA) in electronic health records to recruit families into autism research. Over one year, the BPA system successfully engaged 1,203 families (64% showed interest) with 223 enrolling in the SPARK autism study. Notably, families recruited through provider referrals via the BPA system showed higher engagement rates (58.3% completion) compared to families recruited through other methods (35.5% completion). The findings suggest that electronic health record alerts can effectively facilitate provider-mediated research recruitment while improving participant retention in autism research studies.

Electronic health record alerts can effectively support providers in research recruitment while reducing referral burden. Provider-mediated recruitment may improve participant engagement and retention in autism research studies, suggesting clinical relationships enhance research participation quality.

Single-site study limits generalizability. No comparison group for the BPA intervention itself. Limited information about participant demographics or reasons for non-participation. Unclear methodology for how completion rates were measured or defined.

Provider referral is one of the most influential factors in research recruitment. To ease referral burden on providers, we adapted the Best Practice Alert (BPA) in the EPIC Electronic Health Record and assessed its utility in recruiting pediatric patients with autism spectrum disorder for the national SPARK study. During a year-long surveillance, 1203 (64.0%) patients were Interested in SPARK and 223 enrolled. Another 754 participants not recruited via the BPA also enrolled; 35.5% of these participants completed their participation compared to 58.3% of BPA-referred participants.

Results suggest that (a) a BPA can successfully engage providers in the study-referral process and (b) families who learn about research through their providers may be more engaged and effectively retained.