{"entity":{"id":"idea-prev-ehr-symptom-signature-prompts","kind":"idea","name":"Cancer risk scores running automatically in GP records to prompt urgent referral","aka":[],"tldr":"Computers can combine minor symptoms, blood tests and age into a cancer risk score in the background. Showing that score to the GP could get more people referred earlier.","summary":"QCancer and similar algorithms exist but are rarely used because they need manual entry. Propose EHR-embedded, passively computed risk scores with a threshold-triggered prompt, tested in a randomised trial with stage at diagnosis and emergency presentation as endpoints, following the template of the UK ERICA cluster trial.","asOf":"2026-09-08","links":[{"label":"Bottleneck evidence (The hardest cancers are found late): Crosby et al., Early detection of cancer (Science 2022)","url":"https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aay9040"}],"tags":[],"related":[],"cancers":[],"sections":["early-detection"],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":["b-early-detection","b-care-fragmentation"],"keyPapers":["paper-crosby-science"],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"hypothesis":"Passive risk-score prompts increase the proportion of cancers diagnosed at stage I-II by at least 5 percentage points and reduce emergency presentations by at least 15% without doubling referral volume.","rationale":"The evidence gap is implementation, not algorithm accuracy.","test":"Cluster RCT across 500 practices over two years with registry-linked outcomes.","maturity":"early-clinical","actor":"clinic","cost":"medium","horizonYears":3},"route":"/ideas/idea-prev-ehr-symptom-signature-prompts/","neighbours":{"section":[{"id":"early-detection","kind":"section","name":"Early Detection & Screening","route":"/fronts/early-detection/"}],"bottleneck":[{"id":"b-care-fragmentation","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Fragmented care and guideline gaps","route":"/bottlenecks/b-care-fragmentation/"},{"id":"b-early-detection","kind":"bottleneck","name":"The hardest cancers are found late","route":"/bottlenecks/b-early-detection/"}],"paper":[{"id":"paper-crosby-science","kind":"paper","name":"Early detection of cancer","route":"/key-papers/paper-crosby-science/"}]}}