FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Tina Maggio, Sr. Director Communications [email protected]
Indianapolis, Indiana – October 12, 2025 – At the American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF) 2025 Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO, leading experts presented findings today from a pioneering feasibility study exploring how clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) can be adapted for the digital age through computable formats.
The session, titled “Adapting Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Digital Age: A Feasibility Study,” showcased innovative approaches to accelerating the translation of evidence-based medicine into clinical practice. The presentation focused on a feasibility study using the AAO-HNSF Clinical Practice Guideline on Ménière’s Disease as a test case for developing computable CPGs.
“Ultimately, what we’d really like to be able to do is integrate the concept of digitization into the guidelines as we move forward so that when the guideline is completed, not only do we have a paper guideline, but we also have a computable, executable form of it that we can then share and distribute. It doesn’t have to be seven years or 17 years or however long it is until what we have to say for people is in general practice,” Seth R. Schwartz, MD, MPH.
AAO-HNSF Clinical Practice Guidelines are among the most downloaded and cited evidence-based articles in the field. However, the traditional evidence-to-practice time gap has long challenged healthcare quality improvement efforts. The featured study examined how computable CPGs—guidelines formatted for digital integration using Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR)—could significantly reduce this gap and increase guideline adoption among healthcare providers.
“From a day-to-day perspective it would be nice not to have to memorize all the guidelines and to have the EMR pop up with a note that says, ‘It sounds like this patient meets the criteria for acute bacterial rhinosinusitis. ‘Would you like to prescribe amoxicillin or augmentin?’ That would be something very helpful in day-to-day practice,” Margo K. McKenna, MD, Chair of the AAO-HNSF Guidelines Task Force.
The research team applied a recently published integrated process for computable CPG development during the guideline update process, assessed readiness using CPG-FHIR Knowledge Level Checklists, and conducted qualitative assessments through key stakeholder interviews to identify opportunities and challenges.
The session also explored future opportunities for streamlining CPG development processes using artificial intelligence, with the potential to create “living guidelines” that can be updated more dynamically as new evidence emerges.
The panel was moderated by Maria Michaels, MBA, Immediate Past Chair of Guidelines International Network North America, and featured presentations from distinguished otolaryngology experts including David E. Tunkel, MD, Director Emeritus of Pediatric Otolaryngology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Children’s Center and Past Chair of the AAO-HNSF Guideline Task Force; Margo K. McKenna, MD, Associate Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology at the University of Rochester, and current Chair of the AAO-HNSF Guideline Task Force; and Seth R. Schwartz, MD, MPH, Director of The Listen For Life Center at Virginia Mason Medical Center, and AAO-HNSF CPG Methodologist.
The session attracted otolaryngologist-head and neck surgeons interested in innovations in CPG development and demonstrated how the specialty is positioning itself at the forefront of digital healthcare transformation.
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About the AAO-HNS/F
The AAO-HNS/F is one of the world’s largest organizations representing specialists who treat the ears, nose, throat, and related structures of the head and neck. Otolaryngologist-head and neck surgeons diagnose and treat medical disorders that are among the most common affecting patients of all ages in the United States and around the world. Those medical conditions include chronic ear disease, hearing and balance disorders, hearing loss, sinusitis, snoring and sleep apnea, allergies, swallowing disorders, nosebleeds, hoarseness, dizziness, and tumors of the head and neck as well as aesthetic and reconstructive surgery and intricate micro-surgical procedures of the head and neck. The Academy has approximately 13,000 members. The AAO-HNS Foundation works to advance the art, science, and ethical practice of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery through education, research, and quality measurement.
