Preventive Care Utilization by Patients Who Use Virtual Urgent Care.

Introduction: The use of direct to patient (DTP) telemedicine for common acute conditions is widespread. It provides certain advantages over in-person visits, but has led to concerns about fragmentation of care. It is unknown whether use of DTP telemedicine decreases use of primary care services in a way that leads to missed preventive screenings and immunizations. Methods: Virtual urgent care (VUC) is a DTP telemedicine service to treat common acute conditions. All VUC encounters completed at an academic health system from July 2018 to December 2019 were evaluated and analyzed in 2020. Only patients established with primary care (at least one primary care visit in the same year as VUC encounter) were included. Specific preventive screenings (breast cancer, gonorrhea/chlamydia, and cervical cancer) and immunizations (tetanus and influenza) were characterized as up to date based on national guidelines. Chi-squares and multivariate logistic regressions were used to assess receipt of screenings and immunizations. Regressions included VUC and primary care utilization and demographic factors. Results: Patients evaluated (N = 1025) were mostly 25-50 years old (69.7%), women (81.8%), and white (74.9%). More than half (56.5%) had only used VUC once. In multivariate analyses, VUC utilization was not negatively associated with any of the preventive services evaluated, whereas primary care utilization was associated with receipt of both immunizations and gonorrhea/chlamydia screening. Conclusions: Higher VUC utilization is not negatively associated with receipt of preventive services, as long as a primary care relationship is established. VUC may provide a useful method of encouraging receipt of preventive services, especially for younger patients.

Association of High Burden of End-stage Kidney Disease With Decreased Kidney Transplant Rates With the Updated US Kidney Allocation Policy.

Importance: The Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) approved changes to the US kidney allocation system in 2019. The potential effects of this policy change using transplant rates normalized to end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) incidence have not been investigated. Objective: To estimate how the OPTN kidney allocation policy will affect areas of the US currently demonstrating low rates of kidney transplant, when accounting for the regional burden of ESKD. Design, Setting, and Participants: This cross-sectional population-based economic evaluation analyzed access of patients with ESKD to kidney transplant in the US. Participants included patients with incident ESKD, those on the kidney transplant wait list, and those who received a kidney transplant. Data were collected from January 1 to December 31, 2017, and were analyzed in 2019. Main Outcomes and Measures: The probability of a patient with ESKD being placed on the transplant wait list or receiving a deceased donor kidney transplant. States and donor service areas (DSAs) were compared for gains and losses in rates of transplanted kidneys under the new allocation system. Transplant rates were normalized for ESKD burden. Results: A total of 122 659 patients had incident ESKD in the US in 2017 (58.2% men; mean [SD] age, 62.8 [15.1] years). The probability of a patient with ESKD receiving a deceased donor kidney transplant varied 3-fold across the US (from 6.36% in West Virginia to 18.68% in the District of Columbia). Modeling of the OPTN demonstrates that DSAs from New York (124%), Georgia (65%), and Illinois (56%) are estimated to experience the largest increases in deceased donor kidney allocation. Other than Georgia, these states have kidney transplant rates per incident ESKD cases above the mean (of 50 states plus the District of Columbia, New York is 16th and Illinois is 24th). In contrast, DSAs from Nevada (-74%), Ohio (-67%), and North Carolina (-61%)-each of which has a transplant rate per incident ESKD cases significantly below the mean-are estimated to experience the largest decreases in deceased donor allocation (of 50 states plus the District of Columbia, North Carolina is 34th, Ohio is 38th, and Nevada is 47th). Conclusions and Relevance: The new OPTN-approved kidney allocation policy may result in worsening geographic disparities in access to transplants when measured against the burden of ESKD within a particular region of the US.

Randomized controlled trial assessing the impact of everolimus and low-exposure tacrolimus on graft outcomes in kidney transplant recipients.

This was a single-center, randomized controlled trial assessing the impact of a 3-month (10-16 weeks) conversion to everolimus with low-exposure tacrolimus, as compared to remaining on full exposure tacrolimus with mycophenolate (NCT02096107). Adult kidney transplant recipients with a functioning graft were eligible for participation. Goal troughs in the intervention arm were 2-5 ng/mL for tacrolimus and 3-8 ng/mL for everolimus, with tacrolimus maintained at 5-12 ng/mL in the control arm; 60 were randomized (30 in each arm) and were well matched at baseline; mean age was 51 years and 57% were African-American. At 12-months, fibrosis scores (27.8% tacrolimus/mycophenolate vs 22.9% tacrolimus/everolimus, P = .391), acute rejection rates (7% tacrolimus/mycophenolate vs 3% tacrolimus/everolimus, P = .554), and graft function (mean eGFR tacrolimus/mycophenolate 56 ± 15 vs tacrolimus/everolimus 59 ± 14 mL/min/1.73 m2 , P = .465) were similar between arms. The everolimus arm had significantly lower rates of CMV infection, severe BK infection, and improved BK viral clearance kinetics, as compared to the MPA arm. In this population, including a significant number of African-Americans, an immunosuppression regimen of everolimus with low-exposure tacrolimus provided similar efficacy to tacrolimus and mycophenolate, with significantly lower rates of BK and CMV.

Palliative Care Consultation Policy Change and Its Effect on Nurses' Moral Distress in an Academic Medical Center.

Moral distress affects workplace environment, burnout, employee retention, and patient safety. Palliative care is frequently involved in complex care for patients that may cause moral distress among staff. The goal of this study was to measure change in moral distress among nurses after implementation of a policy that allows nurses to consult palliative care. Before the policy change, data were gathered via email using the Moral Distress Scale-Revised. The scale was redistributed 6 months after implementation of the consult policy. Pre and post Moral Distress Scale-Revised results were analyzed. Qualitative thematic analyses of the nurses' comments were conducted.A significantly lower percentage of nurses reported providing care for a hopelessly ill patient frequently or very frequently (34.6% vs 23.1%, P = .0397) after the policy change. However, a significantly higher percentage of nurses postpolicy reported frequently or very frequently providing less-than-optimal care because of pressures from administrators/insurers (14.4% vs 21.1%, P = .0378), caring for patients they did not feel qualified to care for (5.3% vs 14.8%, P = .0055), and working with providers who were not competent to care for the patient (13.9% vs 26.9%, P = .0059). Themes from nurses' comments were inadequate staffing, communication, ethical concerns, and lack of education.