What Should Healthcare Systems Consider When Modernizing Call Centers? Early Considerations From the Veterans Health Administration.

GOAL: Growing numbers of hospitals and payers are using call centers to answer patients' clinical and administrative questions, schedule appointments, address billing issues, and offer supplementary care during public health emergencies and national disasters. In 2020, the Veterans Health Administration (VA) implemented VA Health Connect, an enterprise-wide initiative to modernize call centers. VA Health Connect is designed to improve the care experience with the convenience, flexibility, and simplicity of a single toll-free number connected to a range of 24/7 virtual services. The services are organized into four areas: administrative guidance for scheduling and general inquiries; pharmacy support for medication matters; clinical triage for evaluation of symptoms and recommended care; and virtual visits with providers for urgent and episodic care. Through a qualitative evaluation of VA Health Connect, we sought to identify the factors that affected the development of this program and to compile considerations to support the implementation of other enterprise-wide initiatives. METHODS: The evaluation team interviewed 29 clinical and administrative leads from across the VA. These leads were responsible for the modernization of their local service networks. PhD-level qualitative methodologists conducted the interviews, asking participants to reflect on barriers and facilitators to modernization and implementation. The team employed a rapid qualitative analytic approach commonly used in healthcare research to distill robust results. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: A review of the early implementation of VA Health Connect found: (1) deadlines proved challenging but provided momentum for the initiative; (2) a balance between standardized processes and local adaptations facilitated implementation; (3) attention to staffing, hiring, and training of call center staff before implementation expedited workflows; (4) establishing national and local leadership commitment to the innovation from the onset increased team cohesion and efficacy; and (5) anticipating information technology infrastructure needs prevented delays to modernization and implementation. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Our findings suggest that healthcare systems would benefit from anticipating likely obstacles (e.g., delays in software implementations and negotiations with unions), thus providing ample time to secure leadership buy-in and identify local champions, communicating early and often, and supporting flexible implementation to meet local needs. VA leadership can use this evaluation to refine implementation, and it could also have important implications for regulators, federal health exchanges, insurers, and other healthcare systems when determining resource levels for call centers.

Achieving transformation to lean management systems in health care.

OBJECTIVE: To understand what factors and organizational dynamics enable Lean transformation of health care organizations. DATA SOURCES: Primary data were collected through two waves of interviews in 2016-2017 with leaders and staff at seven veterans affairs medical centers participating in Lean enterprise transformation. STUDY DESIGN: Using an observational study design, for each site we coded and rated seven potential enablers of transformation. The outcome measure was the extent of Lean transformation, constructed by coding and rating 11 markers of depth and spread of transformation. Using multivalue coincidence analysis (CNA), we identified enablers that distinguished among sites having different levels of transformation. We identified representative quotes for the enablers. DATA COLLECTION METHODS: We interviewed 121 executive leaders, middle managers, expert consultants, systems redesign staff, frontline supervisors, and staff. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Two sites achieved high Lean transformation, three medium, and two low. Together leadership support and capability development were sufficient for the three-level Lean transformation outcomes with 100% consistency and 100% coverage. High scores on both corresponded to high Lean transformation; medium on either one corresponded to medium transformation; and low on both corresponded to low transformation. Additionally, low scores in communication and availability of data and very low scores in alignment characterized low-transformation sites. Sites with high leadership support also had a high veteran engagement. CONCLUSIONS: This multisite study develops a novel measure of the extent of organization-wide Lean transformation and uses CNA to identify enablers linked to transformation. It provides insights into why and how some organizations are more successful at transformation than others. Findings support the applicability of the organization transformation model that guided the study and highlight the roles of executive leadership and capability development in the dynamics of transformation.

A logic model for precision medicine implementation informed by stakeholder views and implementation science.

PURPOSE: Precision medicine promises to improve patient outcomes, but much is unknown about its adoption within health-care systems. A comprehensive implementation plan is needed to realize its benefits. METHODS: We convened 80 stakeholders for agenda setting to inform precision medicine policy, delivery, and research. Conference proceedings were audio-recorded, transcribed, and thematically analyzed. We mapped themes representing opportunities, challenges, and implementation strategies to a logic model, and two implementation science frameworks provided context. RESULTS: The logic model components included inputs: precision medicine infrastructure (clinical, research, and information technology), big data (from data sources to analytics), and resources (e.g., workforce and funding); activities: precision medicine research, practice, and education; outputs: precision medicine diagnosis; outcomes: personal utility, clinical utility, and health-care utilization; and impacts: precision medicine value, equity and access, and economic indicators. Precision medicine implementation challenges include evidence gaps demonstrating precision medicine utility, an unprepared workforce, the need to improve precision medicine access and reduce variation, and uncertain impacts on health-care utilization. Opportunities include integrated health-care systems, partnerships, and data analytics to support clinical decisions. Examples of implementation strategies to promote precision medicine are: changing record systems, data warehousing techniques, centralized technical assistance, and engaging consumers. CONCLUSION: We developed a theory-based, context-specific logic model that can be used by health-care organizations to facilitate precision medicine implementation.

Stakeholders' views on the value of outcomes from clinical genetic and genomic interventions.

PURPOSE: Robust evidence about the value of clinical genomic interventions (CGIs), such as genetic/genomic testing or clinical genetic evaluation, is limited. We obtained stakeholders' perspectives on outcomes from CGIs to help inform their value. METHODS: We used an adapted Delphi expert panel process. Two anonymous survey rounds assessed the value of 44 CGI outcomes and whether a third party should pay for them, with discussion in between rounds. RESULTS: Sixty-six panelists responded to the first-round survey and 60 to the second. Policy-makers/payers gave the lowest ratings for value and researchers gave the highest. Patients/consumers had the most uncertainty about value and payment by a third party. Uncertainty about value was observed when evidence of proven health benefit was lacking, potential harms outweighed benefits for reproductive outcomes, and outcomes had only personal utility for individuals or family members. Agreement about outcomes for which a third party should not pay included prevention through surgery with unproven health benefits, establishing ancestry, parental consanguinity, and paternity. CONCLUSION: Research is needed to understand factors contributing to uncertainty and stakeholder differences about the value of CGI outcomes. Reaching consensus will accelerate the creation of metrics to generate the evidence needed to inform value and guide policies that promote availability, uptake, and coverage of CGIs.

Building Systemwide Improvement Capability: Does an Organization's Strategy for Quality Improvement Matter?

OBJECTIVES: Health care organizations have used different strategies to implement quality improvement (QI) programs but with only mixed success in implementing and spreading QI organization-wide. This suggests that certain organizational strategies may be more successful than others in developing an organization's improvement capability. To investigate this, our study examined how the primary focus of grant-funded QI efforts relates to (1) key measures of grant success and (2) organization-level measures of success in QI and organizational learning. METHODS: Using a mixed-methods design, we conducted one-way analyses of variance to relate Veterans Affairs administrative survey data to data collected as part of a 3.5-year evaluation of 29 health care organization grant recipients. We then analyzed qualitative evidence from the evaluation to explain our results. RESULTS: We found that hospitals that focused on developing organizational infrastructure to support QI implementation compared with those that focused on training or conducting projects rated highest (at α = .05) on all 4 evaluation measures of grant success and all 3 systemwide survey measures of QI and organizational learning success. CONCLUSIONS: This study adds to the literature on developing organizational improvement capability and has practical implications for health care leaders. Focusing on either projects or staff training in isolation has limited value. Organizations are more likely to achieve systemwide transformation of improvement capability if their strategy emphasizes developing or strengthening organizational systems, structures, or processes to support direct improvement efforts.

Assessing multilevel determinants of adoption and implementation of genomic medicine: an organizational mixed-methods approach.

PURPOSE: Adoption and implementation of evidence-based genetic and genomic medicine have been slow. We describe a methodology for identifying the influence of organizational factors on adoption and implementation of these services in health-care organizations. METHODS: We illustrate a three-component, mixed-methods health services research approach, including expert panels, qualitative interviews with key informants, and quantitative surveys completed by key informants. RESULTS: This research approach yielded a baseline assessment of existing genetic health-care models in the Veterans Health Administration and identified organizational barriers to and facilitators of adoption. In aggregate, the panel and key informant strategies created a communication network of relevant organizational stakeholders and a detailed foundation of organizational knowledge from which to design tools and models for implementation-level genetic/genomic translation. CONCLUSION: Expert panel and key informant strategies can be used to create a backdrop of stakeholder involvement and baseline organizational knowledge within which to plan translation research and to inform strategic planning and policies for adoption and implementation of genetic services in health-care organizations.

Distinct communication patterns during genetic counseling for late-onset Alzheimer's risk assessment.

OBJECTIVE: To identify and characterize patient-provider communication patterns during disclosure of Alzheimer's disease genetic susceptibility test results and to assess whether these patterns reflect differing models of genetic counseling. METHODS: 262 genetic counseling session audio-recordings were coded using the Roter Interactional Analysis System. Cluster analysis was used to distinguish communication patterns. Bivariate analyses were used to identify characteristics associated with the patterns. RESULTS: Three patterns were identified: Biomedical-Provider-Teaching (40%), Biomedical-Patient-Driven (34.4%), and Psychosocial-Patient-Centered (26%). Psychosocial-Patient-Centered and Biomedical-Provider-Teaching sessions included more female participants while the Biomedical-Patient-Driven sessions included more male participants (p=0.04). CONCLUSION: Communication patterns observed reflected the teaching model primarily, with genetic counseling models less frequently used. The emphasis on biomedical communication may potentially be at the expense of more patient-centered approaches. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: To deliver more patient-centered care, providers may need to better balance the ratio of verbal exchange with their patients, as well as their educational and psychosocial discussions. The delineation of these patterns provides insights into the genetic counseling process that can be used to improve the delivery of genetic counseling care. These results can also be used in future research designed to study the association between patient-centered genetic counseling communication and improved patient outcomes.

Retardo do crescimento e condiçöes sociais em escolares de Osasco, Säo Paulo, Brasil / Linear growth retardation and social factors among schoolchildren from the city of Osasco, Säo Paulo, Brazil

Identifica a associaçäo existente entre classe social e retardo do crescimento físico, ocorrido nos primeiros anos de vida. Com base em um censo de estatura, envolvendo alunos ingressantes em todas as escolas (públicas e particulares) do Município de Osasco, regiäo metropolitana de Säo Paulo, Brasil, realizado no início do ano letivo de 1989, foram selecionados casos e controles para a investigaçäo retrospectiva dos determinantes sociais do retardo do crescimento. Os casos, totalizando 125 ingressantes de sete a oito anos de idade, foram caracterizados pelo índice altura/idade inferior a -2 escores Z da populaçäo de referência do NCHS/OMS. Os controles, totalizando 139 ingressantes de mesma idade, foram caracterizados pelo índice altura/idade superior a -1 escore Z. Escolaridade do chefe da casa e da mäe, renda familiar per capita, condiçöes de habitaçäo e saneamento, ou seja, variáveis que devem mediar a relaçäo entre classe social e déficit de estatura, foram fatores que se associaram significativamente com o risco de retardo do crescimento. Quanto à inserçäo da família no processo social de produçäo, avaliada através da classe social do chefe, as crianças do subproletariado apresentaram uma chance sete vezes maior de retardo do crescimento quando comparadas com as do grupos da pequena burguesia, refletindo os efeitos biológicos da recessäo econômica dos anos 80.

Fome e política: história, implantaçäo, desenvolvimento, avaliaçäo e implicaçöes de um programa federal de suplementaçäo alimentar no Estado de Säo Paulo / Hunger and policy: history, implantation, development, assessment and inference of a federal supplementary feeding in Säo Paulo state, Brazil

Expöe a política de suplementaçäo alimentar que vem sendo aplicada no Brasil, detendo-se de forma descritiva no Programa de Nutriçäo em Saúde do Instituto Nacional de Alimentaçäo e Nutriçäo no Estado de Säo Paulo. Contem síntese da história da Política da Suplementaçäo Alimentar e do surgimento do Programa de Nutriçäo em Saúde; relata o histórico do PNS no Estado de Säo Paulo; descreve de que forma esse Programa foi operacionalizado em Säo Paulo; sintetiza as avaliaçöes executadas pela equipe técnica gerenciadora do programa e relata evoluçäo dos programas de suplementaçäo alimentar e das políticas de saúde nos últimos anos

Evoluçäo do estado nutricional de desnutridos matriculados em programas de intervençäo / Nutritional status progress of malnourished children admitted to nutritional intervention programs

Estudaram-se 578 crianças desnutridas de 6 a 30 meses de idade, beneficiadas por dois programas de suplementaçäo alimentar, com o objetivo de relacionar o diagnóstico nutricional na época da matrícula com os incrementos semestrais de peso e de altura. Os programas ofereciam açöes de saúde e suplementaçäo alimentar; diferiam, principalmente, na quantidade de alimentos distribuídos: um deles cobria praticamente o total das necessidades energético-protéicas, enquanto o outro fornecia apenas 1/3 dessas necessidades. Utilizaram-se dois indicadores para o diagnóstico nutricional inicial: peso e altura para idade, adotando-se como padräo o NCHS. Para análise dos incrementos semestrais de peso e de altura foram utilizadas as curvas de Roche e Himes. Observou-se, nos dois programas, que o estado nutricional inicial das crianças era semelhante e que a proporçäo de crianças com incrementos semestrais, de peso e de altura, acima do percentil 50, foi maior naquelas mais desnutridas. Os resultados deste estudo confirmam a validade da suplementaçäo alimentar na recuperaçäo dos desnutridos mais graves e que portanto, devem ser priorizados nesses programas. Sugerem ainda que o aumento das quantidades na cesta de alimentos distribuídos pelo programa que cobria 1/3 das necessidades diárias, näo determina maior efeito no estado nutricional das crianças, embora contribua para a melhoria das condiçöes alimentares da família