Measuring Patient-Reported Use and Outcomes From Complementary and Integrative Health Therapies: Development of the Complementary and Integrative Health Therapy Patient Experience Survey.

Background: Assessing the use and effectiveness of complementary and integrative health (CIH) therapies via survey can be complicated given CIH therapies are used in various locations and formats, the dosing required to have an effect is unclear, the potential health and well-being outcomes are many, and describing CIH therapies can be challenging. Few surveys assessing CIH therapy use and effectiveness exist, and none sufficiently reflect these complexities. Objective: In a large-scale Veterans Health Administration (VA) quality improvement effort, we developed the "Complementary and Integrative Health Therapy Patient Experience Survey", a longitudinal, electronic patient self-administered survey to comprehensively assess CIH therapy use and outcomes. Methods: We obtained guidance from the literature, subject matter experts, and Veteran patients who used CIH therapies in designing the survey. As a validity check, we completed cognitive testing and interviews with those patients. We conducted the survey (March 2021-April 2023), inviting 15,608 Veterans with chronic musculoskeletal pain with a recent CIH appointment or referral identified in VA electronic medical records (EMR) to participate. As a second validity check, we compared VA EMR data and patient self-reports of CIH therapy utilization a month after survey initiation and again at survey conclusion. Results: The 64-item, electronic survey assesses CIH dosing (amount and timing), delivery format and location, provider location, and payor. It also assesses 7 patient-reported outcomes (pain, global mental health, global physical health, depression, quality of life, stress, and meaning/purpose in life), and 3 potential mediators (perceived health competency, healthcare engagement, and self-efficacy for managing diseases). The survey took 17 minutes on average to complete and had a baseline response rate of 45.3%. We found high degrees of concordance between self-reported and EMR data for all therapies except meditation. Conclusions: Validly assessing patient-reported CIH therapy use and outcomes is complex, but possible.

Addressing Veteran Health-Related Social Needs: How Joint Commission Standards Accelerated Integration and Expansion of Tools and Services in the Veterans Health Administration.

BACKGROUND: The Joint Commission recently named reduction of health care disparities and improvement of health care equity as quality and safety priorities (Leadership [LD] Standard LD.04.03.08 and National Patient Safety Goal [NPSG] Standard NPSG.16.01.01). As the largest integrated health system, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) sought to leverage these new accreditation standards to further integrate and expand existing tools and initiatives to reduce health care disparities and address health-related social needs (HRSNs). INITIATIVES AND TOOLS: A combination of existing data tools (for example, Primary Care Equity Dashboard), resource tools (for example, Assessing Circumstances and Offering Resources for Needs tool), and a care delivery approach (for example, Whole Health) are discussed as quality improvement opportunities to further integrate and expand how VHA addresses health care disparities and HRSNs. The authors detail the development timeline, building, limitations, and future plans for these tools and initiatives. COORDINATION OF INITIATIVES: Responding to new health care equity Joint Commission standards led to new implementation strategies and deeper partnerships across VHA that facilitated expanded dissemination, technical assistance activities, and additional resources for VHA facilities to meet new standards and improve health care equity for veterans. Health care systems may learn from VHA's experiences, which include building actionable data platforms, employing user-centered design for initiative development and iteration, designing wide-reaching dissemination strategies for tools, and recognizing the importance of providing technical assistance for stakeholders. FUTURE DIRECTIONS: VHA continues to expand implementation of a diverse set of tools and resources to reduce health care disparities and identify and address unmet individual veteran HRSNs more widely and effectively.

Group Acupuncture Therapy With Yoga Therapy for Chronic Neck, Low Back, and Osteoarthritis Pain in Safety Net Settings for an Underserved Population: A Feasibility Pilot Study.

Background: Acupuncture and yoga have both been shown to be effective in chronic pain. Underrepresented populations have poorer pain outcomes with less access to effective pain care. Objective: To assess the feasibility of bundling group acupuncture with yoga therapy for chronic neck, back or osteoarthritis pain in safety net settings. Methods: This was a feasibility pilot in Bronx and Harlem primary care community health centers. Participants with chronic neck, back or osteoarthritis pain received acupuncture and yoga therapy over a 10-week period. Participants received 10 weekly acupuncture treatments in group setting; with Yoga therapy sessions beginning immediately following the 3rd session. Primary outcome was pain interference and pain intensity on the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI); Outcomes were measured at baseline, 10-week close of intervention, and 24-week follow-up. Results: 93 patients were determined to be eligible and completed the baseline interview. The majority of participants were non-White and Medicaid recipients. 78 (84%) completed the intervention and 10-week survey, and 58 (62%) completed the 24-week post intervention survey. Participants received an average number of 6.5 acupuncture sessions (out of a possible 10), and 4 yoga sessions (out of a possible 8) over the 10-week intervention. Patients showed statistically significant improvements in pain at the close of the intervention and at a somewhat lesser rate, at 24-weeks post intervention. Challenges included telephone outreach and site coordination integrating acupuncture with yoga therapy. The trial also had to be stopped early due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusions: Bundling acupuncture therapy and yoga therapy is feasible for an underrepresented population with chronic pain in urban community health centers with preliminary indications of acceptability and benefit to participants.

Racial and Ethnic Variation in Complementary and Integrative Health Therapy Use Among US Veterans.

Importance: White individuals are the greatest users of complementary and integrative health (CIH) therapies in the general population, but this might partially be due to differences in age, health condition, and location. Identifying the nuances in racial and ethnic differences in care is one important step to addressing them. Objective: To evaluate racial and ethnic differences in Veterans Affairs (VA)-covered CIH therapy use in a more nuanced manner by examining the association of 5 demographic characteristics, health conditions, and medical facility locations with those differences. Design, Setting, and Participants: Retrospective cross-sectional observational study of VA health care system users, using electronic health record and administrative data at all VA medical facilities and community-based clinics. Participants included veterans with nonmissing race and ethnicity data using VA-funded health care between October 2018 and September 2019. Data were analyzed from June 2022 to April 2023. Main Outcome and Measure: Any use of VA-covered acupuncture, chiropractic care, massage therapy, yoga, or meditation/mindfulness. Results: The sample consisted of 5 260 807 veterans with a mean (SD) age of 62.3 (16.4) years and was 91% male (4 788 267 veterans), 67% non-Hispanic White (3 547 140 veterans), 6% Hispanic (328 396 veterans), and 17% Black (903 699 veterans). Chiropractic care was the most used CIH therapy among non-Hispanic White veterans, Hispanic veterans, and veterans of other races and ethnicities, while acupuncture was the most commonly used therapy among Black veterans. When not accounting for the location of the VA medical facilities in which veterans used health care, Black veterans appeared more likely to use yoga and meditation than non-Hispanic White veterans and far less likely to use chiropractic care, while those of Hispanic or other race and ethnicity appeared more likely to use massage than non-Hispanic White veterans. However, those differences mostly disappeared once controlling for medical facility location, with few exceptions-after adjustment Black veterans were less likely than non-Hispanic White veterans to use yoga and more likely to use chiropractic care. Conclusions and Relevance: This large-scale, cross-sectional study found racial and ethnic differences in use of 4 of 5 CIH therapies among VA health care system users when not considering their medical facility location. Given those differences mostly disappeared once medical facilities were accounted for, the results demonstrated the importance of considering facilities and residential locations when examining racial differences in CIH therapy use. Medical facilities could be a proxy for the racial and ethnic composition of their patients, CIH therapy availability, regional patient or clinician attitudes, or therapy availability.

We Built it, But Did They Come: Veterans' Use of VA Healthcare System-Provided Complementary and Integrative Health Approaches.

BACKGROUND: Interest in complementary and integrative health (CIH) approaches, such as meditation, yoga, and acupuncture, continues to grow. The evidence of effectiveness for some CIH approaches has increased in the last decade, especially for pain, with many being recommended in varying degrees in national guidelines. To offer nonpharmacological health management options and meet patient demand, the nation's largest integrated healthcare system, the Veterans Health Administration (VA), greatly expanded their provision of CIH approaches recently. OBJECTIVE: This paper addressed the questions of how many VA patients might use CIH approaches and chiropractic care if they were available at modest to no fee, and would patients with some health conditions or characteristics be more likely than others to use these therapies. DESIGN: Using electronic medical records, we conducted a national, three-year, retrospective analysis of VA patients' use of eleven VA-covered therapies: chiropractic care, acupuncture, Battlefield Acupuncture, biofeedback, clinical hypnosis, guided imagery, massage therapy, meditation, Tai Chi/Qigong, and yoga. PARTICIPANTS: We created a national cohort of veterans using VA healthcare from October 2016-September 2019. KEY RESULTS: Veterans' use of these approaches increased 70% in three years. By 2019, use was 5.7% among all VA patients, but highest among patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain (13.9%), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD; 10.6%), depression (10.4%), anxiety (10.2%), or obesity (7.8%). The approach used varied by age and race/ethnicity, with women being uniformly more likely than men to use each approach. Patients having chronic musculoskeletal pain, obesity, anxiety, depression, or PTSD were more likely than others to use each of the approaches. CONCLUSIONS: Veterans' use of some approaches rapidly grew recently and was robust, especially among patients most in need. This information might help shape federal/state health policy on the provision of evidence-based CIH approaches and guide other healthcare institutions considering providing them.

Patients Receiving Integrative Medicine Effectiveness Registry (PRIMIER) of the BraveNet practice-based research network: Outcomes of the PRIMIER cohort.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the real-world effectiveness of integrative medicine treatment on quality of life using the Patients Receiving Integrative Medicine Effectiveness Registry (PRIMIER). DESIGN: A prospective, longitudinal, observational evaluation of patient reported outcomes for quality of life. SETTING: Participants were patients from 17 integrative medicine clinics who received personalized, integrative medicine treatments between August 2013 and October 2017. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Participants completed the Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS)- 29, Perceived Stress Scale-4 (PSS-4), and the Patient Activation Measure (PAM) at index (baseline) visit and at 2, 4, 6, and 12 month follow-up assessments. Electronic health record data included diagnostic and billing codes/descriptions. A linear mixed-effects model was used to test whether outcomes changed from index through 12 months RESULTS: During enrollment, 4883 participants began the assessment, 3658 completed the index measures, and 2374 (65 %) completed at least 1 follow-up assessment, had electronic health record data and at least 1 integrative medicine visit. Most participants (mean age=51.4 years) were white (88.4 %), female (79.7 %), and college-educated (78.5 %). Significant improvements (p < 0.001) were observed at 12-months on all PROMIS-29 measures, PSS-4, and PAM. At 12 months, clinically meaningful improvements were found for 38 % and 28 % on PROMIS-29 Mental and Physical Health Summary scores respectively. CONCLUSIONS: PRIMIER is the largest study to assess the real-world effectiveness of integrative medicine. Results indicate a statistical and clinical improvement across all measures at 12 months. Future research could explore whether dosing, timing or combinations of integrative medicine interventions have differential impacts on quality of life.

What We Have Learned About the Implementation of Whole Health in the Veterans Administration.

As we have advanced the concept of Whole Health (WH) in the Veterans Administration over the past 10 years, we have had the unique advantage of working in a health care system in which a wide range of WH services-ranging from acupuncture to coaching to yoga and Tai Chi to nutrition classes to peer-facilitated empowerment and skill-building groups-are fully covered by the system as part of standard medical benefits. This has given us the opportunity to evaluate both the process and the outcomes of offering this type of Whole Person care on a system-wide scale. This article will review some of the lessons learned from that ongoing evaluation process in the areas of integration of complementary/integrative health approaches as well as health coaching and peer-led groups, WH education, employee well-being, cost impacts, and whole-system transformation. This is not a systematic review, as we will touch on numerous questions and lessons learned rather than dive deeply into the literature seeking the answer to one narrower question. Hopefully the narrative review approach taken here will stimulate further discussion in the field regarding what we are learning and what we can continue to learn from this large scale innovation.

Effectiveness of a whole health model of care emphasizing complementary and integrative health on reducing opioid use among patients with chronic pain.

BACKGROUND: The opioid crisis has necessitated new approaches to managing chronic pain. The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Whole Health model of care, with its focus on patient empowerment and emphasis on nonpharmacological approaches to pain management, is a promising strategy for reducing patients' use of opioids. We aim to assess whether the VHA's Whole Health pilot program impacted longitudinal patterns of opioid utilization among patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain. METHODS: A cohort of 4,869 Veterans with chronic pain engaging in Whole Health services was compared with a cohort of 118,888 Veterans receiving conventional care. All patients were continuously enrolled in VHA care from 10/2017 through 3/2019 at the 18 VHA medical centers participating in the pilot program. Inverse probability of treatment weighting and multivariate analyses were used to adjust for observable differences in patient characteristics between exposures and conventional care. Patients exposed to Whole Health services were offered nine complementary and integrative health therapies alone or in combination with novel Whole Health services including goal-setting clinical encounters, Whole Health coaching, and personal health planning. MAIN MEASURES: The main measure was change over an 18-month period in prescribed opioid doses starting from the six-month period prior to qualifying exposure. RESULTS: Prescribed opioid doses decreased by -12.0% in one year among Veterans who began complementary and integrative health therapies compared to similar Veterans who used conventional care; -4.4% among Veterans who used only Whole Health services such as goal setting and coaching compared to conventional care, and -8.5% among Veterans who used both complementary and integrative health therapies combined with Whole Health services compared to conventional care. CONCLUSIONS: VHA's Whole Health national pilot program was associated with greater reductions in prescribed opioid doses compared to secular trends associated with conventional care, especially when Veterans were connected with complementary and integrative health therapies.

Whole Health in the Veterans Health Administration.

The Whole Health System being developed and implemented at the Veterans Health Administration is an approach to care which aims to shift the discussion from "What's the Matter With You?" to "What Matters to You?" This article describes some of the progress and future challenges in the implementation of this approach across the VHA.

From patient outcomes to system change: Evaluating the impact of VHA's implementation of the Whole Health System of Care.

OBJECTIVE: To describe how a partnered evaluation of the Whole Health (WH) system of care-comprised of the WH pathway, clinical care, and well-being programs-produced patient outcomes findings, which informed Veterans Health Administration (VA) policy and system change. DATA SOURCES: Electronic health records (EHR)-based cohort of 1,368,413 patients and a longitudinal survey of Veterans receiving care at 18 WH pilot medical centers. STUDY DESIGN: In partnership with VA operations, we focused the evaluation on the impact of WH services utilization on Veterans' (1) use of opioids and (2) care experiences, care engagement, and well-being. Outcomes were compared between Veterans who did and did not use WH services identified from the EHR. DATA COLLECTION: Pharmacy records and WH service data were obtained from the VA EHR, including WH coaching, peer-led groups, personal health planning, and complementary, integrative health therapies. We surveyed veterans at baseline and 6 months to measure patient-reported outcomes. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Opioid use decreased 23% (31.5-6.5) to 38% (60.3-14.4) among WH users depending on level of WH use compared to a secular 11% (12.0-9.9) decrease among Veterans using Conventional Care. Compared to Conventional Care users, WH users reported greater improvements in perceptions of care (SMD = 0.138), engagement in health care (SMD = 0.118) and self-care (SMD = 0.1), life meaning and purpose (SMD = 0.152), pain (SMD = 0.025), and perceived stress (SMD = 0.191). CONCLUSIONS: Evidence developed through this partnership yielded key VA policy changes to increase Veteran access to WH services. Findings formed the foundation of a congressionally mandated report in response to the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, highlighting the value of WH and complementary, integrative health and well-being programs for Veterans with pain. Findings subsequently informed issuance of an Executive Decision Memo mandating the integration of WH into mental health and primary care across VA, now one lane of modernization for VA.

Promoting learning health system feedback loops: Experience with a VA practice-based research network card study.

BACKGROUND: We tested the capacity of the 60-site VA Women's Health Practice-Based Research Network (WH-PBRN), embedded within VA, to employ a multisite card study to collect women Veterans' perspectives about Complementary and Integrative Health (CIH) and to rapidly return findings to participating sites and partnered national policy-makers in support of a Learning Health System (LHS) wherein evidence generation informs ongoing improvement. METHODS: VA primary care clinic clerks and nurses distributed anonymous surveys (patient feedback forms) at clinics for up to two weeks in fiscal year 2017, asking about CIH behavior and preferred delivery methods. We examined the project's feasibility, representativeness, acceptability, and impact via a tracking system, national administrative data, debriefing notes, and three surveys of WH-PBRN Site Leads. RESULTS: Twenty geographically diverse and largely representative VA Medical Centers and 11 Community-Based Outpatient Clinics volunteered to participate. Over six months, N = 1191 women Veterans responded (median 57; range 8-151 per site). In under three months, we returned local findings benchmarked against multisite findings to all participating sites and summary findings to national VA partners. Sites and partners disseminated results to clinical and leadership stakeholders, who then applied results as warranted. CONCLUSIONS: VA effectively mobilized an embedded PBRN to implement a timely, representative, acceptable and impactful operations project. IMPLICATIONS: Card studies by PBRNs within large, national healthcare systems can provide rapid feedback to participating sites and national leaders to guide policies, programs, and practices. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Self-selected respondents could have biased results.

Survey analysis to determine the impact of evidence informed practice education upon East Asian medicine faculty clinical instruction and students' skills, knowledge, attitudes and behaviors within a master's degree program.

BACKGROUND: Between 2013 and 2018 Pacific College of Health and Science (formerly Pacific College of Oriental Medicine) trained faculty and developed curriculum in evidence informed practice (EIP), with support from a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). A three-credit (45 h) Foundations of EIP course, and online EIP learning modules (developed as part of a previous NIH R25 award), were used for faculty and student training. In addition, EIP was incorporated into 73% of the East Asian medicine degree program. Clinical integration of EIP in the College clinic was enhanced by improving access to reference sources, including additional EIP-related questions to the patient intake forms, requiring the use of a patient-centered outcome instrument, and assessing students' clinical EIP competencies. METHODS: Master's degree students' self-reported EIP skills, knowledge, attitudes and behaviors were assessed before and after taking the Foundations of EIP course using a 17-question paper-based survey with an additional open-ended comments section. The survey was administered in 29 courses across all three Pacific College campuses. Clinical faculty self-reported EIP instruction, focusing on the EIP content and instructional approaches that were utilized, was evaluated on the New York City campus using a paper-based survey before and after changes were made to enhance the clinical integration of EIP. RESULTS: A total of 1181 completed EIP-course surveys consisting of 657 pre-EIP course surveys and 524 post-EIP course surveys were analyzed. There was a statistically significant improvement in students' EIP skills, knowledge and behaviors after completing the EIP course. Students' perception of the importance of EIP was high before and after the EIP course. Little change in Faculty's EIP-related clinical instruction was evident following the EIP-related changes that were made to the Clinic. CONCLUSION: Our study suggests that the three-credit (45 h) EIP course was effective at improving the EIP skills, knowledge and behaviors of this group of East Asian medicine students who were undertaking a master's degree that qualified them for licensure in acupuncture in the US. These students also demonstrated a high level of recognition for the importance of research and EIP both before and after the course. Training faculty clinical supervisors and providing greater access to evidence sources in the College clinic did not appear to increase EIP instructional activity.

Barriers and Facilitators to Implementing Bundled Acupuncture and Yoga Therapy to Treat Chronic Pain in Community Healthcare Settings: A Feasibility Pilot.

Objective: To identify factors associated with implementing bundled group acupuncture and yoga therapy (YT) to treat underserved patients with chronic pain in community health center (CHC) settings. This is not an implementation science study, but rather an organized approach for identification of barriers and facilitators to implementing these therapies as a precursor to a future implementation science study. Design: This study was part of a single-arm feasibility trial, which aimed to test the feasibility of bundling GA and YT for chronic pain in CHCs. Treatment outcomes were measured before and after the 10-week intervention period. Implementation feasibility was assessed through weekly research team meetings, weekly yoga provider meetings, monthly acupuncture provider meetings, and weekly provider surveys. Settings: The study was conducted in New York City at two Montefiore Medical Group (MMG) sites in the Bronx, and one Institute for Family Health (IFH) site in Harlem. Subjects: Participants in the feasibility trial were recruited from IFH and MMG sites, and needed to have had lower back, neck, or osteoarthritis pain for >3 months. Implementation stakeholders included the research team, providers of acupuncture and YT, referring providers, and CHC staff. Results: Implementation of these therapies was assessed using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research. We identified issues associated with scheduling, treatment fidelity, communication, the three-way disciplinary interaction of acupuncture, yoga, and biomedicine, space adaptation, site-specific logistical and operational requirements, and patient-provider language barriers. Issues varied as to their frequency and resolution difficulty. Conclusions: This feasibility trial identified implementation issues and resolution strategies that could be further explored in future implementation studies. Clinical Trial Registration No.: NCT04296344.

Professional development in integrative health through an interprofessional online course in clinical settings.

BACKGROUND: Although there is mounting clinical and cost-effectiveness evidence supporting integrative healthcare (IH), a significant knowledge gap hinders widespread adoption by health professionals. INTERVENTION: Foundations in Integrative Health (FIH), a 32-h online competency-based interprofessional course to address this knowledge gap. METHODS: The course was pilot-tested by an interprofessional sample of providers in various clinical settings as professional and staff development. OUTCOME MEASURES: Prior to and following the course, participants completed an IH knowledge test, an IH self-efficacy self-assessment, and validated measures of burnout, wellness behaviors, and attitudes toward IH, interprofessional teams, and patient involvement. Evaluation surveys were administered following each unit and the course. RESULTS: Thirty-one percent of the participants (n = 214/690) completed the course. Pre/post course improvements were found in IH knowledge, IH self-efficacy, attitudes towards IH and interprofessional teams, and several wellness behaviors. The course was positively evaluated with 81% of the participants indicating interest in applying IH principles in their practice and 92% reported that the course enhanced their clinical experience. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates the outcomes of a multi-site, online IH curriculum offered to a diverse group of health professionals in various clinical settings. This course may allow clinical settings to offer an interprofessional, IH curriculum even with limited on-site faculty expertise.

Group Acupuncture Therapy With Yoga Therapy for Chronic Neck, Low Back, and Osteoarthritis Pain in Safety Net Setting for an Underserved Population: Design and Rationale for a Feasibility Pilot.

Chronic pain is prevalent in the United States, with impact on physical and psychological functioning as well as lost work productivity. Minority and lower socioeconomic populations have increased prevalence of chronic pain with less access to pain care, poorer outcomes, and higher risk of fatal opioid overdose. Acupuncture therapy is effective in treating chronic pain conditions including chronic low back pain, neck pain, shoulder pain, and knee pain from osteoarthritis. Acupuncture therapy, including group acupuncture, is feasible and effective, and specifically so for underserved and diverse populations at risk for health outcome disparities. Acupuncture therapy also encourages patient engagement and activation. As chronic pain improves, there is a natural progression to want and need to increase activity and movement recovery. Diverse movement approaches are important for improving range of motion, maintaining gains, strengthening, and promoting patient engagement and activation. Yoga therapy is an active therapy with proven benefit in musculoskeletal pain disorders and pain associated disability. The aim of this quasi-experimental pilot feasibility trial is to test the bundling of these 2 effective care options for chronic pain, to inform both the design for a larger randomized pragmatic effectiveness trial as well as implementation strategies across underserved settings.