Testing an Adapted Modified Delphi Method: Synthesizing Multiple Stakeholder Ratings of Health Care Service Effectiveness.

BACKGROUND: The Affordable Care Act incentivizes health systems for better meeting patient needs, but often guidance about patient preferences for particular health services is limited. All too often vulnerable patient populations are excluded from these decision-making settings. A community-based participatory approach harnesses the in-depth knowledge of those experiencing barriers to health care. METHOD: We made three modifications to the RAND-UCLA appropriateness method, a modified Delphi approach, involving patients, adding an advisory council group to characterize existing knowledge in this little studied area, and using effectiveness rather than "appropriateness" as the basis for rating. As a proof of concept, we tested this method by examining the broadly delivered but understudied nonmedical services that community health centers provide. RESULTS: This method created discrete, new knowledge about these services by defining 6 categories and 112 unique services and by prioritizing among these services based on effectiveness using a 9-point scale. Consistent with the appropriateness method, we found statistical convergence of ratings among the panelists. DISCUSSION: Challenges include time commitment and adherence to a clear definition of effectiveness of services. This diverse stakeholder engagement method efficiently addresses gaps in knowledge about the effectiveness of health care services to inform population health management.

Delivering On Accountable Care: Lessons From A Behavioral Health Program To Improve Access And Outcomes.

Patients with behavioral health disorders often have worse health outcomes and have higher health care utilization than patients with medical diseases alone. As such, people with behavioral health conditions are important populations for accountable care organizations (ACOs) seeking to improve the efficiency of their delivery systems. However, ACOs have historically faced numerous barriers in implementing behavioral health population-based programs, including acquiring reimbursement, recruiting providers, and integrating new services. We developed an evidence-based, all-payer collaborative care program called Behavioral Health Associates (BHA), operated as part of UCLA Health, an integrated academic medical center. Building BHA required several innovations, which included using our enterprise electronic medical record for behavioral health referrals and documentation; registering BHA providers with insurance plans' mental health carve-out products; and embedding BHA providers in primary care practices throughout the UCLA Health system. Since 2012 BHA has more than tripled the number of patients receiving behavioral health services through UCLA Health. After receiving BHA treatment, patients had a 13 percent reduction in emergency department use. Our efforts can serve as a model for other ACOs seeking to integrate behavioral health care into routine practice.

Defining and Rating the Effectiveness of Enabling Services Using a Multi-stakeholder Expert Panel Approach.

The Affordable Care Act provides opportunities to reimburse non-medical enabling services that promote the delivery of medical care for patients with social barriers. However, limited evidence exists to guide delivery of these services. We addressed this gap by convening community health center patients, providers, and other stakeholders in two panels that developed a framework for defining and evaluating these services. We adapted a group consensus method where the panelists rated services for effectiveness in increasing access to, use, and understanding of medical care. Panelists defined six broad categories, 112 services, and 21 variables including the type of provider delivering the service. We identified 16 highest-rated services and found that the service provider's level of training affected effectiveness for some but not all services. In a field with little evidence, these findings provide guidance to decision-makers for the targeted spread of services that enable patients to overcome social barriers to care.

Tool used to assess how well community health centers function as medical homes may be flawed.

The patient-centered medical home model holds the potential for reducing disease complications and improving health, and the federal government is now promoting the adoption of the model within federally qualified community health centers. In a group of Los Angeles community health centers, we found that all would have qualified as patient-centered medical homes under a widely used assessment tool developed by the National Committee for Quality Assurance and endorsed by the federal government for the community health center program. However, we also found that there was no significant relationship between how well these centers performed on the assessment and whether they achieved a range of process or outcome measures for diabetes care. These findings suggest that the federal government is promoting medical home redesign that may not be sensitive to, or inclusive of, services that will actually improve diabetes care for low-income patients. Therefore, additional methods are required for measuring and improving the capabilities of community health centers to function as medical homes and to deliver the scope of services that impoverished patients genuinely need.

Risk factors for thrombocytopenia in HIV-infected persons in the era of potent antiretroviral therapy.

OBJECTIVE: Before potent antiretroviral therapy, thrombocytopenia was observed frequently. Little is known about risk factors for or severity and consequences of thrombocytopenia since establishment of highly effective therapy for HIV. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective-matched case-control study of HIV-infected adult outpatients with and without thrombocytopenia to elucidate the contribution of HIV viremia, hepatitis C infection, and other potential risk factors for thrombocytopenia. Seventy-three cases with thrombocytopenia (platelet count <100 x 10(9)/L persistent for >3 months) were matched by age, sex, and first clinic visit with 73 nonthrombocytopenic controls. Risk factors and outcomes were assessed using conditional logistic regression. RESULTS: Nadir platelet counts in cases were 400 copies/ml, hepatitis C virus infection, and cirrhosis were significantly associated with thrombocytopenia with adjusted odds ratios of 5.3 [confidence interval (CI) 1.6-17.1, P = 0.006], 6.1 (CI 1.6-22.6, P = 0.007), and 24.0 (CI 1.7-338, P = 0.019), respectively. Thrombocytopenia was significantly associated with major bleeding events and nonbleeding-related death. CONCLUSIONS: Thrombocytopenia in the era of potent antiretroviral therapy is associated with hepatitis C virus infection, cirrhosis, and uncontrolled HIV replication, and serious complications including major bleeding and death.