Understanding the experience, treatment preferences and goals of people living with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) in Australia.

BACKGROUND: Listening to patient voices is critical, in terms of how people experience their condition as well as their treatment preferences. This research explored the patient journey, therapy attributes and goals among treatment experienced adults with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). We sought to understand patient experiences, needs and expectations to identify areas for improvement of treatment and care delivery. METHODS: Two online surveys were developed for completion by CLL patients. In Stage 1, participants completed a best-worst scaling (BWS) task to evaluate eleven previously validated healthcare journey moments that matter (MTM). Responses were used to generate the patient experience index (PEI) score. In Stage 2, participants completed a survey that included both a discrete choice experiment (DCE) to assess drivers of treatment preferences by evaluating the relative attribute importance (RAI) of seven features and a BWS exercise which explored long-term treatment goals. RESULTS: Twenty-five patients completed Stage 1 and thirty patients Stage 2. Treatment experience was balanced between oral and intravenous medication. The most important/least satisfied MTM were treatment effectiveness, access to support and other treatments as well as monitoring progress. The median PEI score was 66.2 (out of 100). DCE results demonstrated that patients most value treatments for CLL that are associated with prolonged progression free survival (PFS; RAI: 24.6%), followed by treatments that have a lower risk of severe side effects and lower out-of-pocket costs (RAI: 19.5%, 17.4%, respectively). The remainder of the weight in decision making (38.5%) was split between the remaining attributes, namely 'mild to moderate side effects' (13.4%), 'long-term risks' (12.2%), type of treatment (i.e., oral, IV or a combination of oral and IV; 8.7%) and treatment duration (i.e., ongoing versus fixed; 4.2%). Patients preferred oral to intravenous therapy. The most valued long-term treatment goal was to be physically healthy, followed by living a long life, spending time with family/friends, and avoiding hospitalization. CONCLUSION: Treatment experienced patients with CLL are focused on receiving effective, safe therapies and value long PFS. Consideration and discussion of other attributes, such as once daily dosing, oral only medication, out-of-pocket costs and access to support services may affect patient treatment choices and ultimately enhance their healthcare experience and outcomes.

Patient-Centric Long-Acting Injectable and Implantable Platforms─An Industrial Perspective.

The increasing focus on patient centricity in the pharmaceutical industry over the past decade and the changing healthcare landscape, driven by factors such as increased access to information, social media, and evolving patient demands, has necessitated a shift toward greater connectivity and understanding of patients' unique treatment needs. One pharmaceutical technology that has supported these efforts is long acting injectables (LAIs), which lower the administration frequency for the patient's provided convenience, better compliance, and hence better therapeutical treatment for the patients. Furthermore, patients with conditions like the human immunodeficiency virus and schizophrenia have positively expressed the desire for less frequent dosing, such as that obtained through LAI formulations. In this work, a comprehensive analysis of marketed LAIs across therapeutic classes and technologies is conducted. The analysis demonstrated an increasing number of new LAIs being brought to the market, recently most as aqueous suspensions and one as a solution, but many other technology platforms were applied as well, in particular, polymeric microspheres and in situ forming gels. The analysis across the technologies provided an insight into to the physicochemical properties the compounds had per technology class as well as knowledge of the excipients typically used within the individual formulation technology. The principle behind the formulation technologies was discussed with respect to the release mechanism, manufacturing approaches, and the possibility of defining predictive in vitro release methods to obtain in vitro in vivo correlations with an industrial angle. The gaps in the field are still numerous, including better systematic formulation and manufacturing investigations to get a better understanding of potential innovations, but also development of new polymers could facilitate the development of additional compounds. The biggest and most important gaps, however, seem to be the development of predictive in vitro dissolution methods utilizing pharmacopoeia described equipment to enable their use for product development and later in the product cycle for quality-based purposes.

Physiologically Based Biopharmaceutics Modeling (PBBM): Best Practices for Drug Product Quality, Regulatory and Industry Perspectives: 2023 Workshop Summary Report.

Physiologically based biopharmaceutics modeling (PBBM) is used to elevate drug product quality by providing a more accurate and holistic understanding of how drugs interact with the human body. These models are based on the integration of physiological, pharmacological, and pharmaceutical data to simulate and predict drug behavior in vivo. Effective utilization of PBBM requires a consistent approach to model development, verification, validation, and application. Currently, only one country has a draft guidance document for PBBM, whereas other major regulatory authorities have had limited experience with the review of PBBM. To address this gap, industry submitted confidential PBBM case studies to be reviewed by the regulatory agencies; software companies committed to training. PBBM cases were independently and collaboratively discussed by regulators, and academic colleagues participated in some of the discussions. Successful bioequivalence "safe space" industry case examples are also presented. Overall, six regulatory agencies were involved in the case study exercises, including ANVISA, FDA, Health Canada, MHRA, PMDA, and EMA (experts from Belgium, Germany, Norway, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden), and we believe this is the first time such a collaboration has taken place. The outcomes were presented at this workshop, together with a participant survey on the utility and experience with PBBM submissions, to discuss the best scientific practices for developing, validating, and applying PBBMs. The PBBM case studies enabled industry to receive constructive feedback from global regulators and highlighted clear direction for future PBBM submissions for regulatory consideration.

A prospective study to assess the effectiveness and safety of the BlueWind System in the treatment of patients diagnosed with urgency urinary incontinence.

BACKGROUND: Overactive bladder (OAB) affects one in six adults in Europe and the United States and impairs the quality of life of millions of individuals worldwide. When conservative management fails, third-line treatments including tibial neuromodulation (TNM) is often pursued. TNM has traditionally been accomplished percutaneously in clinic. OBJECTIVE: A minimally invasive implantable device activated by a battery-operated external wearable unit has been developed for the treatment of urgency urinary incontinence (UUI), mitigating the burden of frequent clinic visits and more invasive therapies that are currently commercially available. METHODS: A prospective, multicenter, single-arm, open-label, pivotal study evaluated the safety and effectiveness of the device in adult females with UUI (i.e., wet OAB) (BlueWind Implantable Tibial Neuromodulation [iTNM] system; IDE number #G200013; NCT03596671). Results with the device were previously published under the name RENOVA iStim, which has been since renamed as the Revi™ System. Approximately 1-month post-implantation of the device, participants delivered therapy at their convenience and completed a 7-day voiding diary before visits 6- and 12-months post-treatment initiation. The primary efficacy and safety endpoints were the proportion of responders to therapy ( ≥ 50% improvement on average number of urgency-related incontinence episodes) and incidence of adverse events from implantation to 12-month post-activation. RESULTS: A total of 151 participants, mean age 58.8 (SD: 12.5), were implanted; 144 and 140 completed the 6- and 12-month visits, respectively. The participants demonstrated mean baseline of 4.8 UUI/day (SD 2.9) and 10 voids/day (SD 3.3). Six and 12-months post-activation, 76.4% and 78.4% of participants, respectively, were responders to therapy in an intent-to-treat analysis. Of the 139 participants with completed 12-month diaries, 82% were responders, 50% were classified as "dry" (on at least 3 consecutive diary days), and 93.5% of participants reported that their symptoms improved. No implanted participant experienced an SAE related to the procedure or device. CONCLUSIONS: iTNM, delivered and powered by a patient-controlled external wearable communicating with an implant, demonstrated clinically meaningful and statistically significant improvement in UUI symptoms and a high safety profile. This therapy highlights the value of patient-centric therapy for the treatment of UUI.

India Hypertension Control Initiative: decentralization of hypertension care to health wellness centres in Punjab and Maharashtra, India, 2018-2022.

INTRODUCTION: The India Hypertension Control Initiative (IHCI) emphasizes decentralized patient-centric care to boost hypertension control in public healthcare facilities. We documented the decentralization process, enrolment pattern by facility type, and treatment outcomes in nine districts of Punjab and Maharashtra states, India, from 2018-2022. METHODS: We detailed the shift in hypertension care from higher facilities to Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs) using the World Health Organization (WHO) health system pillar framework. We reviewed hypertension treatment records in 4,045 public facilities from nine districts in the two states, focusing on indicators including registration numbers, the proportion of controlled, uncontrolled blood pressure (BP), and missed visits among those under care. RESULTS: The decentralization process involved training, treatment protocol provision, supervision, and monitoring. Among 394,038 individuals registered with hypertension from 2018-2021, 69% were under care in 2022. Nearly half of those under care (129,720/273,355) received treatment from HWCs in 2022. Care of hypertensive individuals from district hospitals (14%), community health centres (20%), and primary health centres (24%) were decentralized to HWCs. Overall BP control rose from 20% (4,004/20,347) in 2019 to 58% (157,595/273,355) in 2022, while missed visits decreased from 61% (12,394/20,347) in 2019 to 26% (70,894/273,355) in 2022. This trend was consistent in both states. HWCs exhibited the highest BP control and the lowest missed visits throughout the study period compared to other facility types. CONCLUSION: We documented an increase in decentralized access to hypertension treatment and improved treatment outcomes over four years. We recommend operationalizing hypertension care at HWCs to other districts in India to improve BP control.

Self-identified rurality in a nationally representative population in the US.

INTRODUCTION: In the US, health services research most often relies on Rural-Urban Commuting Area (RUCA) classification codes to measure rurality. This measure is known to misrepresent rurality and does not rely on individual experiences of rurality associated with healthcare inequities. We aimed to determine a patient-centered RUCA-based definition of rurality. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, we conducted an online survey asking US residents, 'Do you live in a rural area?' and the rationale for their answer. We evaluated the concordance between their self-identified rurality and their ZIP code-derived RUCA designation of rurality by calculating Cohen's kappa (κ) statistic and percent agreement. RESULTS: Of the 774 participants, 456 (58.9%) and 318 (41.1%) individuals had conventional urban and rural RUCA classifications, respectively. There was only moderate agreement between perceived rurality and rural RUCA classification (κ=0.48; 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.42-0.54). Among people living within RUCA 2-3 defined urban areas (n=51), percent agreement was only 19.6%. Discordance was driven by their perception of the population density, proximity to the nearest neighbor, proximity to a metropolitan area, and the number of homes in their area. Based on our results, we reclassified RUCA 2-3 designations as rural, resulting in an increase in overall concordance (κ=0.56; 95%CI=0.50-0.62). DISCUSSION: Patient-centered rural-urban classification is required to effectively evaluate the impact of rurality on health disparities. This study presents a more patient-centric RUCA-based classification of rurality that can be easily operationalized in future research in situations in which self-reported rural status is missing or challenging to obtain. CONCLUSION: Reclassification of RUCA 2-3 as rural represents a more patient-centric definition of rurality.

Direct-to-participant investigational medicinal product supply in clinical trials in Europe: Exploring the experiences of sponsors, site staff and couriers.

AIMS: Insights into the current practice of direct-to-participant (DtP) supply of investigational medicinal product (IMP) in the context of clinical trials conducted in Europe are needed, as regulations are unharmonized. This study is set out to explore how DtP IMP supply has been employed in Europe and what the advantages and disadvantages and barriers and facilitators of its implementation are. METHODS: We conducted semi-structured interviews with representatives from sponsor companies, courier services and site study staff involved in the IMP dispensing and delivery process in Europe. Interviews were conducted between May and November 2021, and data were analysed following thematic analysis. RESULTS: Sixteen respondents participated in one of the 12 interviews. Respondents had experience with different models of DtP IMP supply including shipment from the investigative site, a central pharmacy (a depot under the control of a pharmacist) and a local pharmacy-aiming to reduce trial participation burden. The respondents indicated that investigative site-to-participant shipment is not affected by regulatory barriers, but could burden site staff. Shipment from central locations was considered most efficient, but possible regulatory barriers related to maintaining participants' privacy and investigator oversight were identified. The respondents indicated that the involvement of local pharmacies to dispense IMP can be considered when the IMP is authorized. CONCLUSIONS: Several DtP IMP supply models are implemented in clinical trials conducted in Europe. In this study, three main DtP IMP models were identified, which can be referenced when describing these approaches for regulatory approval.

Podcast article: Biomarker testing in colorectal cancer.

Christopher Lieu, co-director of gastrointestinal medical oncology and the associate director for clinical research at the University of Colorado Cancer Center (CO, USA) discusses the importance of biomarker testing in metastatic colorectal cancer to inform personalized patient care.

An artificial intelligence-powered, patient-centric digital tool for self-management of chronic pain: a prospective, multicenter clinical trial.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate how a behavioral health, artificial intelligence (AI)-powered, digital self-management tool affects the daily functions in adults with chronic back and neck pain. DESIGN: Eligible subjects were enrolled in a 12-week prospective, multicenter, single-arm, open-label study and instructed to use the digital coach daily. Primary outcome was a change in Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information Systems (PROMIS) scores for pain interference. Secondary outcomes were changes in PROMIS physical function, anxiety, depression, pain intensity scores and pain catastrophizing scale (PCS) scores. METHODS: Subjects logged daily activities, using PainDrainerTM, and data analyzed by the AI engine. Questionnaire and web-based data were collected at 6 and 12 weeks and compared to subjects' baseline. RESULTS: Subjects completed the 6- (n = 41) and 12-week (n = 34) questionnaires. A statistically significant Minimal Important Difference (MID) for pain interference was demonstrated in 57.5% of the subjects. Similarly, MID for physical function was demonstrated in 72.5% of the subjects. A pre- to post-intervention improvement in depression score was also statistically significant, observed in 100% of subjects, as was the improvement in anxiety scores, evident in 81.3% of the subjects. PCS mean scores was also significantly decreased at 12 weeks. CONCLUSION: Chronic pain self-management, using an AI-powered, digital coach anchored in behavioral health principles significantly improved subjects' pain interference, physical function, depression, anxiety, and pain catastrophizing over the 12-week study period.

Design of a real-world, prospective, longitudinal, observational study to compare vortioxetine with other standard of care antidepressant treatments in patients with major depressive disorder: a PatientsLikeMe survey.

BACKGROUND: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a recurrent psychiatric condition that presents challenges in responding to treatment and achieving long-term remission. To improve outcomes, a shared decision-making treatment approach with patient and healthcare practitioner (HCP) engagement is vital. PatientsLikeMe (PLM), a peer community of patients, provides information on MDD, symptoms, and treatment through forums and resources, helping patients stay engaged in their treatment journey. Data on PLM can be harnessed to gain insights into patient perspectives on MDD symptom management, medication switches, and treatment goals and measures. METHODS: This ongoing, decentralized, longitudinal, observational, prospective study is being conducted using the PLM platform in two parts, enrolling up to 500 patients with MDD in the United States aged ≥ 18 years to compare vortioxetine with other monotherapy antidepressants. The first qualitative component consists of a webinar and discussion forum with PLM community members with MDD, followed by a pilot for functionality testing to improve the study flow and questions in the quantitative survey. The quantitative component follows on the PLM platform, utilizing patient-reported assessments, over a 24-week period. Three surveys will be conducted at baseline and weeks 12 and 24 to collect data on patient global impression of improvement, depression severity, cognitive function, quality of life (QoL) and well-being, medication satisfaction, emotional blunting, symptoms of anhedonia and resilience, as well as goal attainment. Quantitative results will be compared between groups. The qualitative component is complete; patient recruitment is underway for the quantitative component, with results expected in late 2023. DISCUSSION: These results will help HCPs understand patient perspectives on the effectiveness of vortioxetine versus other monotherapy antidepressants in alleviating symptoms of MDD and improvements in QoL. Data from the PLM platform will support a patient goal-based treatment approach, as results can be shared by patients with their HCPs, providing them with insights on patient-centric goals, treatment management and adherence, as well as allowing them to observe changes in patient-related outcomes scores. Findings from the study will also help to optimize the PLM platform to build scalable solutions and connectivity within the community to better serve patients with MDD.

Establishing Requirements for Technology to Support Clinical Trial Retention: Systematic Scoping Review and Analysis Using Self-determination Theory.

BACKGROUND: Retaining participants in clinical trials is an established challenge. Currently, the industry is moving to a technology-mediated, decentralized model for running trials. The shift presents an opportunity for technology design to aid the participant experience and promote retention; however, there are many open questions regarding how this can be best supported. We advocate the adoption of a stronger theoretical position to improve the quality of design decisions for clinical trial technology to promote participant engagement. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to identify and analyze the types of retention strategies used in published clinical trials that successfully retain participants. METHODS: A systematic scoping review was carried out on 6 electronic databases for articles published from 1990 to September 2020, namely CINAHL, The Cochrane Library, EBSCO, Embase, PsycINFO, and PubMed, using the concepts "retention," "strategy," "clinal trial," and "clinical research." This was followed by an analysis of the included articles through the lens of self-determination theory, an evidence-based theory of human motivation. RESULTS: A total of 26 articles were included in this review. The motivational strategies identified in the clinical trials in our sample were categorized into 8 themes: autonomy; competence; relatedness; controlled motivation; branding, communication material, and marketing literature; contact, tracking, and scheduling methods and data collection; convenience to contribute to data collection; and organizational competence. The trials used a wide range of motivational strategies. Notably, the trials often relied on controlled motivation interventions and underused strategies to support intrinsic motivation. Moreover, traditional clinical trials relied heavily on human interaction and "relatedness" to support motivation and retention, which may cause problems in the move to technology-led decentralized trials. We found inconsistency in the data-reporting methods and that motivational theory-based approaches were not evident in strategy design. CONCLUSIONS: This study offers direction and a framework to guide digital technology design decisions for future decentralized clinical trials to enhance participant retention during clinical trials. This research defines previous clinical trial retention strategies in terms of participant motivation, identifies motivational strategies, and offers a rationale for selecting strategies that will improve retention. It emphasizes the benefits of using theoretical frameworks to analyze strategic approaches and aid decision-making to improve the quality of technology design decisions.

Decision-making in nursing research and practice-Application of the Cognitive Continuum Theory: A meta-aggregative systematic review.

AIM: To explore how the Cognitive Continuum Theory has been used in qualitative nursing research and to what extent it has been integrated in the research process using the Qualitative Network for Theory Use and Methodology (QUANTUM). BACKGROUND: Theory, research and nursing are intrinsically linked, as are decision-making and nursing practice. With increasing pressure on nurses to improve patient outcomes, systematic knowledge regarding decision-making is critical and urgent. DESIGN: A meta-aggregative systematic review. METHODS: DATABASES: CINAHL, Medline, PsycINFO, Embase and PubMed were searched from inception until May 2022 for peer-reviewed research published in English. Seven studies were included and assessed for methodological quality using the Joanna Briggs Institute checklist for qualitative research. A meta-aggregative synthesis was conducted using Joanna Briggs methodology. The QUANTUM typology was used to evaluate the visibility of the Cognitive Continuum Theory in the research process. RESULTS: The review identified five synthesised findings, namely: 1. the decision-making capacity of the individual nurse, 2. nurses' level of experience, 3. availability of decision support tools, 4. the availability of resources and 5. access to senior staff and peers. Only two of seven studies rigorously applied the theory. The included studies were mainly descriptive-exploratory in nature. CONCLUSION: The transferability of the Cognitive Continuum Theory was demonstrated; however, evolution or critique was absent. A gap in the provision of a patient-centric approach to decision-making was identified. Education, support and research is needed to assist decision-making. A new Person-Centred Nursing Model of the Cognitive Continuum Theory has been proposed to guide future research in clinical decision-making. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Nurses make numerous decisions every day that directly impact patient care, therefore development and testing of new theories, modification and revision of older theories to reflect advances in knowledge and technology in contemporary health care are essential.

Autoimmune gene expression profiling of fingerstick whole blood in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

BACKGROUND: Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) is a debilitating condition that can lead to severe impairment of physical, psychological, cognitive, social, and occupational functions. The cause of ME/CFS remains incompletely understood. There is no clinical diagnostic test for ME/CFS. Although many therapies have been used off-label to manage symptoms of ME/CFS, there are limited, if any, specific therapies or cure for ME/CFS. In this study, we investigated the expression of genes specific to key immune functions, and viral infection status in ME/CFS patients with an aim of identifying biomarkers for characterization and/or treatment of the disease. METHODS: In 2021, one-hundred and sixty-six (166) patients diagnosed with ME/CFS and 83 healthy controls in the US participated in this study via a social media-based application (app). The patients and heathy volunteers consented to the study and provided self-collected finger-stick blood and first morning void urine samples from home. RNA from the fingerstick blood was tested using DxTerity's 51-gene autoimmune RNA expression panel (AIP). In addition, DNA from the same fingerstick blood sample was extracted to detect viral load of 4 known ME/CFS associated viruses (HHV6, HHV7, CMV and EBV) using a real-time PCR method. RESULTS: Among the 166 ME/CFS participants in the study, approximately half (49%) of the ME/CFS patients reported being house-bound or bedridden due to severe symptoms of the disease. From the AIP testing, ME/CFS patients with severe, bedridden conditions displayed significant increases in gene expression of IKZF2, IKZF3, HSPA8, BACH2, ABCE1 and CD3D, as compared to patients with mild to moderate disease conditions. These six aforementioned genes were further upregulated in the 22 bedridden participants who suffer not only from ME/CFS but also from other autoimmune diseases. These genes are involved in T cell, B cell and autoimmunity functions. Furthermore, IKZF3 (Aiolos) and IKZF2 (Helios), and BACH2 have been implicated in other autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). Among the 240 participants tested with the viral assays, 9 samples showed positive results (including 1 EBV positive and 8 HHV6 positives). CONCLUSIONS: Our study indicates that gene expression biomarkers may be used in identifying or differentiating subsets of ME/CFS patients having different levels of disease severity. These gene targets may also represent opportunities for new therapeutic modalities for the treatment of ME/CFS. The use of social media engaged patient recruitment and at-home sample collection represents a novel approach for conducting clinical research which saves cost, time and eliminates travel for office visits.

The burden of a brain tumor: guiding patient centric care in neuro-oncology.

PURPOSE: Brain tumor patients report an overwhelming sense of uncertainty when navigating the course of their terminal disease. Historically, organizational experts and/or treating physicians have established neuro-oncology programs. However, given the disease burden and incurable nature of current medical treatments, patient-centric care should be prioritized alongside institutional and academic objectives. Integrating patient perspectives into interdisciplinary programmatic development can improve comprehensive care and empower patients to advocate for their own quality healthcare needs. METHODS: Data was derived from four focus groups with adult brain tumor patients (N = 15; Mage = 46 years, 53% female). A trained moderator led each 90-min group and posed semi-structured questions regarding patients' care needs throughout their neuro-oncological disease trajectory. Emphasis was placed on quality of life and psychological distress reduction for both patients and their loved ones. Common themes were identified via thematic content analysis using NVivo software. A high inter-rater reliability (Mkappa = 0.92, range= 0.85-0.93) was achieved. RESULTS: Six distinct themes emerged, where the frequency of each theme ranged from 12.5 to 23.3%. Specifically, patients discussed relational concerns, navigation of interdisciplinary care, neurobehavioral impacts, emotional responses to stressors, existential concerns, and caregiver support. A discussion of themes follows. CONCLUSIONS: It is imperative that we include the patient perspective in the development of neuro-oncology programs; considering the quality of survival in addition to quantity. Neuro-oncology quality care themes identified were relational concerns, navigating interdisciplinary care, neurobehavioral impact, emotional response to stressors, existential concerns, and caregiver support. A paramount concentration for comprehensive neuro-oncology programs must include patients' quality needs.

Mobilizing the clinical trial ecosystem to drive adoption of master protocols.

Master protocol studies typically use an overarching protocol to answer several questions by guiding a variety of sub-studies. These sub-studies can incorporate multiple diseases, therapies, or both. Although this innovative approach offers many benefits, including the ability to deliver clinical research that is more patient-centric and efficient, several common barriers curtail widespread adoption. The Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative (CTTI) convened industry representatives, regulatory agencies, patient groups, and academic institutions to identify emerging best practices and develop resources designed to help sponsors and other stakeholders overcome these challenges. We first identify some broad changes needed in the clinical trials ecosystem to facilitate mainstream adoption of master protocol studies, and we subsequently summarize CTTI's resources designed to support this effort.

A quantitative analysis of risk-sharing agreements with patient support programs for improving medication adherence.

Medication adherence is a challenge for patients, drugmakers, and payers. To promote adherence, some payers adopt a form of pay-for-success value-based risk-sharing agreements. Drugmakers reduce prices for meaningful improvement in adherence and share patient information and resources with payers; as a return, payers run patient support programs and put drugs on a tier with lower copays. We use a game-theoretic approach to investigate the optimal program effect and the optimal prices with and without improvement in adherence, measured by Proportion of Days Covered, under such an agreement. Since negotiation power impacts how prices are determined, we consider several pricing settings: the payer or the drugmaker sets both prices or sets one price simultaneously or sequentially. Although a discount for improved adherence tends to promote adherence, it may not always be achievable nor guarantees better adherence. The drugmaker with strong negotiation power can align its interest with social welfare but the payer may not. The payer with strong negotiation power can improve more adherence than the drugmaker. Balanced negotiation power contributes either the most or the least to adherence depending on contract form and decision sequence. Although cost-sharing by the drugmaker expects to increase program efforts, it may not be true. We find that the policymaker prefers different levels of cost-sharing under different pricing settings. The payer may have a first-mover advantage when setting the price without improved adherence; the drugmaker, however, does not have such an advantage.

Association of personalised care plans with monitoring and control of clinical outcomes, prescription of medication and utilisation of primary care services in patients with type 2 diabetes: an observational real-world study.

OBJECTIVE: To study the association of personalised care plans with monitoring and controlling clinical outcomes, prescription of cardiovascular and antihyperglycaemic medication and utilisation of primary care services in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D). PATIENTS: Primary care T2D outpatients from the Rovaniemi Health Centre. SETTING: The municipal health centre, Rovaniemi, Finland. DESIGN: A cross-sectional, observational, retrospective register-based study. The patients were divided into three groups: 'no care plan entries' (usual care); '1-2 care plan entries'; and '3 or more care plan entries'. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Monitoring of clinical and biochemical measures, achievement of treatment targets, prescription of cardiovascular and antihyperglycemic medication, and use of primary care services. RESULTS: A total of 5104 patients with T2D (mean age 65.5 years (SD 12.4)), of which 67% had at least one care plan entry. Compared to usual care, the establishment of a care plan (either care plan group) was associated with better monitoring of glycosylated haemoglobin A1c, low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol, systolic blood pressure (sBP), and renal function, and there was more frequent prescription of all cardiovascular and antihyperglycemic medication. Patients in either care plan group were more likely to achieve sBP target (p < 0.05). Patients without a care plan had more unplanned primary care physician contacts compared to patients in care plan groups (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Establishment of a care plan is associated with more intensive and focussed care of patients with T2D. The appropriate use of primary care resources is essential and personalised care plans may contribute to the treatment of patients with T2D.Key PointsCare planning aims to empower patients with type 2 diabetes. This study demonstrates that personalised care planning is associated withmore frequent monitoring for clinical outcomes,more frequent prescription of cardiovascular and antihyperglycemic medication andmore frequent utilisation of planned diabetes consultations when compared to usual care.

Patterns of Symptom Tracking by Caregivers and Patients With Dementia and Mild Cognitive Impairment: Cross-sectional Study.

BACKGROUND: Individuals with dementia and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) experience a wide variety of symptoms and challenges that trouble them. To address this heterogeneity, numerous standardized tests are used for diagnosis and prognosis. myGoalNav Dementia is a web-based tool that allows individuals with impairments and their caregivers to identify and track outcomes of greatest importance to them, which may be a less arbitrary and more sensitive way of capturing meaningful change. OBJECTIVE: We aim to explore the most frequent and important symptoms and challenges reported by caregivers and people with dementia and MCI and how this varies according to disease severity. METHODS: This cross-sectional study involved 3909 web-based myGoalNav users (mostly caregivers of people with dementia or MCI) who completed symptom profiles between 2006 and 2019. To make a symptom profile, users selected their most personally meaningful or troublesome dementia-related symptoms to track over time. Users were also asked to rank their chosen symptoms from least to most important, which we called the symptom potency. As the stage of disease for these web-based users was unknown, we applied a supervised staging algorithm, previously trained on clinician-derived data, to classify each profile into 1 of 4 stages: MCI and mild, moderate, and severe dementia. Across these stages, we compared symptom tracking frequency, symptom potency, and the relationship between frequency and potency. RESULTS: Applying the staging algorithm to the 3909 user profiles resulted in 917 (23.46%) MCI, 1596 (40.83%) mild dementia, 514 (13.15%) moderate dementia, and 882 (22.56%) severe dementia profiles. We found that the most frequent symptoms in MCI and mild dementia profiles were similar and comprised early hallmarks of dementia (eg, recent memory and language difficulty). As the stage increased to moderate and severe, the most frequent symptoms were characteristic of loss of independent function (eg, incontinence) and behavioral problems (eg, aggression). The most potent symptoms were similar between stages and generally reflected disruptions in everyday life (eg, problems with hobbies or games, travel, and looking after grandchildren). Symptom frequency was negatively correlated with potency at all stages, and the strength of this relationship increased with increasing disease severity. CONCLUSIONS: Our results emphasize the importance of patient-centricity in MCI and dementia studies and illustrate the valuable real-world evidence that can be collected with digital tools. Here, the most frequent symptoms across the stages reflected our understanding of the typical disease progression. However, the symptoms that were ranked as most personally important by users were generally among the least frequently selected. Through individualization, patient-centered instruments such as myGoalNav can complement standardized measures by capturing these infrequent but potent outcomes.

Patient Design: The Importance of Including Patients in Designing Health Care.

A paradigm shift is underway in the patient-clinician relationship, driven by irreversible changes in information access, yet the model under which clinicians are trained, care is conducted, and care delivery is designed has not changed significantly even though we call it "patient centered." Humanity endured centuries in which even doctors had little idea what the patient's problem really was. Science slowly solved that, and for a century, only doctors could know what was worth knowing. Today, the rise of the internet and digital health has led to the end of that era. We are already witnessing early signs of the era of participatory health: genuinely empowered people living their lives and managing their health according to their own priorities, in partnership and consultation with physicians as needed. This may feel like a threat to the physician's sacred role, but it is no more so than when physicians adopted informed consent and then shared decision-making. In the 2010s, many pharmaceutical, medical, and health care companies started to use patient centricity as a mantra. We argue that to drive this paradigm change fully into existence, we need to shift "patient centricity" from a relatively passive process, driven by industry needs, into a far more active, collaborative process driven by both parties' needs and preferences. To build this new world of practice and workflow, we simply must engage with patients as true partners. To achieve medicine's new potential, it must be optimized around the wants and priorities of the ultimate stakeholder-the party that has the most at stake in how it all plays out: the patient. Patient design is the approach that can make it happen.

A Novel Privacy Preservation and Quantification Methodology for Implementing Home-Care-Oriented Movement Analysis Systems.

Human movement is generally evaluated through both observations and clinical assessment scales to identify the state and deterioration of a patient's motor control. Lately, technological systems for human motion analysis have been used in clinics to identify abnormal movement states, while they generally suffer from privacy challenges and concerns especially at home or in remote places. This paper presents a novel privacy preservation and quantification methodology that imitates the forgetting process of human memory to protect privacy in patient-centric healthcare. The privacy preservation principle of this methodology is to change the traditional data analytic routines into a distributed and disposable form (i.e., DnD) so as to naturally minimise the disclosure of patients' health data. To help judge the efficacy of DnD-based privacy preservation, the researchers further developed a risk-driven privacy quantification framework to supplement the existing privacy quantification techniques. To facilitate validating the methodology, this research also involves a home-care-oriented movement analysis system that comprises a single inertial measurement sensor and a mobile application. The system can acquire personal information, raw data of movements and indexes to evaluate the risk of falls and gait at homes. Moreover, the researchers conducted a technological appreciation survey of 16 health professionals to help understand the perception of this research. The survey obtains positive feedback regarding the movement analysis system and the proposed methodology as suitable for home-care scenarios.