Evaluating the Effectiveness of Diabetes Shared Medical Appointments (SMAs) as Implemented in Five Veterans Affairs Health Systems: a Multi-site Cluster Randomized Pragmatic Trial.

OBJECTIVE: To examine whether diabetes shared medical appointments (SMAs) implemented as part of usual clinical practice in diverse health systems are more effective than usual care in improving and sustaining A1c improvements. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: A multi-site cluster randomized pragmatic trial examining implementation in clinical practice of diabetes SMAs in five Veterans Affairs (VA) health systems was conducted from 2016 to 2020 among 1537 adults with type 2 diabetes and elevated A1cs. Eligible patients were randomly assigned to either: (1) invitation to participate in a series of SMAs totaling 8-9 h; or (2) continuation of usual care. Relative change in A1c (primary outcome) and in systolic blood pressure, insulin starts, statin starts, and anti-hypertensive medication classes (secondary outcomes) were measured as part of usual clinical care at baseline, at 6 months and at 12 months (~7 months after conclusion of the final SMA in four of five sites). We examined outcomes in three samples of SMA participants: all those scheduled for a SMA, those attending at least one SMA, and those attending at least half of SMAs. RESULTS: Baseline mean A1c was 9.0%. Participants scheduled for an SMA achieved A1c reductions 0.35% points greater than the control group between baseline and 6-months follow up (p = .001). Those who attended at least one SMA achieved reductions 0.42 % points greater (p < .001), and those who attended at least half of scheduled SMAs achieved reductions 0.53 % points greater (p < .001) than the control group. At 12-month follow-up, the three SMA analysis samples achieved reductions from baseline ranging from 0.16 % points (p = 0.12) to 0.29 % points (p = .06) greater than the control group. CONCLUSIONS: Diabetes SMAs as implemented in real-life diverse clinical practices improve glycemic control more than usual care immediately after the SMAs, but relative gains are not maintained. Our findings suggest the need for further study of whether a longer term SMA model or other follow-up strategies would sustain relative clinical improvements associated with this intervention. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov ID NCT02132676.

Partnered research in healthcare delivery redesign for high-need, high-cost patients: development and feasibility of an Intensive Management Patient-Aligned Care Team (ImPACT).

OBJECTIVES: We employed a partnered research healthcare delivery redesign process to improve care for high-need, high-cost (HNHC) patients within the Veterans Affairs (VA) healthcare system. METHODS: Health services researchers partnered with VA national and Palo Alto facility leadership and clinicians to: 1) analyze characteristics and utilization patterns of HNHC patients, 2) synthesize evidence about intensive management programs for HNHC patients, 3) conduct needs-assessment interviews with HNHC patients (n = 17) across medical, access, social, and mental health domains, 4) survey providers (n = 8) about care challenges for HNHC patients, and 5) design, implement, and evaluate a pilot Intensive Management Patient-Aligned Care Team (ImPACT) for a random sample of 150 patients. RESULTS: HNHC patients accounted for over half (52 %) of VA facility patient costs. Most (94 %) had three or more chronic conditions, and 60 % had a mental health diagnosis. Formative data analyses and qualitative assessments revealed a need for intensive case management, care coordination, transitions navigation, and social support and services. The ImPACT multidisciplinary team developed care processes to meet these needs, including direct access to team members (including after-hours), chronic disease management protocols, case management, and rapid interventions in response to health changes or acute service use. Two-thirds of invited patients (n = 101) enrolled in ImPACT, 87 % of whom remained actively engaged at 9 months. ImPACT is now serving as a model for a national VA intensive management demonstration project. CONCLUSIONS: Partnered research that incorporated population data analysis, evidence synthesis, and stakeholder needs assessments led to the successful redesign and implementation of services for HNHC patients. The rigorous design process and evaluation facilitated dissemination of the intervention within the VA healthcare system. IMPACT STATEMENT: Employing partnered research to redesign care for high-need, high-cost patients may expedite development and dissemination of high-value, cost-saving interventions.

Teaching motivational interviewing to primary care staff in the Veterans Health Administration.

BACKGROUND: The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is implementing the patient-centered medical home (PCMH) model of primary care which emphasizes patient-centered care and the promotion of healthy lifestyle changes. Motivational Interviewing (MI) is effective for promoting various health behaviors, thus a training protocol for primary care staff was implemented in a VHA health care setting. OBJECTIVES: We examined the effect of the training protocol on MI knowledge, confidence in ability to use MI-related skills and apply them to written vignettes, perceived comfort level and skill in lifestyle counseling, and job-related burnout. DESIGN: Training was provided by experts in MI. The training protocol consisted of three sessions--one half day in-person workshop followed by a 60-minute virtual training, followed by a second workshop. Each of the sessions were spaced two weeks apart and introduced trainees to the theory, principles, and skills of using MI in health care settings. PARTICIPANTS: All primary care staff at the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System were invited to participate. MEASUREMENTS: Trainees completed a short set of questionnaires immediately before and immediately after the training. RESULTS: We found support for our primary hypotheses related to knowledge, confidence, and written responses to the vignettes. Changes in perceived comfort level and skill in lifestyle counseling, and job-related burnout were not observed. CONCLUSIONS: Training primary care staff in MI is likely to become increasingly common as health care systems transition to the PCMH model of care. Therefore, it is important for health care systems to have low-cost methods for evaluating the effectiveness of such trainings. This study is a first step in developing a brief written assessment with the potential of measuring change in a range of behaviors and skills consistent with MI.

Sexual Health Assessment Is Vital to Whole Health Models of Care.

Sexual health is the state of well-being regarding sexuality. Sexual health is highly valued and associated with overall health. Overall health and well-being are more than the absence of disease or dysfunction. Health care systems adopting whole health models of care need to incorporate a holistic assessment of sexual health. This includes assessing patients' sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI). If health systems, including but not limited to the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), incorporate sexual health into whole health they could enhance preventive care, promote healthy sexual functioning, and optimize overall health and well-being. Assessing sexual health can give providers important information about a patient's health, well-being, and health goals. Sexual concerns or dysfunction may also signal undiagnosed health conditions. Additionally, collecting SOGI information as part of a sexual health assessment would allow providers to address problems that drive disparities for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and similar minority (LGBTQ+) populations. Health care providers do not routinely assess sexual health in clinical practice. One barrier is a gap in communication between patients and providers. Providers cite beliefs that patients will bring up sexual concerns themselves or might be offended by discussing sexual health. Patients often report an expectation that providers will bring up sexual health and being comfortable discussing sexual health with their providers. Within the VHA, the lack of a sexual health template within the electronic health record (EHR) adds an additional barrier. The VHA's transition toward whole health and updates to its EHR provide unique opportunities to integrate sexual health assessment into routine care. We highlight system modifications to address this within the VHA. These examples may be helpful for other health care systems interested in moving toward whole health. It will be vital for health care systems integrating a whole health approach to develop both practical and educational interventions to address the communication gap. These interventions will need to target both providers and patients in health care systems that transition to a whole health model of care, not just the VHA. Both the communication gap between providers and patients, and the lack of support within some EHR systems for sexual health assessment are barriers to assessing sexual health in primary care clinics. Routine sexual health assessment would benefit patient well-being and present an opportunity to address health disparities for LGBTQ+ populations. Health care systems (ie, both the VHA and other systems) can overcome these barriers by implementing educational interventions and updating their EHRs and back-end data structures. VHA's expertise in developing and implementing health education interventions and EHR-based quality improvements may help inform interventions beyond VHA.

The Shared Health Appointments and Reciprocal Enhanced Support (SHARES) study: study protocol for a randomized trial.

BACKGROUND: Diabetes shared medical appointments (SMAs) and reciprocal peer support programs have been found in efficacy trials to help adults with diabetes improve their self-management and achieve short-term gains in clinical and patient-centered outcomes. In order to translate this evidence to system-level interventions, there is a need for large-scale, pragmatic trials that examine the effectiveness, implementation, and costs of SMAs and reciprocal peer support across diverse settings. METHODS: The Shared Health Appointments and Reciprocal Enhanced Support (SHARES) study is a multisite, cluster randomized trial that is evaluating the effectiveness and implementation of SMAs with and without an additional reciprocal Peer-to-Peer (P2P) support program, when compared to usual care. The P2P program comprises periodic peer support group sessions and telephone contact between SMA participant pairs to promote more effective diabetes self-management. We will examine outcomes across three different treatment groups: (1) SMAs, (2) SMAs plus P2P, and (3) usual care. We will collect and analyze data over a 2.5-year implementation period at five geographically diverse Veterans Affairs (VA) health systems. The primary outcome is the relative change in hemoglobin A1c over time. Secondary outcomes are changes in systolic blood pressure, antihypertensive medication use, statin use, and insulin initiation over the study period. The unit of analysis is the individual, adjusted by the individual's SMA group (the cluster). We will use mixed methods to rigorously evaluate processes and costs of implementing these programs in each of the clinic settings. DISCUSSION: We hypothesize that patients will experience improved outcomes immediately following participation in SMAs and that augmenting SMAs with reciprocal peer support will help to maintain these gains over time. The results of this study will be among the first to examine the effects of diabetes SMAs alone and in conjunction with P2P in a range of real-life clinical settings. In addition, the study will provide important information on contextual factors associated with successful program implementation. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov, ID: NCT02132676 . Registered on 21 August 2013.

Consultation via telemedicine and access to operative care for patients with head and neck cancer in a Veterans Health Administration population.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to evaluate a telemedicine model that utilizes an audiovisual teleconference as a preoperative visit. METHODS: Veterans Health Administration (VHA) patients with head and neck cancer at 2 remote locations were provided access to the Palo Alto Veterans Affairs (PAVA) Health Care System otolaryngology department via the telemedicine protocol: tissue diagnosis and imaging at the patient site; data review at PAVA; and a preoperative teleconference connecting the patient to PAVA. Operative care occurred at PAVA. Follow-up care was provided remotely via teleconference. RESULTS: Fifteen patients were evaluated. Eleven underwent surgery, 4 with high-grade neoplasms (carcinoma). Average time from referral to operation was 28 days (range, 17-36 days) and 72 (range, 31-108 days), respectively, for high-grade and low-grade groups. The average patient was spared 28 hours traveling time and $900/patient was saved on travel-related costs. CONCLUSION: A telemedicine model enables timely access to surgical care and permits considerable savings among select VHA patients with head and neck cancer. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck 38: 925-929, 2016.

A home telehealth heart failure management program for veterans through care transitions.

Heart failure (HF) is a new epidemic in the United States. Advanced HF is a fatal illness affecting our veterans and causing frequent hospital readmissions in both the Veterans Affairs hospital and throughout the nation's healthcare system. The clinician's obligation is to offer the best alternatives in the care of chronic illness. The Veterans Affairs healthcare system has a comprehensive approach to treating HF. The comprehensive implementation of home telehealth, clinical informatics, and disease management supports the care of patients with advanced HF.

Improving outpatient diabetes care.

More than 20% of patients in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) have diabetes; therefore, disseminating "best practices" in outpatient diabetes care is paramount. The authors' goal was to identify such practices and the factors associated with their development. First, a national VHA diabetes registry with 2008 data identified clinical performance based on the percentage of patients with an A1c >9%. Facilities (n = 140) and community-based outpatient clinics (n = 582) were included and stratified into high, mid, and low performers. Semistructured telephone interviews (31) and site visits (5) were conducted. Low performers cited lack of teamwork between physicians and nurses and inadequate time to prepare. Better performing sites reported supportive clinical teams sharing work, time for non-face-to-face care, and innovative practices to address local needs. A knowledge management model informed our process. Notable differences between performance levels exist. "Best practices" will be disseminated across the VHA as the VHA Patient-Centered Medical Home model is implemented.

Implementing motivational interviewing in primary care: the role of provider characteristics.

Primary care is an optimal place to target modifiable health behavior problems that are linked to increased risk for mortality. The Veterans Administration (VA) has recognized the importance of coordinated, patient-centered care that increases access to health care services and has recently initiated efforts to implement Patient Aligned Care Teams within the primary care setting. To help support this initiative, administrative leaders at a large VA Health Care organization implemented a training program to teach all primary care staff motivational interviewing (MI) across its local facilities. Guided by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research, we examined the characteristics of providers working within this setting in an attempt to better understand the specific training needs of this group with the goal of optimizing the adoption of MI-related skills. Our findings show that providers vary on perspectives of lifestyle counseling, time commitment pressure, job-related burnout, and self-efficacy, which have important implication for the design and implementation of future trainings in MI and other evidence-based therapies.