Clinical Assessment Specialists: A New Faculty Role to Improve Clerkship Assessment

INTRODUCTION

Ambulatory clerkships, including longitudinal integrated clerkships (LICs), face challenges to assessment, including time pressure and clinical demands on preceptors. High-quality clinical assessment is critical to implementing competency-based medical education, generating valid grades, and supporting learning. This importance is further heightened with the new pass/fail scoring for US Medical Licensing Exam Step 1, discontinuation of US Medical Licensing Exam Step 2 Clinical Skills, and the growing concern for bias in assessment.

METHODS

The Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine's LIC spans the first 2 years with 50 students per class. In 2021-2022, the authors created a new faculty role, the clinical assessment specialist (CASp). CASps are highly trained clinical teachers who directly observe clerkship students in the ambulatory setting, provide feedback, and complete competency-based assessment forms.

RESULTS

CASps completed 186 assessments of first-year (Y1) LIC students and 333 assessments of second-year (Y2) LIC students. Y2 students achieved average higher milestones and were rated as requiring less supervision compared to Y1 students. Y1 students rated CASps more favorably than Y2 students. Preceptors rated the contribution of CASps similarly across both years. Clerkship directors described benefits including identification of at-risk students and value of augmenting preceptor assessments.

DISCUSSION

The CASp role may offer an innovative way to generate valid assessment of student performance, offset clinical pressures faced by preceptors, identify at-risk students, and mitigate bias, especially in an LIC. Future studies may examine assessment validity, including use in summative assessment.

CONCLUSION

CASps are an innovative approach to clinical clerkship assessment.

Hyperaldosteronism Screening and Findings From a Large Diverse Population With Resistant Hypertension Within an Integrated Health System

INTRODUCTION

Hyperaldosteronism (HA) is a common cause of secondary hypertension and may contribute to resistant hypertension (RH). The authors sought to determine and characterize HA screening, positivity rates, and mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist (MRA) use among patients with RH.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was performed within Kaiser Permanente Southern California (7/1/2012-6/30/2017). Using contemporary criteria, RH was defined as blood pressure uncontrolled (≥ 130/80) on ≥ 3 medications or requiring ≥ 4 antihypertensive medications. The primary outcome was screening rate for HA defined as any aldosterone and plasma renin activity measurement. Secondary outcomes were HA screen positive rates and MRA use among all patients with RH. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to estimate odds ratio (with 95% confidence intervals) for factors associated with HA screening and for patients that screened positive.

RESULTS

Among 102,480 patients identified as RH, 1977 (1.9%) were screened for HA and 727 (36.8%) screened positive for HA. MRA use was 6.5% among all patients with RH (22.5% among screened, 31.2% among screened positive). Black race, potassium < 4, bicarbonate > 29, chronic kidney disease, obstructive sleep apnea, and systolic blood pressure were associated with HA screening, but only Black race (1.55 [1.20-2.01]), potassium (1.82 [1.48-2.24]), bicarbonate levels (1.39 [1.10-1.75]), and diastolic blood pressure (1.15 [1.03-1.29]) were associated with positive screenings.

CONCLUSION

The authors' findings demonstrate low screening rates for HA among patients with difficult-to-control hypertension yet a high positivity rate among those screened. Factors associated with screening did not always correlate with screening positive. Screening and targeted use of MRA may lead to improved blood pressure control and outcomes among patients with RH.

Safety Net Program to Improve Statin Initiation Among Adults With High Low-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol

INTRODUCTION

Despite their effectiveness in reducing low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and cardiovascular disease risk, high-intensity statins are underutilized among adults with low-density lipoprotein cholesterol ≥190 mg/dL. This study determined whether a safety net program (SureNet) facilitating medication and laboratory test orders improved statin initiation and laboratory test completions after (SureNet period: April 2019-September 2021) and before implementation (pre-SureNet period: January 2016-September 2018).

METHODS

Kaiser Permanente Southern California members aged 20-60 years with low-density lipoprotein cholesterol ≥190 mg/dL and no statin use in previous 2-6 months were included in this retrospective cohort study. Statin orders within 14 days and statin fills, laboratory test completions, and improved low-density lipoprotein cholesterol within 180 days of the high low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (pre-SureNet) or outreach (SureNet period) were compared. Analyses were conducted in 2022.

RESULTS

Overall, 3,534 and 3,555 adults were eligible for statin initiation during the pre-SureNet and SureNet periods, respectively. Overall, 759 (21.5%) and 976 (27.5%) had a statin approved by their physician during pre-SureNet and SureNet periods, respectively (p<0.001). After multivariable adjustment for demographics and clinical characteristics, adults during the SureNet period had a higher likelihood of receiving a statin order (prevalence ratio=1.36, 95% CI=1.25, 1.48), filling their statin (prevalence ratio=1.32, 95% CI=1.26, 1.38), completing their laboratories (prevalence ratio=1.41, 95% CI=1.26, 1.58), and improving low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (prevalence ratio=1.21, 95% CI=1.07, 1.37) than in pre-Surenet period.

CONCLUSIONS

The SureNet program was able to improve prescription orders, fills, laboratory test completions, and lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Optimizing both physician adherence to treatment guidelines; and patient adherence to the program may improve low-density lipoprotein cholesterol lowering.

Abstract P367: Automated Outreach to Improve Statin Initiation and Follow-Up of Lipid Panels Among Patients With High LDL-C

Background: Despite their effectiveness in reducing low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, high-intensity statins are underutilized among patients with LDL-C ≥ 190 mg/dL. We aimed to determine if a patient outreach program (KP Sure Net) automating high-intensity statin orders and lipid panels improved statin initiation and lab completions.

Methods: Kaiser Permanente Southern California adults 20-60 years of age with LDL-C ≥ 190 mg/dL and no recent statin use were compared pre- (January 2016-September 2018, n=3,534) and post- (April 2019-July 2021, n=3,555) program implementation to examine statin prescriptions and fills, lab completions, and improved LDL-C (<190 mg/dL) at 6 months. Using Poisson regression with robust variance, we calculated relative risks (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the association of program implementation with statin prescriptions, fills, lab completions, and improved LDL-C, separately, adjusting for sociodemographics, insurance, comorbidity burden, and non-statin medication use.

Results: Among adults identified during pre- and post-implementation, 759 (21.5%) and 976 (27.5%), respectively, received a statin prescription. Adults with a prescription post- versus pre-implementation were more likely to be younger, identify as Black or Asian ethnicity, be English-speaking and have higher income, but were similar by sex, education, insurance, and comorbidity burden. (Table) After multivariable adjustment, adults post- versus pre-implementation had a higher likelihood of receiving a statin prescription (RR 1.36, 95% CI 1.25, 1.48), filling their statin (RR 1.32, 95% CI 1.26, 1.38), completing their lipid panel (RR 1.60, 95% CI 1.44, 1.78), and improving LDL-C (RR 1.36, 95% CI 1.20, 1.53).

Conclusion: Automating statin orders and lipid panels for high-risk adults improved prescription rates, fills and LDL-C. Understanding facilitators and barriers to adherence is an important next step in improving patients’ health.

Creating a Safety Net Process to Improve Colon Cancer Diagnosis in Patients With Rectal Bleeding

Background Failure to follow up on patients with rectal bleeding is common and may result in a delay in diagnosis of colorectal cancer or in missing high-risk adenomas. The authors' purpose was to create an electronic patient safety net for those diagnosed with rectal bleeding but who did not have colonoscopy to ensure proper detection of colonic abnormalities, including colon cancer. Methods In an integrated health delivery system serving < 4.6 million patients in Southern California, from 2014 to 2019, the authors electronically identified patients with rectal bleeding aged 45 to 80 years but with no recently documented colonoscopy. These cases were reviewed by a gastroenterologist to determine if colonoscopy was appropriate. The physician looked for known documentation as to the cause of rectal bleeding and verified no contraindications to the procedure; if indicated, testing was offered. Results Using the authors' safety net program, 1430 patients with rectal bleeding who needed and completed a colonoscopy were identified. Of those patients, 7.5% had an advanced adenoma or cancer, with a total of 20 cancers, and 34% had findings that warranted more frequent colonoscopy. Conclusions The authors designed a safety net system that was able to capture information on patients with rectal bleeding who had not had a colonoscopy and detected in 34% colonic pathology that would have otherwise gone undetected. The program did not require many resources to implement and had the ability to potentially prevent harm from reaching patients whose rectal bleeding did not get prompt workup. Other health systems and practices should consider implementing a similar system.

The e-Autopsy/e-Biopsy: a systematic chart review to increase safety and diagnostic accuracy

Solving diagnostic errors is difficult and progress on preventing those errors has been slow since the 2015 National Academy of Medicine report. There are several methods used to improve diagnostic and other errors including voluntary reporting; malpractice claims; patient complaints; physician surveys, random quality reviews and audits, and peer review data which usually evaluates single cases and not the systems that allowed the error. Additionally, manual review of charts is often labor intensive and reviewer dependent. In 2010 we developed an e-Autopsy/e-Biopsy (eA/eB) methodology to aggregate cases with quality/safety/diagnostic issues, focusing on a specific population of patients and conditions. By performing a hybrid review process (cases are first filtered using administrative data followed by standardized manual chart reviews) we can efficiently identify patterns of medical and diagnostic error leading to opportunities for system improvements that have improved care for future patients. We present a detailed methodology for eA/eB studies and describe results from three successful studies on different diagnoses (ectopic pregnancy, abdominal aortic aneurysms, and advanced colon cancer) that illustrate our eA/eB process and how it reveals insights into creating systems that reduce diagnostic and other errors. The eA/eB process is innovative and transferable to other healthcare organizations and settings to identify trends in diagnostic error and other quality issues resulting in improved systems of care.

Beyond Screening: An Interim Report and Analysis of a Multimodal Initiative to Decrease Colon Cancer Mortality

BACKGROUND

Colon cancer, a potentially preventable and curable cancer, remains one of the leading causes of cancer-related death in the United States. In 2010 the researchers undertook a multifaceted initiative to reduce colon cancer mortality rates by 50% over 10 years.

METHODS

A baseline literature review of preventable causes of colon cancer mortality and review of 50 deaths from colon cancer in one institution identified a set of care process improvements that could be implemented to decrease colon cancer mortality. In 2017 a second mortality review identified a second set of care process improvements that were subsequently implemented. Compliance with these processes was monitored along with age and gender-adjusted mortality rates.

RESULTS

Identified care process improvements included improving the follow-up of patients with rectal bleeding and presumed iron deficiency anemia and improving the reliability of postsurgical surveillance for cancer recurrence, decreasing elapsed time from surgery to chemotherapy, increasing surgical referrals for patients with advanced colon cancer, increasing the upper age limit and overall rate of colon cancer screening, increasing vitamin D and aspirin use, and monitoring and increasing the adenoma detection rate. Compliance with these processes improved for most measures, including screening (73.7% to 79.9%), adenoma detection rates on screening colonoscopy (30% to 36% for women and 42% to 49% for men), and chemotherapy within 35 days of surgery for colon cancer (39.0% to 51.9%). Age- and gender-adjusted mortality decreased from 13.8 per 100,000 in 2009-2011 to 10.5 per 100,000 in 2016-2018.

CONCLUSIONS

This quality improvement program was feasible to implement, resulted in process improvements, and decreased colon cancer mortality over seven years.

The Reliability of Graduate Medical Education Quality of Care Clinical Performance Measures

BACKGROUND

Graduate medical education (GME) program leaders struggle to incorporate quality measures in the ambulatory care setting, leading to knowledge gaps on how to provide feedback to residents and programs. While nationally collected quality of care data are available, their reliability for individual resident learning and for GME program improvement is understudied.

OBJECTIVE

To examine the reliability of the Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) clinical performance measures in family medicine and internal medicine GME programs and to determine whether HEDIS measures can inform residents and their programs with their quality of care.

METHODS

From 2014 to 2017, we collected HEDIS measures from 566 residents in 8 family medicine and internal medicine programs under one sponsoring institution. Intraclass correlation was performed to establish patient sample sizes required for 0.70 and 0.80 reliability levels at the resident and program levels. Differences between the patient sample sizes required for reliable measurement and the actual patients cared for by residents were calculated.

RESULTS

The highest reliability levels for residents (0.88) and programs (0.98) were found for the most frequently available HEDIS measure, colorectal cancer screening. At the GME program level, 87.5% of HEDIS measures had sufficient sample sizes for reliable measurement at alpha 0.7 and 75.0% at alpha 0.8. Most resident level measurements were found to be less reliable.

CONCLUSIONS

GME programs may reliably evaluate HEDIS performance pooled at the program level, but less so at the resident level due to patient volume.

Decreasing Multiple Sclerosis Treatment Expenditures and Improving Quality at the Health System Level

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate a multi-component health system intervention designed to reduce escalating disease-modifying treatment (DMT) expenditures and improve multiple sclerosis (MS) outcomes by increasing use of preferred formulary, and highly effective DMTs (HET).

METHODS

We conducted a trend study of treatment utilization and expenditure outcomes prior to (2009-2011) and during (2012-2018) MS Treatment Optimization Program (MSTOP) implementation in Kaiser Permanente Southern California (KPSC) compared to a KP region of similar size. Annual relapse rates (ARR) were obtained from KPSC's electronic health records.

RESULTS

Adherence to preferred formulary DMTs increased from 25.4% in 2011 to 72.2% in 2017 following MSTOP implementation in KPSC and 22.1% to 43.8%, respectively in the comparator. KPSC's annual DMT expenditures in 2018 were less than in 2011 despite 11.3% increase in DMT-treated members. The decline in average per-patient-per-year of treatment expenditures from a peak of $43.1K in 2014 to $26.3K in 2018 in KSPC was greater than the comparator, which peaked at $52.1K and declined to $40.0K in 2018. Over the 7 years following initiation of MSTOP, cumulative MS DMT expenditures were $161.6 million less than the comparator. HET use increased to 62.5% of per-patient-treatment-years versus 32.4% in the comparator. This corresponded to a 69% decline in adjusted ARR (95%CI 64.1-73.2%; p<0.0001) among DMT-treated patients at KPSC.

INTERPRETATION

A novel, expert-led health system intervention reduced MS DMT expenditures despite rising prices while simultaneously reducing MS relapse rates. Our focus on health system progress toward meaningful, measurable targets could serve as a model to improve quality and affordability of MS care in other settings. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Laboratory monitoring to reduce adverse drug-related events: a mixed methods study

BACKGROUND: Therapy with angiotensinconverting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) requires laboratory monitoring to avoid hyperkalemia and acute kidney failure. OBJECTIVE: To assess the frequency of recommended annual serum potassium and creatinine monitoring and determine potential factors associated with care gaps among adults dispensed an ACEI or ARB. METHODS: This mixed-methods study integrated findings from a retrospective cohort study and individual patient interviews. Adults aged 21 years and over within Kaiser Permanente Southern California with at least 180 treatment days of an ACEI and/or ARB in 2015 were included. Patients invited for qualitative interviews included those who did and did not complete the recommended laboratory tests. We assessed the proportion of patients completing both recommended laboratory tests, factors associated with not receiving laboratory monitoring, and patients' insights into barriers and facilitators of recommended monitoring. RESULTS: Of 437,544 patients who received an ACEI or ARB, 9.0% did not receive both a serum potassium and creatinine laboratory test during treatment (defined as a care gap). Lower risk of a care gap was observed for patients with increasing age (rate ratio [RR] per 10-year increase = 0.78, 95% CI = 0.77-0.79); diabetes mellitus (RR = 0.62, 95% CI = 0.60-0.64); hypertension (RR = 0.71, 95% CI = 0.71-0.74); Charlson Comorbidity Index score of at least 2 (RR = 0.62, 95% CI = 0.60-0.64); those who changed medication classes (RR = 0.53, 95% CI = 0.51-0.56); and patients with a cardiologist (RR = 0.81, 95% CI = 0.73-0.90) or nephrologist (RR = 0.60, 95% CI = 0.52-0.69) as their prescribing provider. Twenty-five patients completed the qualitative interviews. Patients often lacked knowledge about the need for laboratory monitoring, cited logistical barriers to accessing the laboratory, and deemed the reminders they received through an outpatient safety program as a facilitator to completing tests. CONCLUSIONS: Given the large patient population on ACEI and ARB medications, monitoring and support strategies such as electronic clinical surveillance could be important in addressing care gaps and potentially reducing adverse drug effects. DISCLOSURES: This project was supported by grant number R01HS024437 from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The funder had no role in the design of the study; collection, analyses, or interpretation of the data, or decision to submit this manuscript for publication. Harrison, Reynolds, Hahn, Munoz-Plaza, Yi, Fischer, Luong, Sim, Brettler, Handler, and Mittman are employees of the Southern California Permanente Medical Group. Danworth was employed by the Southern California Permanente Medical Group at the time of this study. Singh was partially supported by the Houston VA HSR&D Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness and Safety (CIN13-413). Reynolds reports grants from Novartis, Amgen Inc., and Vital Strategies, Resolve to Save Lives, unrelated to this work. Yi reports grants from Novartis unrelated to this work. Kanter has nothing to disclose.

The Multiple Sclerosis Treatment Optimization Program

Objective

To design and implement a health system level intervention to reduce escalating multiple sclerosis (MS) disease modifying treatment (DMT) expenditures and improve outcomes.

Methods

We conducted stakeholder meetings, reviewed pharmacy utilization data, and abstracted information in subsets of persons with MS (pwMS) from the electronic health record to identify gaps in, and barriers to improving, quality, and affordability of MS care in Kaiser Permanente Southern California. These results informed the development and implementation of the MS Treatment Optimization Program (MSTOP).

Results

The two main gaps identified were under‐prescribing of highly effective DMTs (HET, 4.9%) and the preferred formulary DMT (20.9%) among DMT‐treated pwMS. The main barriers identified were prescribers’ fear of rare but serious HET side effects, lack of MS‐specific and health systems science knowledge, Pharma influence, evidence gaps, formulary decisions‐based solely on costs, and multidirectional mistrust between neurologists, practice leaders, and health plan pharmacists. To overcome these barriers MSTOP developed four strategies: (1) risk‐stratified treatment algorithm to increase use of HETs; (2) an expert‐led ethical, cost‐sensitive, risk‐stratified, preferred formulary; (3) proactive counter‐launch campaigns to minimize uptake of new, low‐value DMTs; and (4) discontinuation of ineffective DMTs in progressive, non‐relapsing MS. The multicomponent MSTOP was implemented through education, training, and expanding access to MS‐trained providers, audit and feedback, and continual evidence reviews.

Interpretation

The causes of wasteful spending on MS DMTs are complex and require multiple strategies to resolve. We provide herein granular details of how we designed and implemented our health system intervention to facilitate its adaption to other settings and conditions.

Patient and Physician Perspectives of Deprescribing Potentially Inappropriate Medications in Older Adults with a History of Falls: a Qualitative Study

BACKGROUND

High-risk medications pose serious safety risks to older adults, including increasing the risk of falls. Deprescribing potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) in older adults who have experienced a fall is a key element of fall reduction strategies. However, continued use of PIMs in older adults is common, and clinicians may face substantial deprescribing barriers.

OBJECTIVE

Explore patient and clinician experiences with and perceptions of deprescribing PIMs in patients with a history of falls.

DESIGN

We led guided patient feedback sessions to explore deprescribing scenarios with patient stakeholders and conducted semi-structured interviews with primary care physicians (PCPs) to explore knowledge and awareness of fall risk guidelines, deprescribing experiences, and barriers and facilitators to deprescribing.

PARTICIPANTS

PCPs from Kaiser Permanente Southern California (KPSC) and patient members of the KPSC Regional Patient Advisory Committee.

APPROACH

We used maximum variation sampling to identify PCPs with patients who had a fall, then categorized the resulting PIM dispense distribution for those patients into high and low frequency. We analyzed the data using a hybrid deductive-inductive approach. Coders applied initial deductively derived codes to the data, simultaneously using an open-code inductive approach to capture emergent themes.

KEY RESULTS

Physicians perceived deprescribing discussions as potentially contentious, even among patients with falls. Physicians reported varying comfort levels with deprescribing strategies: some felt that the conversations might be better suited to others (e.g., pharmacists), while others had well-planned negotiation strategies. Patients reported lack of clarity as to the reasons and goals of deprescribing and poor understanding of the seriousness of falls.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study suggests that key barriers to deprescribing include PCP trepidation about raising a contentious topic and insufficient patient awareness of the potential seriousness of falls. Findings suggest the need for multifaceted, multilevel deprescribing approaches with clinician training strategies, patient educational resources, and a focus on building trusting patient-clinician relationships.

Sub-acute hyponatraemia more than chronic hyponatraemia is associated with serious falls and hip fractures

BACKGROUND

Falls and hip fractures among older people are associated with high morbidity and mortality. Hyponatraemia may be a risk for falls/hip fractures, but the effect of hyponatraemia duration is not well understood.

AIMS

To evaluate individuals with periods of sub-acute and chronic hyponatraemia on subsequent risk for serious falls and/or hip fractures.

METHODS

Retrospective cohort study in the period 1 January 1998 to 14 June 2016 within an integrated health system of individuals aged ≥55 years with ≥2 outpatient serum sodium measurements. Hyponatraemia was defined as sodium <135 mEq/L with sub-acute (<30 days) and chronic (≥30 days) analysed as a time-dependent exposure. Multivariable Cox proportional-hazards modelling was used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) for serious falls/hip fractures based on sodium category.

RESULTS

Among 1 062 647 individuals totalling 9 762 305 sodium measurements, 96 096 serious falls/hip fracture events occurred. Incidence (per-1000-person-years) of serious falls/hip fractures were 11.5, 27.9 and 19.8 for normonatraemia, sub-acute and chronic hyponatraemia. Any hyponatraemia duration compared to normonatraemia had a serious falls/hip fractures HR (95%CI) of 1.18 (1.15, 1.22), with sub-acute and chronic hyponatraemia having HR of 1.38 (1.33, 1.42) and 0.91 (0.87, 0.95), respectively. Examined separately, the serious falls HR was 1.37 (1.32, 1.42) and 0.92 (0.88, 0.96) in sub-acute and chronic hyponatraemia, respectively. Hip fracture HR were 1.52 (1.42, 1.62) and 1.00 (0.92, 1.08) for sub-acute and chronic hyponatraemia, respectively, compared to normonatraemia.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings suggest that early/sub-acute hyponatraemia appears more vulnerable and associated with serious falls/hip fractures. Whether hyponatraemia is a marker of frailty or a modifiable risk factor for falls remains to be determined.

Concordance of End-of-Life Care With End-of-Life Wishes in an Integrated Health Care System

IMPORTANCE

There is widespread consensus on the challenges to meeting the end-of-life wishes of decedents in the US. However, there is broad but not always recognized success in meeting wishes among decedents 65 years and older.

OBJECTIVE

To assess how well end-of-life wishes of decedents 65 years and older are met in the last year of life.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS

This quality improvement study involved 3 planned samples of family members or informants identified as the primary contact in the medical record of Kaiser Permanente Southern California decedents. The first sample was 715 decedents, 65 years or older, who died between April 1 and May 31, 2017. The second was a high-cost sample of 332 decedents, 65 years or older, who died between June 1, 2016, and May 31, 2017, and whose costs in the last year of life were in the top 10% of the costs of all decedents. The third was a lower-cost sample with 655 decedents whose costs were not in the top 10%. The survey was fielded between December 19, 2017, and February 8, 2018.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES

Meeting end-of-life wishes, discussions with next of kin and physicians, types of discordant care, and perceptions of amount of care received.

RESULTS

Surveys were completed by 715 of the 2281 next of kin in the all-decedent sample (mean [SD] decedent age, 80.9 [8.9] years; 361 [50.5%] male) for a 31% response rate; in 332 of the 1339 next of kin in the high-cost sample (mean [SD] decedent age, 75.5 [7.1] years; 194 [48.4%] male) for a 25% response rate; and in 659 of 2058 in the lower-cost sample (mean [SD] decedent age, 81.6 [8.8] years) for a 32% response rate. Respondents noted that high percentages of decedents received treatment that was concordant with their desires: 601 (88.9%) had their wishes met, 39 (5.9%) received a treatment they did not want, and 554 (84.1%) filled out an advance directive. A total of 509 respondents (82.5%) believed the amount of care was the right amount. Those with the highest costs had their wishes met at lower rates than those with lower costs (250 [80.1%] vs 553 [89.6%]).

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE

In this Kaiser Permanente Southern California cohort, a large proportion of decedents 65 years and older had end-of-life discussions and documentation, had their wishes met, and received the amount of care they thought appropriate.

Self-Reported Learning (SRL), a Voluntary Incident Reporting System Experience Within a Large Health Care Organization

BACKGROUND

In aviation, significant improvements in safety have been attributed to a system of voluntary reporting of errors and hazards by pilots and other frontline personnel. Such a system is lacking in health care.

METHODS

A system to allow physicians to self-report their clinical care errors along with insights to prevent recurrence ("self-reported learning [SRL] system") was established in three hospitals and used for four years in one center and for two years in two others. Clinicians were educated in how to use the system and encouraged to report deviations from standard care by secure e-mail, a telephone hotline, or the institutional incident reporting system. Events were included in the SRL system only if clinicians self-reported them prior to others doing so. Submissions were analyzed for evidence of primary insight, recognition of error, and secondary insight. Physicians were surveyed afterward about their attitudes toward clinical peer review, the physician's role in errors, and the SRL program.

RESULTS

There were 117 SRL submissions (less than 5% of clinical peer review cases); 86 had complete information available. Of these, there was agreement among two reviewers that secondary insight was present in 52.2%, and several were novel submissions that otherwise would have not been identified. Survey response rate was 18.3%; 31.1% of respondents had never been involved in clinical peer review before, a majority had an overall favorable impression of clinical peer review, and 47.2% reported not having made "any mistakes worth reporting."

CONCLUSION

An SRL system modeled after the aviation reporting system elicited a low number of reports and did not decrease the number of clinical peer review reports. In a high proportion of SRL reports reporting physicians demonstrated secondary insight. Benefits to SRL reporting could be seen despite low number of self-reports.

Embedded Research in the Learning Healthcare System: Ongoing Challenges and Recommendations for Researchers, Clinicians, and Health System Leaders

Embedded research is an innovative means to improve performance in the learning healthcare system (LHS). However, few descriptions of successful embedded research programs have been published. In this perspective, we describe the Care Improvement Research Team, a mature partnership between researchers and clinicians at Kaiser Permanente Southern California. The program supports a core team of researchers and staff with dedicated resources to partner with health system leaders and practicing clinicians, using diverse methods to identify and rectify gaps in clinical practice. For example, recent projects helped clinicians to provide better care by reducing prescribing of unnecessary antibiotics for acute sinusitis and by preventing readmissions among the elderly. Embedded in operational workgroups, the team helps formulate research questions and enhances the rigor and relevance of data collection and analysis. A recent business-case analysis cited savings to the organization of over $10 million. We conclude that embedded research programs can play a key role in fulfilling the promise of the LHS. Program success depends on dedicated funding, robust data systems, and strong relationships between researchers and clinical stakeholders. Embedded researchers must be responsive to health system priorities and timelines, while clinicians should embrace researchers as partners in problem solving.

Trends in Acute Myocardial Infarction by Race and Ethnicity

Background

Trends in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) incidence rates for diverse races/ethnicities are largely unknown, presenting barriers to understanding the role of race/ethnicity in AMI occurrence.

Methods and Results

We identified AMI hospitalizations for Kaiser Permanente Southern California members, aged ≥35 years, during 2000 to 2014 using discharge diagnostic codes. We excluded hospitalizations with missing race/ethnicity information. We calculated annual incidence rates (age and sex standardized to the 2010 US census population) for AMI, ST‐segment–elevation myocardial infarction, and non–ST‐segment–elevation myocardial infarction by race/ethnicity (Hispanic and non‐Hispanic racial groups: Asian or Pacific Islander, black, and white). Using Poisson regression, we estimated annual percentage change in AMI, non–ST‐segment–elevation myocardial infarction, and ST‐segment–elevation myocardial infarction incidence by race/ethnicity and AMI incidence rate ratios between race/ethnicity pairs, adjusting for age and sex. We included 18 630 776 person‐years of observation and identified 44 142 AMI hospitalizations. During 2000 to 2014, declines in AMI, non–ST‐segment–elevation myocardial infarction, and ST‐segment–elevation myocardial infarction were 48.7%, 34.2%, and 69.8%, respectively. Age‐ and sex‐standardized AMI hospitalization rates/100 000 person‐years declined for Hispanics (from 307 to 162), Asians or Pacific Islanders (from 271 to 158), blacks (from 347 to 199), and whites (from 376 to 189). Annual percentage changes ranged from −2.99% to −4.75%, except for blacks, whose annual percentage change was −5.32% during 2000 to 2009 and −1.03% during 2010 to 2014.

Conclusions

During 2000 to 2014, AMI, non–ST‐segment–elevation myocardial infarction, and ST‐segment–elevation myocardial infarction hospitalization incidence rates declined substantially for each race/ethnic group. Despite narrowing rates among races/ethnicities, differences persist. Understanding these differences can help identify unmet needs in AMI prevention and management to guide targeted interventions.

Sex-Specific Trends in Acute Myocardial Infarction Within an Integrated Healthcare Network, 2000 Through 2014

Background:

In recent decades, the rates of incident acute myocardial infarction (AMI) have declined in the United States, yet disparities by sex remain. In an integrated healthcare delivery system, we examined temporal trends in incident AMI among women and men.

Methods:

We identified hospitalized AMI among members ≥35 years of age in Kaiser Permanente Southern California. The first hospitalization for AMI overall, and for ST-segment–elevation MI and non–ST-segment–elevation MI was identified by International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification primary discharge diagnosis codes in each calendar year from 2000 through 2014. Age- and sex-standardized incidence rates per 100 000 person-years were calculated by using direct adjustment to the 2010 US Census population. Average annual percent changes (AAPCs) and period percent changes were calculated, and trend tests were conducted using Poisson regression.

Results:

We identified 45 331 AMI hospitalizations between 2000 and 2014. Age- and sex-standardized incidence rates of AMI declined from 322.4 (95% CI, 311.0–333.9) in 2000 to 174.6 (95% CI, 168.2–181.0) in 2014, representing an AAPC of –4.4% (95% CI, –4.2 to –4.6) and a period percent change of –46.6%. The AAPC for AMI in women was –4.6% (95% CI, –4.1 to –5.2) between 2000 and 2009 and declined to –2.3% (95% CI, –1.2 to –3.4) between 2010 and 2014. The AAPC for AMI in men was stable over the study period (–4.7% [95% CI, –4.4 to –4.9]). The AAPC for ST-segment–elevation MI hospitalization overall was –8.3% (95% CI, –8.0% to –8.6%).The AAPC in ST-segment–elevation MI changed among women in 2009 (2000–2009: –10.2% [95% CI, –9.3 to –11.1] and in 2010–2014: –5.2% [95% CI, –3.1 to –7.3]) while remaining stable among men (–8.0% [95% CI, –7.6 to –8.4]). The AAPC for non–ST-segment–elevation MI hospitalization was smaller than for ST-segment–elevation MI among both women and men (–1.9% [95% CI, –1.5 to –2.3] and –2.8% [95% CI, –2.5 to –3.2], respectively).

Conclusions:

These results suggest that the incidence of hospitalized AMI declined between 2000 and 2014; however, declines in AMI have slowed among women in comparison with men in recent years. Determining unmet care needs among women may reduce these sex-based AMI disparities.

Refining the Definition of Polypharmacy and Its Link to Disability in Older Adults: Conceptualizing Necessary Polypharmacy, Unnecessary Polypharmacy, and Polypharmacy of Unclear Benefit

The term polypharmacy in older adults is generally used in a pejorative context in the medical literature. Because of its link to geriatric syndromes and disability, the avoidance of polypharmacy is usually recommended in older adults as a strategy to optimize functional status. However, there are many polypharmacy regimens based on high-quality trials that clearly reduce the risk of disability in older adults. Other guidelines for older adults recommend the use of additional medications that may or may not be evidence based and that may or may not reduce disability. Therefore, we propose that, in the geriatric literature, polypharmacy now be categorized as "necessary polypharmacy," "unnecessary polypharmacy," or "polypharmacy of unclear benefit." In this article, we discuss the 3 categories of polypharmacy and give examples on each polypharmacy regimen and its potential relationship to disability in older adults.

A Comparison of Online Physician Ratings and Internal Patient-Submitted Ratings from a Large Healthcare System

BACKGROUND

Physician online ratings are ubiquitous and influential, but they also have their detractors. Given the lack of scientific survey methodology used in online ratings, some health systems have begun to publish their own internal patient-submitted ratings of physicians.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to compare online physician ratings with internal ratings from a large healthcare system.

DESIGN

Retrospective cohort study comparing online ratings with internal ratings from a large healthcare system.

SETTING

Kaiser Permanente, a large integrated healthcare delivery system.

PARTICIPANTS

Physicians in the Southern California region of Kaiser Permanente, including all specialties with ambulatory clinic visits.

MAIN MEASURES

The primary outcome measure was correlation between online physician ratings and internal ratings from the integrated healthcare delivery system.

RESULTS

Of 5438 physicians who met inclusion and exclusion criteria, 4191 (77.1%) were rated both online and internally. The online ratings were based on a mean of 3.5 patient reviews, while the internal ratings were based on a mean of 119 survey returns. The overall correlation between the online and internal ratings was weak (Spearman's rho .23), but increased with the number of reviews used to formulate each online rating.

CONCLUSIONS

Physician online ratings did not correlate well with internal ratings from a large integrated healthcare delivery system, although the correlation increased with the number of reviews used to formulate each online rating. Given that many consumers are not aware of the statistical issues associated with small sample sizes, we would recommend that online rating websites refrain from displaying a physician's rating until the sample size is sufficiently large (for example, at least 15 patient reviews). However, hospitals and health systems may be able to provide better information for patients by publishing the internal ratings of their physicians.

Early Mortality Among Peritoneal Dialysis and Hemodialysis Patients Who Transitioned With an Optimal Outpatient Start

Introduction

Lower early mortality observed in peritoneal dialysis (PD) compared with hemodialysis (HD) may be due to differential pre–end-stage renal disease (ESRD) care and the stable setting of transition to dialysis where PD starts are more frequently outpatient rather than during an unscheduled hospitalization. To account for these circumstances, we compared early mortality among a matched cohort of PD and HD patients who had optimal and outpatient starts.

Methods

Retrospective cohort study performed among patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) who transitioned to ESRD from 1 January 2002 to 31 March 2015 with an optimal start in an outpatient setting. Optimal start defined as (i) HD with an arteriovenous graft or fistula or (ii) PD. Propensity score modeling factoring age, race, sex, comorbidities, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) level, and change in eGFR before ESRD was used to create a matched cohort of HD and PD. All-cause mortality was compared at 6 months, 1 year, and 2 years posttransition to ESRD.

Results

Among 2094 patients (1398 HD and 696 PD) who had optimal outpatient transition to ESRD, 541 HD patients were propensity score–matched to 541 PD patients (caliper distance <0.001). All-cause mortality odds ratios (OR) in PD compared with HD were 0.79 (0.39–1.63), 0.73 (0.43–1.23), and 0.88 (0.62–1.26) for 6 months, 1 year, and 2 years, respectively. Time-varying analysis accounting for modality switch (19% PD, 1.9% HD) demonstrated a mortality hazard ratio of 0.94 (0.70–1.24)

Conclusion

Among an optimal start CKD cohort that transitioned to ESRD on an outpatient basis, we found no evidence of differences in early mortality between PD and HD.

The Feasibility of Automating Assessment of Concordance Between Advance Care Preferences and Care Received Near the End of Life

BACKGROUND

End-of-life care is patient centered when it is concordant with patient preferences. Concordance has been frequently assessed by interview, chart review, or both. These time-consuming methods can constrain sample sizes, precluding population-level quality assessment. Concordance between preferences and care as measured by automated methods is described.

METHODS

Automated processes extracted and analyzed electronic health record (EHR) data to assess concordance between 15 advance care planning preference domains and 232 related end-of-life care events for 388 patients aged 65 years or older with an inpatient encounter at Kaiser Permanente Southern California who died during or after the encounter. Patient preferences were recorded in advance directives or physician orders or reflected in hospital code status. Concordance, assessed in relation to the most recent documents, orders, or code status, occurred when patients received care they preferred or did not receive nonpreferred care. Discordance occurred when patients received care they did not prefer or did not receive care they preferred.

RESULTS

Overall concordance for 12,592 observed end-of-life care events was 97.7%. A total of 55 of 4,154 (1.3%) received care events were nonpreferred, according to patient preferences in the EHR. Automated methods could not distinguish between medically nonbeneficial treatments, those that were not medically indicated, and potential undertreatment.

CONCLUSION

Automating assessment of concordance between care near the end of life and preferences is feasible but requires model refinement and discrete care preference data. Automated methods may be most valuable as a screening tool to identify potential overtreatment and undertreatment, with chart review to verify discordance.

Understanding Waste in Health Care: Perceptions of Frontline Physicians Regarding Time Use and Appropriateness of Care They and Others Provide

BACKGROUND

Approximately 30% of total US health care spending is thought to be "wasted" on activities like unnecessary and inefficiently delivered services.

OBJECTIVES

To assess the perceptions of clinic-based physicians regarding their use of time and appropriateness of care provided.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional online survey of all Southern California Permanente Medical Group partner and associate physicians (N = 1034) who were primarily providing clinic-based care in 1 of 4 geographically and operationally distinct Kaiser Permanente Southern California Medical Centers.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

The proportion of time spent on direct patient care tasks perceived to require the respondent's clinical/specialty training as a physician or another physician who has similar years of clinical training (vs physicians with fewer years of clinical training, nonphysicians, or automated or computerized systems), and the proportion of care provided by the respondent and by other physicians with whom they are familiar that is perceived to be appropriate (vs equivocal or inappropriate).

RESULTS

More than 61% of respondents indicated that 15% of their time spent on direct patient care could be shifted to nonphysicians, and between 10% and 16% of care provided was equivocal or inappropriate.

DISCUSSION

The low proportion of care perceived as equivocal or inappropriate indicates there is little room for reducing such care or that physicians have difficulty assessing care appropriateness. The latter suggests that attempts to reduce or to eliminate inappropriate care may be unsuccessful until physician beliefs, knowledge, or behaviors are better understood and addressed.

CONCLUSION

On the basis of these findings, it is apparent that within at least one health care system, the opportunity to increase value through task shifting and avoiding inappropriate care is more narrow than commonly perceived on a national level.

Satisfaction with care after reducing opioids for chronic pain

OBJECTIVES

An epidemic of opioid overuse has resulted in nationwide efforts to decrease prescribing, but there is concern that implementing these recommendations will cause patients who are accustomed to opioids for chronic pain to be dissatisfied with care.

STUDY DESIGN

Retrospective cohort study of satisfaction scores for patients prescribed opioids for noncancer chronic pain for at least 6 consecutive months from 2009 to 2014.

METHODS

We used mixed effects regression to examine the association between opioid dose reduction and the frequency of unfavorable patient satisfaction scores. Subgroup analysis compared the effect of dose reduction on satisfaction scores for encounters between patients and their assigned primary care provider (PCP) versus encounters between patients and an unassigned provider.

RESULTS

Included were 2492 encounters involving patients with high-dose chronic opioid use for noncancer pain. A reduction in opioid prescribing occurred in 29% of encounters, and most of these resulted in favorable satisfaction scores (86.4%). After adjustment, the odds of an unfavorable score in the dose reduction group were just marginally higher and not significant (odds ratio [OR], 1.31; 95% CI, 1.00-1.73). Stratified by different encounter types, opioid dose reduction was not associated with unfavorable scores for visits with an assigned PCP (OR, 1.16; 95% CI, 0.79-1.70), but the odds of an unfavorable score were higher for encounters with an unassigned provider (OR, 1.50; 95% CI, 1.01-2.23).

CONCLUSIONS

Overall, reducing opioid use for chronic pain is not associated with lower patient satisfaction scores, but encounters with unassigned providers may be associated with slightly lower satisfaction when opioids are reduced.

Characterizing Kaiser Permanente Southern California's Experience With the California End of Life Option Act in the First Year of Implementation

This study describes the experience of a large integrated health system and provides in-depth descriptions of individuals who initiated the California End of Life Option Act process.

End-Stage Renal Disease and Mortality Outcomes Across Different Glomerulonephropathies in a Large Diverse US Population

OBJECTIVE

To compare renal function decline, incident end-stage renal disease (ESRD), and mortality among patients with 5 common glomerular diseases in a large diverse population.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

A retrospective cohort study (between January 1, 2000, and December 31, 2011) of patients with glomerulonephropathy using the electronic health record of an integrated health system was performed. Estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) change, incident ESRD, and mortality were compared among patients with biopsy-proven focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), membranous glomerulonephritis (MN), minimal change disease (MCD), immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN), and lupus nephritis (LN). Competing risk models were used to estimate hazard ratios for different glomerulonephropathies for incident ESRD, with mortality as a competing outcome after adjusting for potential confounders.

RESULTS

Of the 2350 patients with glomerulonephropathy (208 patients [9%] younger than 18 years) with a mean follow-up of 4.5±3.6 years, 497 (21%) progressed to ESRD and 195 (8%) died before ESRD. The median eGFR decline was 1.0 mL/min per 1.73 m² per year but varied across different glomerulonephropathies (P<.001). The highest ESRD incidence (per 100 person-years) was observed in FSGS 8.72 (95% CI, 3.93-16.72) followed by IgAN (4.54; 95% CI, 1.37-11.02), LN (2.38; 95% CI, 0.37-7.82), MN (2.15; 95% CI, 0.29-7.46), and MCD (1.67; 95% CI, 0.15-6.69). Compared with MCD, hazard ratios (95% CIs) for incident ESRD were 3.43 (2.32-5.08) and 2.35 (1.46-3.81), 1.28 (0.79-2.07), and 1.02 (0.62-1.68) for FSGS, IgAN, LN, and MN, respectively. No significant association between glomerulonephropathy types and mortality was detected (P=.24).

CONCLUSION

Our findings from a real-world clinical environment revealed significant differences in eGFR decline and ESRD risk among patients with 5 glomerulonephropathies. These variations in presentation and outcomes warrant different management strategies and expectations.

Safer and more appropriate opioid prescribing: a large healthcare system's comprehensive approach

RATIONALE, AIMS, AND OBJECTIVES

The United States is in the midst of a public health epidemic with more than 40 people dying each day from prescription opioid overdoses. Health care systems are taking steps to address the opioid overdose epidemic by implementing policy and practice interventions to mitigate the risks of long-term opioid therapy. Kaiser Permanente Southern California launched a comprehensive initiative to transform the way that chronic pain is viewed and treated. Kaiser Permanente Southern California created prescribing and dispensing policies, monitoring and follow-up processes, and clinical coordination through electronic health record integration. The purpose of this paper is to describe the implementation of these interventions and assess the impact of this set of interventions on opioid prescribing.

METHOD

The study used a retrospective pre-post evaluation design to track outcomes before and after the intervention. Kaiser Permanente Southern California members age 18 and older excluding cancer, hospice, and palliative care patients and this sub-population of 3 203 880 was approximately 75% of all Kaiser Permanente Southern California members. All data are from Kaiser Permanente's pharmacy data systems and electronic health record collected on a rolling basis as interventions were implemented from January 2010 to December 2015.

RESULTS

There were reductions in all tracked outcomes: a 30% reduction in prescribing opioids at high doses; a 98% reduction in the number of prescriptions with quantities greater than 200 pills; a 90% decrease in the combination of an opioid prescription with benzodiazepines and carisoprodol; a 72% reduction in the prescribing of Long Acting/Extended Release opioids; and a 95% reduction in prescriptions of brand name opioid-acetaminophen products. In addition, methadone prescribing did not increase during this period.

CONCLUSIONS

This study adds promising results that a comprehensive system-level strategy has the ability to positively affect opioid prescribing. The basic components of the intervention are generalizable and applicable to other health care settings.

The impact of improving access to primary care

OBJECTIVES

To measure the size and timing of changes in utilization and costs for employees and dependents who had major access barriers to primary care removed, across an 8-year period (2007 to 2014).

STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS

Retrospective observational study examining patterns of utilization and costs before and after the implementation of a worksite medical office in 2010. The worksite office offered convenient primary care services with no travel from work, essentially guaranteed same day access, and no co-pay. Trends in visit rates and costs were compared for an intervention fixed cohort group (employees and dependents) at the employer (n = 1211) with a control fixed cohort group (n = 542 162) for 6 types of visits (primary, urgent, emergency, inpatient, specialty, and other outpatient). Difference-in-differences methods assessed the significance of between-group changes in utilization and costs.

RESULTS

The worksite medical office intervention group had an increase in primary care visits relative to the control group (+43% vs +4%, P < 0.001). This was accompanied by a reduction in urgent care visits by the intervention group compared with the control group (-43% vs -5%, P < 0.001). There were no differences in the other types of visits, and the total visit costs for the intervention group increased 5.7% versus 2.7% for the control group (P = 0.008). A sub-group analysis of the intervention group (comparing dependents to employees) found that that the dependents achieved a reduction in costs of 2.7% (P < 0.001) across the study period.

CONCLUSIONS

The potential for long-term reduction in utilization and costs with better access to primary care is significant, but not easily nor automatically achieved.

Improving antibiotic stewardship: a stepped-wedge cluster randomized trial

OBJECTIVES

Antibiotic stewardship is key to optimizing patient outcomes and affordable care. The study objective was to examine the effect of provider education and clinical decision support (CDS) on antibiotic prescribing for acute sinusitis among providers of varying experience.

STUDY DESIGN

A stepped-wedge cluster randomized intervention to evaluate antibiotic use for acute sinusitis encounters at 126 Kaiser Permanente Southern California clinics between September 2014 and April 2015.

METHODS

The primary outcome was receipt of an antibiotic prescription. Multivariate analysis adjusted for patient, provider, and medical center characteristics. Secondary analyses described sinusitis and other common upper respiratory infection (URI) diagnoses and antibiotic use during the study period compared with prior years. Chart review of a random sample reported the proportion of encounters receiving guideline-concordant antibiotics.

RESULTS

Analysis of 21,949 encounters (10,491 pre- and 11,458 post intervention) showed CDS reduced the use of antibiotics (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 0.78; 95% CI, 0.71-0.87), although the pre-post absolute difference was small (85.9% vs 83.9%, respectively). Education had a large initial effect (AOR, 0.51; 95% CI, 0.46-0.57), which did not persist. Increasing years of provider experience raised the rates of antibiotic prescribing, but did not have a significant interaction with CDS (P = .19). The effect of CDS varied by medical center (P <.001). In addition, sinusitis diagnoses decreased post intervention, with no overall increase in antibiotic prescribing for URI diagnoses. Lastly, guideline-concordant antibiotic use increased by 14%.

CONCLUSIONS

Provider education and CDS improved antibiotic stewardship and changed diagnosis patterns. The benefits of education were brief, and CDS effectiveness varied by medical center.

Low-value antibiotic prescribing and clinical factors influencing patient satisfaction

OBJECTIVES

Patient-centered healthcare is a high priority and is commonly measured and incentivized through patient satisfaction surveys. There is a need to further understand if increasing satisfaction has the unintended consequence of encouraging low-value care. This study assessed the association of low-value antibiotic prescribing with patient satisfaction scores, and it evaluated patient and provider characteristics that may impact the association.

STUDY DESIGN

Retrospective, observational study of acute sinusitis (AS) encounters for adult members of a large integrated delivery system from 2010 to 2013.

METHODS

Bivariate and multivariate analyses evaluating the use of antibiotics, patient attributes, and provider characteristics associated with favorable patient satisfaction scores.

RESULTS

Among 5169 encounters for AS, 79.5% of encounters in which antibiotics were prescribed had favorable satisfaction scores versus 75.4% of encounters in which they were not. Independent predictors of favorable satisfaction scores included: receipt of antibiotics (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 1.24; 95% CI, 1.00-1.55), 45 years or older (aOR, 1.45; 95% CI, 1.24-1.69), Elixhauser Comorbidity Index score 2 or greater (aOR, 1.21; 95% CI, 1.05-1.40), provider business partner status (aOR, 1.38; 95% CI, 1.20-1.58), and a bonded encounter between a patient and their assigned primary care physician (aOR, 2.06; 95% CI, 1.75-2.44).

CONCLUSIONS

Patient satisfaction scores are slightly lower when antibiotics are not prescribed for AS, but 75% of those encounters still received favorable satisfaction scores. Factors such as older patient age, more comorbidities, and an established patient-provider relationship had stronger associations with high patient satisfaction.

End-Stage Renal Disease Outcomes among the Kaiser Permanente Southern California Creatinine Safety Program (Creatinine SureNet): Opportunities to Reflect and Improve

OBJECTIVES

The Kaiser Permanente Southern California (KPSC) creatinine safety program (Creatinine SureNet) identifies and outreaches to thousands of people annually who may have had a missed diagnosis for chronic kidney disease (CKD). We sought to determine the value of this outpatient program and evaluate opportunities for improvement.

METHODS

Longitudinal cohort study (February 2010 through December 2015) of KPSC members captured into the creatinine safety program who were characterized using demographics, laboratory results, and different estimations of glomerular filtration rate. Age- and sex-adjusted rates of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) were compared with those in the overall KPSC population.

RESULTS

Among 12,394 individuals, 83 (0.7%) reached ESRD. The age- and sex-adjusted relative risk of ESRD was 2.7 times higher compared with the KPSC general population during the same period (94.7 vs 35.4 per 100,000 person-years; p < 0.001). Screening with the Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration (vs Modification Diet in Renal Diseases) equation would capture 44% fewer individuals and have a higher predictive value for CKD. Of those who had repeated creatinine measurements, only 13% had a urine study performed (32% among patients with confirmed CKD).

CONCLUSION

Our study found a higher incidence of ESRD among individuals captured into the KPSC creatinine safety program. If the Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration equation were used, fewer people would have been captured while improving the accuracy for diagnosing CKD. Urine testing was low even among patients with confirmed CKD. Our findings demonstrate the importance of a creatinine safety net program in an integrated health system but also suggest opportunities to improve CKD care and screening.

Abstract 061: Sex-specific Trends in Acute Myocardial Infarction Hospitalization, 2000 to 2014

Objectives: Age and sex-specific differences exist in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) prevalence, morbidity and mortality. Thus, within a diverse integrated health care delivery system of over 4 million members, we examined how sex-specific temporal trends in AMI incidence may have contributed to these differences and reflect evolving changes in AMI prevention efforts.

Methods: We identified all Kaiser Permanente Southern California members (aged ≥35 years) with a primary ICD-9-CM hospital discharge diagnosis of AMI between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2014. Incident AMI hospitalization was defined as the first event documented in the electronic health record between 2000 and 2014, with no prior AMI hospitalization. Incident ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) were identified similarly. Age-standardized (using U.S. 2010 Census data) and age-specific incidence rates by sex were calculated separately for AMI, STEMI and NSTEMI events for each calendar year. Average annual percent change and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using log-linear Poisson models.

Results: A total of 45,331 AMI, 16,524 STEMI and 32,552 NSTEMI incident events were identified between 2000 and 2014. Age-standardized incidence rates (per 100,000 person years) of AMI declined an average of 4.7%/year (95% CI [4.4, 4.9]) for men from 441.9 in 2000 to 223.6 in 2014 and 3.9%/year (95% CI [3.6, 4.2]) for women from 246.5 in 2000 to 146.4 in 2014. NSTEMIs declined an average of 2.8%/year (95% CI [2.5, 3.2]) for men from 268.2 in 2000 to 170.2 in 2014 and 1.9%/year (95% CI [1.5, 2.3]) for women from 156.1 in 2000 to 121.8 in 2014. Although STEMI incidence rates declined substantially from 2000 to 2014, sex differences were minimal, with an average decline of 8.0%/year (95% CI [7.6, 8.4]) for men from 205.9 in 2000 to 67.5 in 2014 and 8.9%/year (95% CI [8.3, 9.5]) for women from 107.2 in 2000 to 32.3 in 2014. Comparing 2000 to 2014, age-specific incidence rates of AMI, NSTEMI and STEMI declined in both men and women across all age groups ( Table ).

Conclusions: Despite absolute differences, both men and women have experienced similar declines in hospitalized AMI, STEMI and NSTEMI incidence rates, presumably due to increased efforts in both primary and secondary AMI prevention.

"I Want to Keep the Personal Relationship With My Doctor": Understanding Barriers to Portal Use among African Americans and Latinos

BACKGROUND

Despite the widespread implementation of electronic health records (EHRs), there is growing evidence that racial/ethnic minority patients do not use portals as frequently as non-Hispanic whites to access their EHR information online. This differential portal use could be problematic for health care disparities since early evidence links portal use to better outcomes.

OBJECTIVE

We sought to understand specific barriers to portal use among African American and Latino patients at Kaiser Permanente, which has had a portal in place for over a decade, and broad uptake among the patient population at large.

METHODS

We conducted 10 focus groups with 87 participants in 2012 and 2013 among African American and Latino Kaiser Permanente members in the mid-Atlantic, Georgia, and Southern California regions. Members were eligible to participate if they were not registered for portal access. Focus groups were conducted within each racial/ethnic group, and each included individuals who were older, had a chronic disease, or were parents (as these are the three biggest users of the portal at Kaiser Permanente overall). We videotaped each focus group and transcribed the discussion for analysis. We used general inductive coding to develop themes for major barriers to portal use, overall and separately by racial/ethnic group.

RESULTS

We found that lack of support was a key barrier to initiating portal use in our sample-both in terms of technical assistance as well as the fear of the portal eroding existing personal relationships with health care providers. This held true across a range of focus groups representing a mix of age, income, health conditions, and geographic regions.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study was among the first qualitative explorations of barriers to portal use among racial/ethnic subgroups. Our findings suggest that uniform adoption of portal use across diverse patient groups requires more usable and personalized websites, which may be particularly important for reducing health care disparities. This work is particularly important as all health care systems continue to offer and promote more health care features online via portals.

Integrating qualitative research methods into care improvement efforts within a learning health system: addressing antibiotic overuse

Background

Despite reports advocating for integration of research into healthcare delivery, scant literature exists describing how this can be accomplished. Examples highlighting application of qualitative research methods embedded into a healthcare system are particularly needed. This article describes the process and value of embedding qualitative research as the second phase of an explanatory, sequential, mixed methods study to improve antibiotic stewardship for acute sinusitis.

Methods

Purposive sampling of providers for in-depth interviews improved understanding of unwarranted antibiotic prescribing and elicited stakeholder recommendations for improvement. Qualitative data collection, transcription and constant comparative analyses occurred iteratively.

Results

Emerging themes and sub-themes identified primary drivers of unwarranted antibiotic prescribing patterns and recommendations for improving practice. These findings informed the design of a health system intervention to improve antibiotic stewardship for acute sinusitis. Core components of the intervention are also described.

Conclusion

Qualitative research can be effectively applied in learning healthcare systems to elucidate quantitative results and inform improvement efforts.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12961-016-0122-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The Online Personal Action Plan: A Tool to Transform Patient-Enabled Preventive and Chronic Care

INTRODUCTION

Patient-facing online tools for managing preventive and chronic care can be a resource-effective way to increase patient agency in health promotion. Recently, Kaiser Permanente Southern California added the Online Personal Action Plan (oPAP) to the member web portal to better enable members to access information about prevention, health promotion, and care gaps. This study described Kaiser Permanente Southern California members who use oPAP, as well as how members use oPAP to close five different care gaps: hemoglobin A1c testing, pneumonia vaccination, and three cancer screenings.

METHODS

Care gap closure rates between oPAP users and members not registered on the online patient portal between December 2014 and March 2015 were compared. Data were analyzed in 2015. A total of 838,638 cases (48.9% women; mean age, 49.5 years; 40.4% oPAP users) were examined.

RESULTS

Adjusting for demographics, BMI, smoking status, health and insurance status, and number of open care gaps, oPAP access was associated with a somewhat greater likelihood of care gap closure within 90 days for select care gap types, particularly hemoglobin A1c testing and breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screening among eligible members. The effect of oPAP access on care gap closure differed by certain ethnic minority groups.

CONCLUSIONS

Although healthcare organizations have developed approaches to managing and closing preventive care gaps, these efforts are resource intensive. Users of oPAP are more likely than non-registered members to close gaps, especially cancer screening tests. The oPAP appears to be an effective tool at improving patient engagement in preventive health care.