Evaluation of a health system's implementation of a monkeypox care model under the RE-AIM framework

Objective

Emerging infectious diseases challenge healthcare systems to implement new models of care. We aim to evaluate the rapid implementation of a new care model for monkeypox in our health system.

Design

This is a retrospective case series evaluation under the Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance (RE-AIM) framework of implementation of a testing and care model for monkeypox in a large, integrated health system.

Methods

Atrium Health implemented education of providers, testing protocols, and management of potential monkeypox cases using electronic health record (EHR) data capabilities, telehealth, and collaboration between multiple disciplines. The first 4 weeks of care model implementation were evaluated under the RE-AIM framework.

Results

One hundred fifty-three patients were tested for monkeypox by 117 unique providers at urgent care, emergency departments, and infectious disease clinics in our healthcare system between 18 July 2022 and 14 August 2022. Fifty-eight monkeypox cases were identified, compared with 198 cases in the state during the time period, a disproportionate number compared with the health system service area, and 52 patients were assessed for need for tecovirimat treatment. The number of tests performed and providers sending tests increased during the study period.

Conclusion

Implementation of a dedicated care model leveraging EHR data support, telehealth, and cross-disciplinary collaboration led to more effective identification and management of emerging infectious diseases and is important for public health.

Plain Language Summary

Impact of care model implementation on monkeypox New infectious diseases challenge health systems to implement new care practices. Our health system responded to this challenge by implementing a care model for education, testing, and clinical care of monkeypox patients. We analyzed results from implementing the model. We were able to identify a disproportionate number of monkeypox cases compared with the rest of our state by using our model to educate medical providers, encourage testing, and ensure patients had access to best disease care. Implementation of care models for testing and management of new diseases will improve patient care and public health.

The COVID-19 Community Research Partnership: a multistate surveillance platform for characterizing the epidemiology of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

The COVID-19 Community Research Partnership (CCRP) is a multisite surveillance platform designed to characterize the epidemiology of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-COV-2) pandemic. This article describes the CCRP study design and methodology. The CCRP includes two prospective cohorts, one with six health systems in the mid-Atlantic and southern USA, and the other with six health systems in North Carolina. With enrollment beginning in April 2020, sites invited persons within their healthcare systems as well as community members to participate in daily surveillance for symptoms of COVID-like illnesses, testing, and risk behaviors. Participants with electronic health records (EHRs) were also asked to volunteer data access. Subsets of participants, representative of the general population and including oversampling of populations of interest, were selected for repeated at-home serology testing. By October 2021, 65 739 participants (62 261 adult and 3478 pediatric) were enrolled, with 89% providing syndromic data, 74% providing EHR data, and 70% participating in one of the two serology sub-studies. An average of 62% of the participants completed a daily survey at least once a week, and 55% of the serology kits were returned. The CCRP provides rich regional epidemiologic data and the opportunity to more fully characterize the risks and sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Increasing collaboration on substance use disorder research with primary care practices through the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network

BACKGROUND

The National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network (CTN) called for its national nodes to promote the translation of evidence-based interventions from substance use disorder (SUD) research into clinical practices. This collaborative demonstration project engaged CTN-affiliated practice-based research networks (PBRNs) in research that describes aspects of opioid prescribing in primary care.

METHODS

Six PBRNs queried electronic health records from a convenience sample of 134 practices (84 participants) to identify the percent of adult patients with an office visit who were prescribed an opioid medication from October 1, 2015, to September 30, 2016, and, of those, the percent also prescribed a sedative in that year. Seven PBRNs sent an e-mail survey to a convenience sample of 108 practices (58 participants) about their opioid management policies and procedures during the project year.

RESULTS

Of 561,017 adult patients with a visit to one of the 84 clinics in the project year, 22.9% (PBRN range 3.1%-25.4%) were prescribed opioid medications, and 52.1% (PBRN range 8.5%-60.6%) of those were prescribed a sedative in the same year. Of the 58 practices returning a survey (45.3% response rate), 98.1% had formal written treatment agreements for chronic opioid therapy, 68.5% had written opioid prescribing policies, and 43.4% provided reports to providers with feedback on opioid management. Only 24.1% were providing buprenorphine for OUD.

CONCLUSION

CTN-affiliated PBRNs demonstrated their ability to collaborate on a project related to opioid management; results highlight the important role for PBRNs in OUD treatment, research, and the need for interventions and additional policies addressing opioid prescribing in primary care practice.

Traditional Risk Indices as Predictors of Future Utilization and Charges in the Context of Population Health for an Uninsured Cohort

INTRODUCTION

The uninsured population presents unique challenges to the application of an integrated approach to population health. Our objective is to compare and test population risk indices for identifying a cohort of uninsured patients at high-risk for avoidable healthcare utilization and costs.

METHODS

Patients who had a least one visit at a safety-net clinic, had a primary address in Mecklenburg County, were aged 18-74, and had the most recent healthcare visit coded as 'uninsured' were identified in the baseline period. The five risk indices used were: the HHS Hierarchical Conditions Category (HCC), the Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI), Total Cost Index, Total Inpatient Visits Index, and Total Emergency Department Visits Index. First, agreement across the five indices was analyzed. Then, the accuracy of the five risk indices was tested in predicting future utilization and costs for the subsequent 12-month follow-up period.

RESULTS

Kappa statistics and percent overlap values showed below average to poor agreement between indices when comparing scorers.The strongest predictors of being in the 90th percentile of total cost during the 12 months follow-up period were the Total Cost Index at baseline (C statistic=0.75) and the HCC (C-statistic=0.73). The CCI and Total Inpatient Visit Index's demonstrated the lowest accuracy for predicting an unnecessary ED visit (C-statistic=0.51, for both).

DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION

Prior cost and ED utilization were key in predicting their corresponding 12-month metrics. In contrast, the Total Inpatient Visit Index had the worst predictive performance for future hospitalization rates. Some indices were similarly predictive as compared to insured cohorts but others showed contrasting results.

Adapting community based participatory research (CBPR) methods to the implementation of an asthma shared decision making intervention in ambulatory practices

OBJECTIVE

Translating research findings into clinical practice is a major challenge to improve the quality of healthcare delivery. Shared decision making (SDM) has been shown to be effective and has not yet been widely adopted by health providers. This paper describes the participatory approach used to adapt and implement an evidence-based asthma SDM intervention into primary care practices.

METHODS

A participatory research approach was initiated through partnership development between practice staff and researchers. The collaborative team worked together to adapt and implement a SDM toolkit. Using the RE-AIM framework and qualitative analysis, we evaluated both the implementation of the intervention into clinical practice, and the level of partnership that was established. Analysis included the number of adopting clinics and providers, the patients' perception of the SDM approach, and the number of clinics willing to sustain the intervention delivery after 1 year.

RESULTS

All six clinics and physician champions implemented the intervention using half-day dedicated asthma clinics while 16% of all providers within the practices have participated in the intervention. Themes from the focus groups included the importance of being part the development process, belief that the intervention would benefit patients, and concerns around sustainability and productivity. One year after initiation, 100% of clinics have sustained the intervention, and 90% of participating patients reported a shared decision experience.

CONCLUSIONS

Use of a participatory research process was central to the successful implementation of a SDM intervention in multiple practices with diverse patient populations.

Modeling the Exposure-Response Relationship of Etanercept in the Treatment of Patients With Chronic Moderate to Severe Plaque Psoriasis

Modeling exposure-response relationships adds significant value to comprehending and interpreting both efficacy and safety data. An exposure-response model was developed using generalized nonlinear mixed-effects methodologies to correlate etanercept exposure with a 75% or greater reduction from baseline in the psoriasis area and severity index (PASI75). Three randomized trials of psoriasis patients were pooled for analysis. Three empirical exposure measures-cumulative dose, predicted cumulative area under the curve, and predicted trough concentration-were evaluated for their predictive capabilities. The predicted cumulative area under the curve model demonstrated the best ability via simulation to reproduce the data and was used to assess the following covariates: age, baseline psoriasis area and severity index, duration of psoriasis disease, prior systemic or phototherapy, race, sex, and weight. The final model was composed by scrutinizing the confidence intervals of a nonparametric bootstrap and included race and sex effects on baseline logit, baseline psoriasis area and severity index and prior systemic or phototherapy effects on maximum drug effect, a weight effect on apparent potency, and an age effect on the rate of drug effect. The model identified covariates predictive of data trends and adequately characterized by simulation the PASI75 over the entire clinical trial design space. In combination with a statistical subgroup analysis, the exposure-response model indicated that dose adjustment was not necessary for etanercept in any patient subpopulation with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis.

A trans-disciplinary approach to the evaluation of social determinants of health in a Hispanic population

Background

Individual and community health are adversely impacted by disparities in health outcomes among disadvantaged and vulnerable populations. Understanding the underlying causes for variations in health outcomes is an essential step towards developing effective interventions to ameliorate inequalities and subsequently improve overall community health. Working at the neighborhood scale, this study examines multiple social determinates that can cause health disparities including low neighborhood wealth, weak social networks, inadequate public infrastructure, the presence of hazardous materials in or near a neighborhood, and the lack of access to primary care services. The goal of this research is to develop innovative and replicable strategies to improve community health in disadvantaged communities such as newly arrived Hispanic immigrants.

Methods/design

This project is taking place within a primary care practice-based research network (PBRN) using key principles of community-based participatory research (CBPR). Associations between social determinants and rates of hospitalizations, emergency department (ED) use, and ED use for primary care treatable or preventable conditions are being examined. Geospatial models are in development using both hospital and community level data to identify local areas where interventions to improve disparities would have the greatest impact. The developed associations between social determinants and health outcomes as well as the geospatial models will be validated using community surveys and qualitative methods. A rapidly growing and underserved Hispanic immigrant population will be the target of an intervention informed by the research process to impact utilization of primary care services and designed, deployed, and evaluated using the geospatial tools and qualitative research findings. The purpose of this intervention will be to reduce health disparities by improving access to, and utilization of, primary care and preventative services.

Discussion

The results of this study will demonstrate the importance of several novel approaches to ameliorating health disparities, including the use of CBPR, the effectiveness of community-based interventions to influence health outcomes by leveraging social networks, and the importance of primary care access in ameliorating health disparities.

Population pharmacokinetic analysis of anidulafungin, an echinocandin antifungal

The objective of this analysis was to describe the pharmacokinetic characteristics of anidulafungin in patients with serious fungal disease based on pharmacokinetic data collected during four recently completed or ongoing Phase II/III clinical studies. A total of 600 anidulafungin plasma samples from 225 patients across the four studies were available for analysis. Patients received daily intravenous infusions of 50, 75, or 100 mg anidulafungin, preceded by a loading dose that was twice the daily dose. The analysis population consisted of 129 patients with esophageal candidiasis, 87 with invasive candidiasis, 7 with invasive aspergillosis, and 2 with azole refractory mucosal candidiasis. A population analysis approach was used to develop a steady-state pharmacokinetic model for anidulafungin, assess the significance of possible covariates, and determine the amount of intersubject and random residual variability. A two-compartment model with first-order elimination provided the best fit to the data. The clearance of anidulafungin was influenced by weight and gender, and subjects in the invasive candidiasis study had a typical clearance that was approximately 30% higher than subjects from other studies. Weight was determined to be a predictor of the central volume of distribution. The covariates on clearance accounted for less than 20% of the intersubject variability and therefore are deemed to be of little clinical relevance. There was no evidence that the presence of rifampin or metabolic substrates, inhibitors, or inducers of cytochrome p450 influenced the clearance of anidulafungin. This indicates that dosing adjustments are not necessary when anidulafungin is administered in the presence of medications falling into these classifications.

Nonlinear mixed effects modeling of single dose and multiple dose data for an immediate release (IR) and a controlled release (CR) dosage form of alprazolam

PURPOSE

NONMEM was applied to single dose and multiple dose bioavailability data for an immediate release (IR) and a controlled release (CR) dosage form of alprazolam to acquire additional information from the data which are not easily obtainable by traditional means.

METHODS

The objective function value (OBJ) and diagnostic plots were used as measures of goodness of fit of the model to the data. A change in the OBJ value of 7.9 was necessary to show statistical significance (p < 0.005) between two models when the two models differed by 1 parameter.

RESULTS

A two-compartment linear model with first-order absorption and elimination best describes the data. Including a lag time, two different rates of absorption (KAIR and KACR), and bioavailability for the CR relative to the IR dosage form significantly improved the fit of the model to the data. Cigarette smoking was associated with a 100% increase in clearance of alprazolam as compared to non-smokers. The higher residual variability observed in this study, where interoccasion variability (IOV) was not initially modeled, could be explained to a large extent by the presence of significant interoccasion variability (IOV).

CONCLUSIONS

Since alprazolam has been suggested to be mainly metabolized by the CYP3A4 isozyme in humans, it appears that tobacco could be an inducer of CYP3A4 and/or alprazolam may be metabolized by other isozyme(s) (specifically, CYP1A1/1A2) that are induced by cigarette smoke. The population pharmacokinetic model approach combined with exploratory graphical data analysis is capable of identifying important covariates from well-controlled "data rich" Phase I studies early in drug development.

Intraduodenal administration of ethiofos (WR-2721): dose proportionality study in the rhesus monkey

A dose progression crossover study of ethiofos (WR-2721) was conducted in three healthy male rhesus monkeys. Each subject was tested with three single intraduodenal doses containing 150, 300, and 600 mg/kg. Blood samples were drawn as a function of time and the concentrations of ethiofos, WR-1065 (free thiol metabolite), and total drug convertible to the free thiol (total WR-1065) were determined by HPLC using electrochemical detection. Ethiofos levels in plasma were usually below quantifiable limits of detection (0.23 mumol/L) at all three dose levels, but free WR-1065 plasma levels increased with increasing dose. Analysis of the free WR-1065 bioavailability values indicated large variability and an unpredictable dose response among subjects. Bound WR-1065 appears to reach saturable levels over the dose range, suggesting a saturable pool of binding sites in plasma. The time-to-peak plasma levels for WR-1065 were variable regardless of the administered dose and ranged from 1.0-2.5 hours. The high variability in the data may be a result of poor permeability or absorption of the parent compound (ethiofos), saturable binding to a variable pool of binding sites in plasma and/or high first-pass metabolism of ethiofos involving the gut lumen, gut wall (epithelium), and liver.

Pharmacodynamics of warfarin at steady state

We studied the pharmacodynamics of warfarin in chronically treated patients. Two methods were used to estimate the pharmacodynamic parameters M/Kd and Cmax (mg/L). In Method 1 the prothrombin time response was modeled directly without use of warfarin concentrations and Method 2 used warfarin concentrations and prothrombin time response to estimate M/Kd and Cmax. The mean Cmax and M/Kd for Method 1 (n = 88) were 5.5 +/- 2.3 mg/L and 51 +/- 46 and for Method 2 (n = 27) 6.3 +/- 2.8 mg/L and 35.4 +/- 13. When Method 1 was applied to the same 27 patients in Method 2, the mean Cmax and M/Kd were 5.7 +/- 3.3 mg/L and 36.1 +/- 14.9. These differences were not significant. Multiple regression analysis revealed that the value of Cmax and M/Kd varied between medical centers. No other patient characteristics were found to be significant. We conclude that modeling steady-state prothrombin time response directly adequately describes pharmacodynamic response to warfarin.

Nitrite/thiosulfate treated acute cyanide poisoning: estimated kinetics after antidote

A 34 year old, 73 kg man ingested a 1 gram potassium cyanide pellet in a suicide attempt. Within one hour, coma, apnea, metabolic acidosis, and seizures developed. Sodium nitrite and sodium thiosulfate were administered. Dramatic improvement in the clinical condition occurred by the completion of antidote infusion. Methemoglobin level was 2% immediately after nitrite administration. Serial whole blood cyanide levels were obtained, documenting a highest measured level of 15.68 mcg/mL. Estimations of toxicokinetic parameters including terminal half-life (t 1/2) (19 hours), clearance (163 mL/minute), and volume of distribution (Vd) (0.41 L/kg) were calculated. The nitrite/thiosulfate combination was clinically efficacious in this case and resulted in complete recovery.

Computer-assisted drug assay interpretation based on Bayesian estimation of individual pharmacokinetics: application to lidocaine

A microcomputer program for individualized drug level prediction based on Bayesian forecasting is presented. It is written so that the clinician can integrate patient demographics and drug levels to design a new dosage regimen tailored to an individual patient. The program's great flexibility and robustness make it appropriate for realistic clinical settings. A validation with a data set of lidocaine concentrations measured in 18 patients revealed that the program can predict serum lidocaine levels accurately enough to enhance individual patient dosage adjustment within a few hours after a dosage regimen is started.

Myocardial vs serum digoxin concentrations in infants and adults

To establish whether there is a difference between infants and adults in the relationship of serum levels of digoxin to dosage or the ratio of myocardial to serum digoxin levels, the concentrations of digoxin in right atrial appendage (RAA) and serum were measured in 12 infants and 17 adults undergoing open heart surgery. Although the daily digoxin dose per weight for the infant was significantly greater than that for adults, there was no difference in the serum digoxin levels for the two groups. We found, however, a considerable difference in myocardial digoxin levels. The RAA digoxin levels were 211.8 +/- 72.1 ng/g of wet weight in infants and 35.1 +/- 7.7 ng/g of wet weight in adults. Similarly, the RAA-serum digoxin ratio was much higher in infants (149 +/- 30) than in adults (28 +/- 5). These data indicate discrepancies between infants and adults in the pharmacokinetics of digoxin, especially with respect to myocardial uptake.

Determinants of response to intravenous hydralazine in hypertension

There is marked interindividual variation in hypotensive response to intravenous hydralazine (H). We examined the determinants of response in patients with hypertension. After a single intravenous dose of 0.3 mg/kg H, response was correlated independently (r = 0.8364) with both predrug blood pressure and acetylator index (AI). Intravenous dose ranging studies showed that response also depended on the amount of H in the systemic circulation. Although plasma H levels depend on AI after oral doses, this is not so after intravenous administration. AI must therefore affect response to H by an alternative, presumably nonmetabolic mechanism which, not related to AI, perhaps indicating specificity of this effect for H. These data reinforce the potential usefulness of determining AI before giving H to a patient.

Hemodynamic effects of n-acetylprocainamide compared with procainamide in conscious dogs

We examined the hemodynamic actions of clinically relevant i.v. doses (20 mg/kg and 10 mg/kg) of n-acetyl procainamide (NAPA) in conscious dogs preinstrumented with a left ventricular (LV) micromanometer, LV and aortic catheters, and ultrasonic crystals for measurement of LV internal diameter shortening (% delta D). Within 30 seconds after the 20-mg/kg dose, there were significant increases in heart rate (27 +/- 7 beats/min, mean +/- SEM; n = 6), maximum dP/dt (655 +/- 206 mm Hg/sec), and % delta D (2.2 +/- 0.9%; all p less than or equal to 0.05). However, by 6 hours after the dose there were reductions compared with control in peak LV pressure (19 +/- 9 mm Hg), dP/dt (610 +/- 210 mm Hg/sec), and % delta D (2.3 +/- 0.6%; all p less than or equal to 0.05). In contrast, equimolar doses of procainamide or drug vehicle alone evoked no response, as did NAPA after pretreatment with reserpine (0.25 mg/kg/day for 2 days) or hexamethonium (10-15 mg/kg). These data suggest NAPA produces a biphasic hemodynamic response with enhancement of LV performance early and a decrease later; this response is different from that of the parent compound, procainamide. These effects are likely mediated by the adrenergic nervous system at either a ganglionic or a central level.