Telemedicine for the Medicare population: pediatric, obstetric, and clinician-indirect home interventions.

BACKGROUND: This report is a supplement to an earlier evidence report, Telemedicine for the Medicare Population, which was intended to help policymakers weigh the evidence relevant to coverage of telemedicine services under Medicare. That report focused on telemedicine programs and clinical settings that had been used with or were likely to be applied to Medicare beneficiaries. While we prepared that report, it became apparent that there are also telemedicine studies among non-Medicare beneficiaries--e.g., children and pregnant women--that could inform policymakers and provide more comprehensive evidence of the state of the science regarding telemedicine applications. In addition, the first evidence report only partially included a class of telemedicine applications (called self-monitoring/testing telemedicine) in which the beneficiary used a home computer or modern-driven telephone system to either report information or access information and support from Internet resources and indirectly interact with a clinician. Self-monitoring/testing applications in the first report required direct interaction with a clinician. The goal of this report is to systematically review the evidence in the clinical areas of pediatric and obstetric telemedicine as well as home-based telemedicine where there is indirect involvement of the health care professional. (In this report, we will refer to the latter as clinician-indirect home telemedicine.) Specifically, the report summarizes scientific evidence on the diagnostic accuracy, access, clinical outcomes, satisfaction, and cost-effectiveness of services provided by telemedicine technologies for these patient groups. It also identifies gaps in the evidence and makes recommendations for evaluating telemedicine services for these populations in the future. The evidence is clustered according to three categories of telemedicine service defined in our original report: store-and-forward, self-monitoring/testing, and clinician-interactive services. The three clinical practice areas reviewed in this report are defined as follows. The term pediatric applies to any telemedicine study in which the sample consisted wholly or partially of persons aged 18 or younger, including studies with neonatal samples. The term obstetric applies to any telemedicine study in which the sample consisted entirely of women seeking pregnancy-related care. The term clinician-indirect home telemedicine applies to home-based telemedicine (called self-monitoring/testing in our original report) where a telemedicine application used in the home has only indirect involvement by the health care professional. Interactive home telemedicine was applied in this report to all patient populations. KEY QUESTIONS: The key questions that served as a guide for reviewing the literature in the evaluation of pediatric, obstetric, and clinician-indirect home telemedicine applications were derived by consensus among the evidence-review team based on the analytic framework established for the original evidence report. For the current report, the questions were applied to studies in all three practice areas as a whole group within each of the three categories of telemedicine services: store-and-forward; self-monitoring/testing; and clinician-interactive. The specific key questions were: 1. Does telemedicine result in comparable diagnosis and appropriateness of recommendations for management? 2. Does the availability of telemedicine provide comparable access to care? 3. Does telemedicine result in comparable health outcomes? 4. Does telemedicine result in comparable patient or clinician satisfaction with care? 5. Does telemedicine result in comparable costs of care and/or cost-effectiveness? METHODS: We searched for peer-reviewed literature using several bibliographic databases. In addition, we conducted hand searches of leading telemedicine journals and identified key papers from the reference lists of journal articles. For our original evidence report on telemedicine for the Medicare population, we designed a search to find any publications about telemedicine and used it to search the MEDLINE, CINAHL, and HealthSTAR databases for all years the databases were available. Through this process, we captured studies of pediatric, obstetric, and clinician-indirect home telemedicine; however, they were excluded from the original report since they were outside its scope. For this supplemental report, we reviewed our original search results and identified studies relevant to this report. We identified additional studies from the reference lists of included papers and from hand searching two peer-reviewed telemedicine publications, the Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare and Telemedicine Journal. We critically appraised the included studies for each study area and key question and discussed the strengths and limitations of the most important studies at weekly meetings of the research team. We also developed recommendations for research to address telemedicine knowledge gaps. To match these gaps with the capabilities of specific research methods, we classified the telemedicine services according to the type of evidence that would be needed to determine whether the specific goals of covering such services had been met. We emphasized the relationship between the type and level of evidence found in the systematic review of effectiveness and the types of studies that might be funded to address the gaps in knowledge in this growing field of research. FINDINGS: We identified a total of 28 eligible studies. In the new clinical areas, we found few studies in store-and-forward telemedicine. There is some evidence of comparable diagnosis and management decisions made using store-and-forward telemedicine from the areas of pediatric dental screening, pediatric ophthalmology, and neonatalogy. In self-monitoring/testing telemedicine for the areas of pediatrics, obstetrics, and clinician-indirect home telemedicine, there is evidence that access to care can be improved when patients and families have the opportunity to receive telehealth care at home rather than in-person care in a clinic or hospital. Access is particularly enhanced when the telehealth system enables timely communication between patients or families and care providers that allows self-management and necessary adjustments that may prevent hospitalization. There is some evidence that this form of telemedicine improves health outcomes, but the study sample sizes are usually small, and even when they are not, the treatment effects are small. There is also some evidence for the efficacy of clinician-interactive telemedicine, but the studies do not clearly define which technologies provide benefit or cost-efficiency. Some promising areas for diagnosis include emergency medicine, psychiatry, and cardiology. Most of the studies measuring access to care provide evidence that it is improved. Although none of these studies were randomized controlled trials, they provide some evidence of access improvement over prior conditions. Clinician-interactive telemedicine was the only area for which any cost studies were found. The three cost studies did not adequately demonstrate that telemedicine reduces costs of care (except comparing only selected costs). No study addressed cost-effectiveness. CONCLUSIONS: This supplemental report covering the areas of pediatrics, obstetrics, and indirect-clinician home telemedicine echoes the findings of our initial report for the Medicare domain, which is that while the use of telemedicine is small but growing, the evidence for its efficacy is incomplete. Many of the studies are small and/or methodologically limited, so it cannot be determined whether telemedicine is efficacious. Future studies should focus on the use of telemedicine in conditions where burden of illness and/or barriers to access for care are significant. Use of recent innovations in the design of randomized controlled trials for emerging technologies would lead to higher quality studies. Journals publishing telemedicine evaluation studies must set high standards for methodologic quality so that evidence reports need not rely on studies with marginal methodologies.

Common questions patients ask during pregnancy.

When women become pregnant, they expect their family physicians to answer many questions about potential risks during the pregnancy and possible effects on the developing fetus. Many of these questions concern over-the-counter medications, common household exposures and daily activities, which often are not well discussed in obstetric texts. In general, women can be reassured that allergy medications and most common food additives, such as caffeine and aspartame, are safe to use during pregnancy. Most cosmetics and hair care products, including permanent wave solutions, are safe in limited exposures. Patients should be counseled to avoid exposure to insecticides and to continue good safety habits, such as wearing seat belts. Discussion of specific risks may prevent unnecessary anxiety and needless changes in work and home environment and lifestyle for pregnant women.

Physician and staff acceptance of continuous quality improvement.

BACKGROUND: Increasing numbers of health care organizations are adopting Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) principles. This study's objective was to evaluate the attitudes toward and acceptance of CQI by a family practice residency program's providers and staff after 3 years' experience with the process. METHODS: Our CQI project groups examine selected problems and develop system-based solutions. We surveyed staff, residents, and faculty to determine their awareness of the CQI projects, the perceived usefulness of the projects and results, how well they were informed of the results, and whether they believe CQI is a useful tool in our clinic. RESULTS: Of 19 clinical and/or administrative projects we implemented, 75% of the faculty, 55% of the residents, and 71% of the staff perceived the projects to be useful. Eighty-eight percent of the faculty, 64% of the residents, and 82% of the staff believe CQI to be useful tool in our clinic. However, only 50% of faculty, 36% of residents, and 24% of staff felt they were well informed of the project results. The time involved in CQI and the need to improve communication among personnel on CQI processes were identified as important concerns about CQI. CONCLUSION: Faculty, resident, and staff members accept the CQI process and perceive it to be a useful tool in clinical practice. CQI requires attention to the time involved and communication about CQI projects and results.

Women's satisfaction with Norplant as compared with oral contraceptives.

BACKGROUND: Women's satisfaction with their chosen method of contraception has seldom been evaluated, especially in the primary care setting. This study compared women who use Norplant with those who use oral contraceptives with regard to patient satisfaction with, and the perceived advantages and disadvantages of, their birth control method. METHODS: We sent questionnaires to 115 Norplant users and 148 oral contraceptive users. The questionnaire asked for demographic data; a rating of level of satisfaction with their contraceptive; whether they would choose their method again; whether they would recommend their contraceptive to a friend; and what they perceived as its advantages and disadvantages. RESULTS: Sixty percent of responding Norplant users were satisfied with their method as compared with 72% of oral contraceptive users (P > .05). Sixty-three percent of Norplant users indicated that they would use their method again, compared with 88% of oral contraceptive users (P < .05). Seventy-four percent of Norplant users said they would recommend their method to a friend as compared with 97% of oral contraceptive users (P < .05). Oral contraceptive users reported significantly less menstrual bleeding and cramping than did Norplant users (P < .05), and Norplant users reported significantly more acne and bleeding irregularities (P < .05). CONCLUSIONS: In our study, the majority of responding Norplant and oral contraceptive users were satisfied with their current method of contraception. However, Norplant users reported being less willing to use their method again or to recommend it to a friend, as compared with women using oral contraceptives. Norplant users noted more bleeding irregularities, more cramping, and increased acne.

PIP: In Wisconsin, 115 Norplant users and 148 oral contraceptive (OC) users, all of whom attended the university-administered family medicine residency training clinic in Eau Claire between May, 1991, and February, 1993, returned questionnaires as part of a study to examine satisfaction with their chosen contraceptive and its benefits and side effects. Most women were satisfied with their contraceptive method (60% for Norplant users and 72% for OC users). OC users were more likely to use their method again than were Norplant users (88% vs. 63%; p .001). Even though most women would recommend their method to a friend, OC users were more likely to do so than Norplant users (97% vs. 74%; p .001). Irregular bleeding was more common among Norplant users than among OC users (73% vs. 34%; p .001). OC users were more likely to feel that OCs caused less bleeding and less cramping than did Norplant users (72% vs. 30% and 60% vs. 30%, respectively; p .001). They were less likely to complain of acne (7% vs. 29%; p .001), weight gain (33% vs. 49%; p .04), and bleeding irregularities (8% vs. 60%; p .001) than Norplant users. Overall, both Norplant and OC users were satisfied with their current contraceptive method, but satisfaction was lower and side effects were more common among Norplant users.

Is LEEP a feasible addition to the family physician's office?

BACKGROUND: Seven thousand women die annually from cervical cancer in the US. This disease is preventable if cervical dysplasia is treated. Loop Electrosurgical Excision of the Cervix (LEEP) is a new treatment for dysplasia. This study evaluates the acceptability and feasibility of having LEEP available in a family physician's office. METHOD: We performed a retrospective audit of colposcopy patients at 2 family practice clinics over a 2-year period. We determined the patients who met criteria for LEEP, surveyed the patients and calculated the cost benefit to the clinic. RESULT: Out of 288 patients undergoing colposcopy, 40 (14%) were candidates for LEEP. Few complications, minimal discomfort, and performance of the procedure at their primary clinic were important to patients. Patient cost for LEEP in the office is $700 compared to $1450 in the hospital. Nine LEEP procedures per year provides a break-even point for the clinic. CONCLUSION: LEEP offers the advantage over laser treatment of lower cost, use of local anesthesia, and provision of a pathology specimen. Performing LEEP in the family physician's office is cost effective and meets patient needs.

Using reminder systems to improve Papanicolaou test follow-up. An example of continuous quality improvement.

OBJECTIVE: Using continuous quality improvement principles, we developed a Papanicolaou test recall system with the goal of increasing first and second follow-up Papanicolaou tests after cryotherapy by 20%. DESIGN: An initial study showed rates of 67% for the first follow-up Papanicolaou test and 31% for the second follow-up test. We formed a dysplasia project team. Using continuous quality improvement principles, we instituted a Papanicolaou test recall system. We remeasured first and second follow-up rates for Papanicolaou tests after cryotherapy. The staff and providers were surveyed regarding their acceptance of the system. No attempt was made to control for confounding factors. SETTING: The study was performed at the Family Medicine Clinic in Eau Claire, Wis. This is a community-based, university-administered family practice residency training clinic. PARTICIPANTS: The first 53 consecutive women who had cryotherapy beginning August 1, 1991, were included in the study. All staff and providers were invited to answer a survey questionnaire. INTERVENTION: Patients received a reminder postcard when they were due for a Papanicolaou test. They received a follow-up letter the next month if no Papanicolaou test was done. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: First and second follow-up Papanicolaou test rates after cryotherapy. Staff and provider satisfaction as measured by a survey. RESULTS: Eighty-four percent of the women returned for their first follow-up Papanicolaou test, and 53% returned for their second after cryotherapy. Staff and providers supported the recall system. CONCLUSION: Continuous quality improvement principles led to a Papanicolaou test reminder system. Follow-up Papanicolaou test rates appeared to increase by 17% for the first Papanicolaou test and by 22% for the second.