Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Temporary Epidemiology Field Assignee program: Supporting state and local preparedness in the wake of Ebola.

OBJECTIVES: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched the Temporary Epidemiology Field Assignee (TEFA) Program to help state and local jurisdictions respond to the risk of Ebola virus importation during the 2014-2016 Ebola Outbreak in West Africa. We describe steps taken to launch the 2-year program, its outcomes and lessons learned. METHODS: State and local health departments submitted proposals for a TEFA to strengthen local capacity in four key public health preparedness areas: 1) epidemiology and surveillance, 2) health systems preparedness, 3) health communications, and 4) incident management. TEFAs and jurisdictions were selected through a competitive process. Descriptions of TEFA activities in their quarterly reports were reviewed to select illustrative examples for each preparedness area. RESULTS: Eleven TEFAs began in the fall of 2015, assigned to 7 states, 2 cities, 1 county and the District of Columbia. TEFAs strengthened epidemiologic capacity, investigating routine and major outbreaks in addition to implementing event-based and syndromic surveillance systems. They supported improvements in health communications, strengthened healthcare coalitions, and enhanced collaboration between local epidemiology and emergency preparedness units. Several TEFAs deployed to United States territories for the 2016 Zika Outbreak response. CONCLUSION: TEFAs made important contributions to their jurisdictions' preparedness. We believe the TEFA model can be a significant component of a national strategy for surging state and local capacity in future high-consequence events.

Using Video Technology to Increase Treatment Completion for Patients With Latent Tuberculosis Infection on 3-Month Isoniazid and Rifapentine: An Implementation Study.

BACKGROUND: Since January 2013, the New York City (NYC) Health Department Tuberculosis (TB) Program has offered persons diagnosed with latent TB infection (LTBI) the 3-month, once-weekly isoniazid and rifapentine (3HP) treatment regimen. Patients on this treatment are monitored in-person under directly observed therapy (DOT). To address patient and provider barriers to in-person DOT, we piloted the use of a videoconferencing software app to remotely conduct synchronous DOT (video directly observed therapy; VDOT) for patients on 3HP. OBJECTIVE: The objective of our study was to evaluate the implementation of VDOT for patients on 3HP and to assess whether treatment completion for these patients increased when they were monitored using VDOT compared with that using the standard in-person DOT. METHODS: Between February and October 2015, patients diagnosed with LTBI at any of the four NYC Health Department TB clinics who met eligibility criteria for treatment with 3HP under VDOT (V3HP) were followed until 16 weeks after treatment initiation, with treatment completion defined as ingestion of 11 doses within 16 weeks. Treatment completion of patients on V3HP was compared with that of patients on 3HP under clinic-based, in-person DOT who were part of a prior study in 2013. Furthermore, outcomes of video sessions with V3HP patients were collected and analyzed. RESULTS: During the study period, 70% (50/71) of eligible patients were placed on V3HP. Treatment completion among V3HP patients was 88% (44/50) compared with 64.9% (196/302) among 3HP patients on clinic DOT (P<.001). A total of 360 video sessions were conducted for V3HP patients with a median of 8 (range: 1-11) sessions per patient and a median time of 4 (range: 1-59) minutes per session. Adherence issues (eg, >15 minutes late) during video sessions occurred 104 times. No major side effects were reported by V3HP patients. CONCLUSIONS: The NYC TB program observed higher treatment completion with VDOT than that previously seen with clinic DOT among patients on 3HP. Expanding the use of VDOT may improve treatment completion and corresponding outcomes for patients with LTBI.

A National Survey on the Use of Electronic Directly Observed Therapy for Treatment of Tuberculosis.

CONTEXT: An increasing number of tuberculosis (TB) programs are adopting electronic directly observed therapy (eDOT), the use of technology to supervise patient adherence remotely. Pilot studies show that treatment adherence and completion were similar with eDOT compared with the standard in-person DOT. OBJECTIVE: In December 2015, the National Tuberculosis Controllers Association administered an online survey to determine the extent to which eDOT is used in the United States. PARTICIPANTS: Sixty-eight Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-funded health department TB programs across the United States and a convenient sample of local health department TB programs. RESULTS: Fifty-six (82%) of 68 CDC-funded health department TB programs and an additional 57 local TB programs responded to the survey. Forty-seven (42%) of 113 TB programs are currently using eDOT, 41 (36%) are planning to implement it in the next year, and 25 (22%) have no plans to implement eDOT. Of the 47 TB programs using eDOT, 31 (66%) use synchronous video DOT, 4 (9%) asynchronous video DOT, 11 (23%) a combination of both, and 1 (2%) ingestible sensor to conduct electronic observations. Forty-one (87%) indicated that treatment adherence and 40 (85%) indicated that treatment completion were about the same or higher than in-person DOT. More than 80% indicated that eDOT resulted in program cost savings, and almost all (91%) reported benefits in patient and staff satisfaction. However, 25 (53%) of the 47 TB programs that use eDOT encountered technical challenges and 37 (79%) offer eDOT to less than a third of their patients. CONCLUSIONS: Results from this survey indicate that eDOT is a promising tool that can be utilized to efficiently and effectively manage TB treatment. Findings will inform other TB programs interested in implementing eDOT. However, further evaluation is needed to assess eDOT acceptability to understand barriers to eDOT implementation from the patient and provider perspectives.