Visit Planning Using a Waiting Room Health IT Tool: The Aligning Patients and Providers Randomized Controlled Trial.

PURPOSE: Time during primary care visits is limited. We tested the hypothesis that a waiting room health information technology (IT) tool to help patients identify and voice their top visit priorities would lead to better visit interactions and improved quality of care. METHODS: We designed a waiting room tool, the Visit Planner, to guide adult patients through the process of identifying their top priorities for their visit and effectively expressing these priorities to their clinician. We tested this tool in a cluster-randomized controlled trial with usual care as the control. Eligible patients had at least 1 clinical care gap (eg, overdue for cancer screening, suboptimal chronic disease risk factor control, or medication nonadherence). RESULTS: The study (conducted March 31, 2016 through December 31, 2017) included 750 English- or Spanish-speaking patients. Compared with usual care patients, intervention patients more often reported "definitely" preparing questions for their doctor (59.5% vs 45.1%, P <.001) and "definitely" expressing their top concerns at the beginning of the visit (91.3% vs 83.3%, P = .005). Patients in both arms reported high levels of satisfaction with their care (86.8% vs 89.9%, P = .20). With 6 months of follow-up, prevalence of clinical care gaps was reduced by a similar amount in each study arm. CONCLUSIONS: A simple waiting room-based tool significantly improved visit communication. Patients using the Visit Planner were more prepared and more likely to begin the visit by communicating their top priorities. These changes did not, however, lead to further reduction in aggregate clinical care gaps beyond the improvements seen in the usual care arm.

Prompting Patients with Poorly Controlled Diabetes to Identify Visit Priorities Before Primary Care Visits: a Pragmatic Cluster Randomized Trial.

BACKGROUND: Most patients with diabetes do not meet all evidence-based goals of care, and many patients report poor communication and lack of involvement in decision-making during primary care visits. OBJECTIVE: To test the hypothesis that a "Pre-Visit Prioritization" secure email message could improve visit communication and glycemic control among patients with type 2 diabetes. DESIGN: We conducted a pragmatic, provider-randomized, multi-site clinical trial from March 2015 to October 2016 across 30 primary care practices within Kaiser Permanente Northern California (KPNC), a large integrated care delivery system. PARTICIPANTS: Eligible patients had at least 1 year of KPNC membership, type 2 diabetes with most recently measured hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) > = 8.0%, and were registered users of the KPNC online patient portal. INTERVENTIONS: Patients in the intervention arm, upon booking an appointment, received a secure email through the KPNC online portal with a link to the EHR allowing them to submit their top one or two priorities prior to the visit. Control patients received usual care. MAIN MEASURES: Glycemic control; change in HbA1c 6 and 12 months after the initial visit; patient-reported outcomes related to patient-provider communication and patient care experiences. KEY RESULTS: During the study period, 1276 patients had at least one eligible visit. In post-visit surveys (n = 457), more intervention arm patients reported preparing questions for their visit (72% vs 63%, p = 0.048) and being given treatment choices to consider (81% vs 73%, p = 0.041). Patients in both arms had similar reductions in HbA1c over the 12-month study period (0.56% ± 1.45%), with no significant differences between arms. CONCLUSIONS: A "light touch" email-based pre-visit intervention resulted in improved measures of visit interaction but did not significantly improve glycemic control relative to usual care. Improving diabetes clinical outcomes through more effective primary care visits may require more intensive approaches to patient visit preparation. TRIAL REGISTRY: NCT02375932.

A retrospective analysis of false-positive infectious screening results in blood donors.

BACKGROUND: False-positive infectious transfusion screening results remain a challenge with continued loss of both donors and blood products. We sought to identify associations between donor demographic characteristics (age, race, sex, education, first-time donor status) and testing false positive for viruses during routine blood donation screening. In addition the study assessed the prevalence of high-risk behaviors in false-positive donors. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Blood Systems, Inc. donors with allogeneic donations between January 1, 2011, and December 31, 2012, were compared in a case-control study. Those with a false-positive donation for one of four viruses (human immunodeficiency virus [HIV], human T-lymphotropic virus [HTLV], hepatitis B virus [HBV], and hepatitis C virus [HCV]) were included as cases. Those with negative test results were controls. For a subset of cases, infectious risk factors were evaluated. RESULTS: Black race and Hispanic ethnicity were associated with HCV and HTLV false-positive results. Male sex and lower education were associated with HCV false positivity, and age 25 to 44 was associated with HTLV false positivity. First-time donors were more likely to be HCV false positive although less likely to be HBV and HTLV false positive. No significant associations between donor demographics and HIV false positivity were observed. A questionnaire for false-positive donors showed low levels of high-risk behaviors. CONCLUSION: Demographic associations with HCV and HTLV false-positive results overlap with those of true infection. While true infection is unlikely given current testing algorithms and risk factor evaluation, the findings suggest nonrandom association. Further investigation into biologic mechanisms is warranted.