Opioid Dose Reductions by Sex and Race in a Cohort of Patients in a Family Medicine Clinic.

BACKGROUND: The 2022 Centers for Disease Control's "Clinical Practice Guidelines for Prescribing Opioids for Pain in United States" called for attention and action toward reducing disparities in untreated and undertreated pain among Black and Latino patients. There is growing evidence for controlled substance safety committees (CSSC) to change prescribing culture, but few have been examined through the lens of health equity. We examined the impact of a primary care CSSC on opioid prescribing, including by patients' race and sex. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study. Our primary outcome was a change in prescribed morphine milligram equivalents (MME) at baseline (2017) and follow-up (2021). We compared the differences in MME by race and sex. We also examined potential intersectional disparities. We used paired t test to compare changes in mean MME's and logistic regression to determine associations between patient characteristics and MME changes. RESULTS: Our cohort included 93 patients. The mean opioid dose decreased from nearly 200 MME to 136.1 MME, P < .0001. Thirty percent of patients had their dose reduced to under 90 MME by follow-up. The reduction rates by race or sex alone were not statistically significant. There was evidence of intersectional disparities at baseline. Black women were prescribed 88.5 fewer MME's at baseline compared with their White men counterparts, P = .04. DISCUSSION: Our findings add to the previously documented success of CSSCs in reducing opioid doses for chronic nonmalignant pain to safer levels. We highlight an opportunity for primary care based CSSCs to lead the efforts to identify and address chronic pain management inequities.

Training Family Medicine Residents to Address the COVID-19 Pandemic: A National Survey of Program Directors.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Public health training became particularly important for family medicine (FM) residency training programs amid the COVID-19 pandemic; the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME IV.C.19) requires a structured curriculum in which residents address population health. Our primary goal was to understand if, and to what extent, public health interventions trainings were incorporated into FM residency training programs amid the COVID-19 pandemic. We hypothesized programs with more resources (eg, university affiliates) would be better able to incorporate the training compared to those without such resources (ie, nonuniversity affiliates). METHODS: In 2021, we incorporated items addressing COVID-19 public health training competencies into the 2021 Council of Academic Family Medicine Educational Research Alliance national survey of FM residency program directors. The items addressed the type of training provided, mode of delivery, barriers to providing training, perceived importance of training, and support in delivering training. RESULTS: The overall survey response rate was 46.4% (n=287/619). All programs offered at least some training to residents. There were no statistically significant differences in training intensity between university and nonuniversity affiliates. The length of time an FM residency director spent in their position was positively associated with training intensity (r=0.1430, P=.0252). The biggest barrier to providing the trainings was the need to devote time to other curriculum requirements. CONCLUSIONS: FM residency programs were able to provide some public health interventions training during the pandemic. With increased support and resources, FM resident training curricula may better prepare FM residents now in anticipation of a future pandemic.

A community-wide quality improvement initiative to improve hypertension control and reduce disparities.

Initiatives to improve hypertension control within academic medical centers and closed health systems have been extensively studied, but large community-wide quality improvement (QI) initiatives have been both less common and less successful in the United States. The authors examined a community-wide QI initiative across 226 843 patients from 198 practices in nine counties across upstate New York to improve hypertension control and reduce disparities. The QI initiative focused on (a) providing population and practice-level comparative data, (b) community engagement, especially in underserved communities, and (c) practice-level quality improvement assistance, but was not designed to examine causality of specific components. Across the nine counties, hypertension control rates improved from 61.9% in 2011 to 69.5% in 2016. Improvements were greatest among whites (73.7%-81.5%) and more modest among black patients (58.8%-64.7%). The authors noted a considerable improvement in BP within the group of patients with the highest risk (defined as a BP ≥ 160/100) and a decrease in disparities within this group. The quality collaborative identified five key lessons to help guide future community initiatives: (a) anticipate a plateauing of response; (b) distinguish the needs of disparate populations and create subpopulation-specific strategies to address and reduce disparities; (c) recognize the variation across low SES practices; (d) remain open to the refinement of outcome measures; and (e) continually seek best practices and barriers to success. Overall, a large community-wide QI initiative, involving multiple different stakeholders, was associated with improvements in BP control and modest reductions in some targeted disparities.

Psychological Issues in Medically Underserved Patients.

The US population has a subset of those that are underserved who are in need of primary care and also suffer from mental health disorders. In this article, categories of underserved populations are described. Each section defines the population being presented, identifies the mental health problems each is likely to encounter, explores the barriers that prevent access to care, and identifies potential methods to minimize such barriers. The ways in which psychiatric issues vary in underserved settings compared with the general population are differentiated. Recommendations are offered for primary care physicians to support improved recognition and management of psychosocial stressors and psychiatric illness among the underserved.

The Preparticipation Sports Evaluation.

The preparticipation physical evaluation is a commonly requested medical visit for amateur and professional athletes of all ages. The overarching goal is to maximize the health of athletes and their safe participation in sports. Although studies have not found that the preparticipation physical evaluation prevents morbidity and mortality associated with sports, it may detect conditions that predispose the athlete to injury or illness and can provide strategies to prevent injuries. Clearance depends on the outcome of the evaluation and the type of sport (and sometimes position or event) in which the athlete participates. All persons undergoing a preparticipation physical evaluation should be questioned about exertional symptoms, presence of a heart murmur, symptoms of Marfan syndrome, and family history of premature serious cardiac conditions or sudden death. The physical examination should focus on the cardiovascular and musculoskeletal systems. U.S. medical and athletic organizations discourage screening electrocardiography and blood and urine testing in asymptomatic patients. Further evaluation should be considered for persons with heart or lung disease, bleeding disorders, musculoskeletal problems, history of concussion, or other neurologic disorders.