Patient selection strategies in an intensive primary care program.

BACKGROUND: Intensive primary care programs have had variable impacts on clinical outcomes, possibly due to a lack of consensus on appropriate patient-selection. The US Veterans Health Administration (VHA) piloted an intensive primary care program, known as Patient Aligned Care Team Intensive Management (PIM), in five medical centers. We sought to describe the PIM patient selection process used by PIM teams and to explore perspectives of PIM team members regarding how patient selection processes functioned in context. METHODS: This study employs an exploratory sequential mixed-methods design. We analyzed qualitative interviews with 21 PIM team and facility leaders and electronic health record (EHR) data from 2,061 patients screened between July 2014 and September 2017 for PIM enrollment. Qualitative data were analyzed using a hybrid inductive/deductive approach. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. RESULTS: Of 1,887 patients identified for PIM services using standardized criteria, over half were deemed inappropriate for PIM services, either because of not having an ambulatory care sensitive condition, living situation, or were already receiving recommended care. Qualitative analysis found that team members considered standardized criteria to be a useful starting point but too broad to be relied on exclusively. Additional data collection through chart review and communication with the current primary care team was needed to adequately assess patient complexity. Qualitative analysis further found that differences in conceptualizing program goals led to conflicting opinions of which patients should be enrolled in PIM. CONCLUSIONS: A combined approach that includes clinical judgment, case review, standardized criteria, and targeted program goals are all needed to support appropriate patient selection processes.

Value of Interprofessional Education: The VA Quality Scholars Program.

ABSTRACT: Interprofessional collaboration (IPC) has been shown to improve healthcare quality and patient safety; however, formal interprofessional education (IPE) training is insufficient. The VA Quality Scholars (VAQS) program exists to develop interprofessional leaders and scholars in healthcare improvement. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of integrating interprofessional healthcare learners and designing an interprofessional curriculum for the national VAQS program. VAQS alumni (graduates from 2001 to 2017) across eight national sites (n = 102 [53.1%]) completed a web-based survey to assess alumni perceptions of IPC skill development during the program and IPC skill utilization in their careers. Alumni from 2009 and earlier were physicians; alumni after 2009 came from diverse health professional backgrounds. Overall, IPC and teamwork was identified as the most used skill (n = 82, 70%) during their career. When comparing the pre-IPE period and the post-IPE period, post-IPE alumni identified IPC and teamwork as the area of greatest skill development (n = 38). Integrating interprofessional trainees and robust IPE curricula enhanced an established and successful quality improvement (QI) training program. VAQS alumni endorsed the importance of IPC skills during their careers. The VAQS program is an example of how health professionals can successfully learn IPC skills in healthcare QI.

What are the key elements for implementing intensive primary care? A multisite Veterans Health Administration case study.

Many integrated health systems and accountable care organizations have turned to intensive primary care programs to improve quality of care and reduce costs for high-need high-cost patients. How best to implement such programs remains an active area of discussion. In 2014, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) implemented five distinct intensive primary care programs as part of a demonstration project that targeted Veterans at the highest risk for hospitalization. We found that programs evolved over time, eventually converging on the implementation of the following elements: 1) an interdisciplinary care team, 2) chronic disease management, 3) comprehensive patient assessment and evaluation, 4) care and case management, 5) transitional care support, 6) preventive home visits, 7) pharmaceutical services, 8) chronic disease self-management, 9) caregiver support services, 10) health coaching, and 11) advanced care planning. The teams also found that including social workers and mental health providers on the interdisciplinary teams was critical to effectively address psychosocial needs of these complex patients. Having a central implementation coordinator facilitated the convergence of these program features across diverse demonstration sites. In future iterations of these programs, VHA intends to standardize staffing and key features to develop a scalable program that can be disseminated throughout the system.

Predicting 5- and 10-year survival in older women with early-stage breast cancer: self-rated health and walking ability.

OBJECTIVES: To determine life expectancy for older women with breast cancer. DESIGN: Prospective longitudinal study with 10 years of follow-up data. SETTING: Hospitals or collaborating tumor registries in four geographic regions (Los Angeles, California; Minnesota; North Carolina; Rhode Island). PARTICIPANTS: Women aged 65 and older at time of breast cancer diagnosis with Stage I to IIIA disease with measures of self-rated health (SRH) and walking ability at baseline (N = 615; 17% aged ≥80, 52% Stage I, 58% with ≥2 comorbidities). MEASUREMENTS: Baseline SRH, baseline self-reported walking ability, all-cause and breast cancer-specific estimated probability of 5- and 10-year survival. RESULTS: At the time of breast cancer diagnosis, 39% of women reported poor SRH, and 28% reported limited ability to walk several blocks. The all-cause survival curves appear to separate after approximately 3 years, and the difference in survival probability between those with low SRH and limited walking ability and those with high SRH and no walking ability limitation was significant (0.708 vs 0.855 at 5 years, P ≤ .001; 0.300 vs 0.648 at 10 years, P < .001). There were no differences between the groups in breast cancer-specific survival at 5 and 10 years (P = .66 at 5 years, P = .16 at 10 years). CONCLUSION: The combination of low SRH and limited ability to walk several blocks at diagnosis is an important predictor of worse all-cause survival at 5 and 10 years. These self-report measures easily assessed in clinical practice may be an effective strategy to improve treatment decision-making in older adults with cancer.

Diode laser wavelength modulated spectroscopy of I(2) at 675 nm.

A free-running diode laser has been used to examine the spectrum of 127I(2) near 675 nm using wavelength modulation spectroscopy. Twelve transitions have been observed in the region between 14818.0 and 14819.3 cm(-1), all of which are accounted for by previously published constants. Changes in quadrupole coupling constants, DeltaeQq, have been determined for all lines. Pressure broadening and shift coefficients have been determined for two unblended lines for broadening by air, argon, and water vapor.

Hemorrhage burden predicts recurrent intracerebral hemorrhage after lobar hemorrhage.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Small asymptomatic cerebral hemorrhages detectable by gradient-echo MRI are common in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), particularly lobar ICH related to cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA). We sought to determine whether hemorrhages detected at the time of lobar ICH predict the major clinical complications of CAA: recurrent ICH or decline in cognition and function. METHODS: Ninety-four consecutive survivors of primary lobar ICH (age > or =55) with gradient-echo MRI at presentation were followed in a prospective cohort study for 32.9+/-24.0 months. A subset of 34 subjects underwent a second MRI after a stroke-free interval of 15.8+/-6.5 months. Study endpoints were recurrent symptomatic ICH or clinical decline, defined as onset of cognitive impairment, loss of independent functioning, or death. RESULTS: The total number of hemorrhages at baseline predicted risk of future symptomatic ICH (3-year cumulative risks 14%, 17%, 38%, and 51% for subjects with 1, 2, 3 to 5, or > or =6 baseline hemorrhages, P=0.003). Higher numbers of hemorrhages at baseline also predicted increased risk for subsequent cognitive impairment, loss of independence, or death (P=0.002) among subjects not previously demented or dependent. For subjects followed after a second MRI, new microhemorrhages appeared in 17 of 34 and predicted increased risk of subsequent symptomatic ICH (3-year cumulative risks 19%, 42%, and 67% for subjects with 0, 1 to 3, or > or =4 new microhemorrhages, P=0.02), but not subsequent clinical decline. CONCLUSIONS: Hemorrhages identified by MRI predict clinically important events in survivors of lobar ICH. Detection of microhemorrhages may be useful for assessing risk in ICH patients and as a surrogate marker for clinical studies.

Clinical manifestations of cerebral amyloid angiopathy-related inflammation.

To explore the clinical effects of inflammation associated with vascular deposits of the amyloid beta peptide (A beta), we analyzed 42 consecutive patients with pathologically diagnosed cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) for evidence of an inflammatory response. Inflammation with giant-cell reaction surrounding amyloid-laden vessels was identified in 7 of the 42 cases. The clinical symptoms in each of the seven were subacute cognitive decline or seizure rather than hemorrhagic stroke, the primary clinical presentation in 33 of 35 patients with noninflammatory CAA (p < 0.001). Inflammatory CAA also was associated with radiographic white matter abnormalities, significantly younger age at presentation, and a marked overrepresentation of the apolipoprotein E epsilon 4/epsilon 4 genotype (71% vs 4%, p < 0.001). Of the six inflammatory CAA patients with available follow-up information, five demonstrated clinical and radiographic improvement after immunosuppressive treatment. The syndrome of CAA-related perivascular inflammation appears to represent a subset of CAA with clinically distinct symptoms that may respond to immunosuppressive treatment. These data add to evidence that inflammation against A beta can cause vascular dysfunction, a potential mechanism for the toxic response recently observed in clinical trials of A beta immunization.