Clinical Decision Support and Cardiometabolic Medication Adherence: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Medication adherence is important for managing blood pressure (BP), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c). Interventions to improve medication adherence are needed.

Objective: To examine the effectiveness of an intervention using algorithmic identification of low medication adherence, clinical decision support to physicians, and pharmacist outreach to patients to improve cardiometabolic medication adherence and BP, LDL-C, and HbA1c control.

Protocol of a patient randomized clinical trial to improve medication adherence in primary care.

Background: Enhanced awareness of poor medication adherence could improve patient care. This article describes the original and adapted protocols of a randomized trial to improve medication adherence for cardiometabolic conditions.

Methods: The original protocol entailed a cluster randomized trial of 28 primary care clinics allocated to either (i) medication adherence enhanced chronic disease care clinical decision support (eCDC-CDS) integrated within the electronic health record (EHR) or (ii) usual care (non-enhanced CDC-CDS).

Does Clinical Decision Support Increase Appropriate Medication Prescribing for Cardiovascular Risk Reduction?

Purpose: To assess the impact of a clinical decision support (CDS) system's recommendations on prescribing patterns targeting cardiovascular disease (CVD) when the recommendations are prioritized in order from greatest to least benefit toward overall CVD risk reduction.

Methods: Secondary analysis of trial data from September 20, 2018, to March 15, 2020, where 70 community health center clinics were cluster-randomized to the CDS intervention (42 clinics; 8 organizations) or control group (28 clinics; 7 organizations). Included patients were medication-naïve and aged 40 to 75 years with ≥1 uncontrolled cardiovascular disease risk factor, with known diabetes or cardiovascular disease, or ≥10% 10-year reversible CVD risk.

Differential Effects of an Intervention to Reduce Cardiovascular Risk for Patients With Bipolar Disorder, Schizoaffective Disorder, or Schizophrenia: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

To measure the impact of a clinical decision support (CDS) tool on total modifiable cardiovascular risk at 12 months separately for outpatients with 3 subtypes of serious mental illness (SMI) identified via and codes: bipolar disorder, schizoaffective disorder, and schizophrenia This cluster-randomized pragmatic clinical trial was active from March 2016 to September 2018; data were analyzed from April 2021 to September 2022. Clinicians and patients from 78 primary care clinics participated. All 8,922 adult patients aged 18-75 years with diagnosed SMI, at least 1 cardiovascular risk factor not at goal, and an index and follow-up visit during the study period were included.

Adoption of shared decision-making and clinical decision support for reducing cardiovascular disease risk in community health centers.

Objective: Electronic health record (EHR)-based shared decision-making (SDM) and clinical decision support (CDS) systems can improve cardiovascular disease (CVD) care quality and risk factor management. Use of the CV Wizard system showed a beneficial effect on high-risk community health center (CHC) patients' CVD risk within an effectiveness trial, but system adoption was low overall. We assessed which multi-level characteristics were associated with system use.

Clinician perceptions of a clinical decision support system to reduce cardiovascular risk among prediabetes patients in a predominantly rural healthcare system.

Background: The early detection and management of uncontrolled cardiovascular risk factors among prediabetes patients can prevent cardiovascular disease (CVD). Prediabetes increases the risk of CVD, which is a leading cause of death in the United States. CVD clinical decision support (CDS) in primary care settings has the potential to reduce cardiovascular risk in patients with prediabetes while potentially saving clinicians time.

Bolstering the Business Case for Adoption of Shared Decision-Making Systems in Primary Care: Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Limited budgets may often constrain the ability of health care delivery systems to adopt shared decision-making (SDM) systems designed to improve clinical encounters with patients and quality of care.

Objective: This study aimed to assess the impact of an SDM system shown to improve diabetes and cardiovascular patient outcomes on factors affecting revenue generation in primary care clinics.

Methods: As part of a large multisite clinic randomized controlled trial (RCT), we explored the differences in 1 care system between clinics randomized to use an SDM intervention (n=8) versus control clinics (n=9) regarding the (1) likelihood of diagnostic coding for cardiometabolic conditions using the 10th Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) and (2) current procedural terminology (CPT) billing codes.

Association of an Automated Blood Pressure Measurement Quality Improvement Program With Terminal Digit Preference and Recorded Mean Blood Pressure in 11 Clinics.

Importance: Terminal digit preference has been shown to be associated with inaccurate blood pressure (BP) recording.

Objective: To evaluate whether converting from manual BP measurement with aneroid sphygmomanometers to automated BP measurement was associated with terminal digit preference, mean levels of recorded BP, and the rate at which hypertension was diagnosed.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This quality improvement study was conducted from May 9, 2021, to March 24, 2022, using interrupted time series analysis of medical record data from 11 primary care clinics in a single health care system from April 2008 to April 2015.

Comparison of explanatory and pragmatic design choices in a cluster-randomized hypertension trial: effects on enrollment, participant characteristics, and adherence.

Background: Explanatory trials are designed to assess intervention efficacy under ideal conditions, while pragmatic trials are designed to assess whether research-proven interventions are effective in "real-world" settings without substantial research support.

Methods: We compared two trials (Hyperlink 1 and 3) that tested a pharmacist-led telehealth intervention in adults with uncontrolled hypertension. We applied PRagmatic Explanatory Continuum Indicator Summary-2 (PRECIS-2) scores to describe differences in the way these studies were designed and enrolled study-eligible participants, and the effect of these differences on participant characteristics and adherence to study interventions.

Depression and cardiovascular risk in primary care patients.

Objective: This study assessed the relationship of both depression diagnosis and clinically significant depressive symptoms with individual cardiovascular risk factors and estimated total cardiovascular risk in primary care patients.

Methods: This study used a cross-sectional and retrospective design. Patients who had a primary care encounter between January 2016 and September 2018 and completed depression screening (PHQ-9) during the year prior to their appointment (N = 70,980) were included in this study.

Human Papillomavirus vaccination clinical decision support for young adults in an upper midwestern healthcare system: a clinic cluster-randomized control trial.

Introduction: Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination rates are low in young adults. Clinical decision support (CDS) in primary care may increase HPV vaccination. We tested the treatment effect of algorithm-driven, web-based, and electronic health record-linked CDS with or without shared decision-making tools (SDMT) on HPV vaccination rates compared to usual care (UC).

Cardiovascular Risk for Patients With and Without Schizophrenia, Schizoaffective Disorder, or Bipolar Disorder.

Background To compare estimated 10-year and 30-year cardiovascular risk in primary care patients with and without serious mental illness (SMI; bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or schizoaffective disorder). Methods and Results All patients aged 18 to 75 years with a primary care visit in January 2016 to September 2018 were included and were grouped into those with and without SMI using diagnosis codes. Ten-year cardiovascular risk was estimated using atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease scores for patients aged 40 to 75 years without cardiovascular disease; 30-year cardiovascular risk was estimated using Framingham risk scores for patients aged 18 to 59 years without cardiovascular disease.

Effect of Clinical Decision Support on Cardiovascular Risk Among Adults With Bipolar Disorder, Schizoaffective Disorder, or Schizophrenia: A Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Adults with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, or bipolar disorder, collectively termed serious mental illness (SMI), have shortened life spans compared with people without SMI. The leading cause of death is cardiovascular (CV) disease.

Objective: To assess whether a clinical decision support (CDS) system aimed at primary care clinicians improves CV health for adult primary care patients with SMI.

Clinical Decision Support with or without Shared Decision Making to Improve Preventive Cancer Care: A Cluster-Randomized Trial.

Background: Innovative interventions are needed to address gaps in preventive cancer care, especially in rural areas. This study evaluated the impact of clinical decision support (CDS) with and without shared decision making (SDM) on cancer-screening completion.

Methods: In this 3-arm, parallel-group, cluster-randomized trial conducted at a predominantly rural medical group, 34 primary care clinics were randomized to clinical decision support (CDS), CDS plus shared decision making (CDS+SDM), or usual care (UC).

Effect of Clinical Decision Support at Community Health Centers on the Risk of Cardiovascular Disease: A Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Management of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in socioeconomically vulnerable patients is suboptimal; better risk factor control could improve CVD outcomes.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of a clinical decision support system (CDSS) targeting CVD risk in community health centers (CHCs).

Design, Setting, And Participants: This cluster randomized clinical trial included 70 CHC clinics randomized to an intervention group (42 clinics; 8 organizations) or a control group that received no intervention (28 clinics; 7 organizations) from September 20, 2018, to March 15, 2020.

Implementing a prediabetes clinical decision support system in a large primary care system: Design, methods, and pre-implementation results.

Background: Early detection of prediabetes and management of cardiovascular (CV) risk factors to prevent CV disease is essential, but clinicians are often slow to address this risk. Clinical decision support (CDS) systems, with appropriate implementation, can potentially improve prediabetes identification and treatment.

Methods/design: 34 Midwestern primary care clinics were randomized to receive or not receive access to a prediabetes (PreD) CDS tool.

Assessing the implementation of a clinical decision support tool in primary care for diabetes prevention: a qualitative interview study using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Science.

Background: In this paper we describe the use of the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) to study implementation of a web-based, point-of-care, EHR-linked clinical decision support (CDS) tool designed to identify and provide care recommendations for adults with prediabetes (Pre-D CDS).

Methods: As part of a large NIH-funded clinic-randomized trial, we identified a convenience sample of interview participants from 22 primary care clinics in Minnesota, North Dakota, and Wisconsin that were randomly allocated to receive or not receive a web-based EHR-integrated prediabetes CDS intervention. Participants included 11 clinicians, 6 rooming staff, and 7 nurse or clinic managers recruited by study staff to participate in telephone interviews conducted by an expert in qualitative methods.

Experiences and Perceptions of Patients with Uncontrolled Hypertension Who are Dissatisfied with Their Hypertension Care.

Background: Hypertension control has been decreasing recently. We compared the experience and attitudes toward care between patients with uncontrolled hypertension who are more and less satisfied with that care to identify ways to improve their care.

Methods: Baseline survey of 3072 patients with diagnosed hypertension and repeated blood pressure measurements at or above 150/95 mmHg during clinic appointments at 21 primary care clinics of a large Midwestern multi-specialty medical group.

Patient Perceptions of Using Clinical Decision Support for Cancer Screening and Prevention: "I wouldn't have thought about getting screened without it.".

Purpose: We sought to gain an understanding of cancer prevention and screening perspectives among patients exposed to a clinical decision support (CDS) tool because they were due or overdue for certain cancer screenings or prevention.

Methods: Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 37 adult patients due or overdue for cancer prevention services in 10 primary care clinics within the same health system. Data were thematically segmented and coded using qualitative content analysis.

Primary care physician perspectives on using team care in clinical practice.

Background: Primary care physicians were prompted to refer eligible patients with uncontrolled hypertension (HTN) to a program that offered home blood pressure telemonitoring and pharmacist care management. Understanding attitudes, barriers and facilitators, and use of team care in this program provides insight into how physicians incorporate team care into their practice.

Objective: To understand physician attitudes and use of team care in the context of a study intervention that included telehealth care with pharmacist care management.

Pragmatic clinic randomized trial to improve chronic kidney disease care: Design and adaptation due to COVID disruptions.

Background: We describe a clinic-randomized trial to improve chronic kidney disease (CKD) care through a CKD-clinical decision support (CKD-CDS) intervention in primary care clinics and the challenges we encountered due to COVID-19 care disruption.

Methods/design: Primary care clinics (N = 32) were randomized to usual care (UC) or to CKD-CDS. Between April 17, 2019 and March 14, 2020, more than 7000 patients had accrued for analysis by meeting study-eligibility criteria at an index office visit: age 18-75, laboratory criteria for stage 3 or 4 CKD (eGFR 15-59 mL/min/1.

The impact of personalized clinical decision support on primary care patients' views of cancer prevention and screening: a cross-sectional survey.

Background: Few studies have assessed the impact of clinical decision support (CDS), with or without shared decision-making tools (SDMTs), on patients' perceptions of cancer screening or prevention in primary care settings. This cross-sectional survey was conducted to understand primary care patient's perceptions on cancer screening or prevention.

Methods: We mailed surveys (10/2018-1/2019) to 749 patients aged 18 to 75 years within 15 days after an index clinical encounter at 36 primary care clinics participating in a clinic-randomized control trial of a CDS system for cancer prevention.