During the COVID-19 vaccination rollout from March 2021- December 2022, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funded 110 primary and 1051 subrecipient partners at the national, state, local, ...and community-based level to improve COVID-19 vaccination access, confidence, demand, delivery, and equity in the United States. The partners implemented evidence-based strategies among racial and ethnic minority populations, rural populations, older adults, people with disabilities, people with chronic illness, people experiencing homelessness, and other groups disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. CDC also expanded existing partnerships with healthcare professional societies and other core public health partners, as well as developed innovative partnerships with organizations new to vaccination, including museums and libraries. Partners brought COVID-19 vaccine education into farm fields, local fairs, churches, community centers, barber and beauty shops, and, when possible, partnered with local healthcare providers to administer COVID-19 vaccines. Inclusive, hyper-localized outreach through partnerships with community-based organizations, faith-based organizations, vaccination providers, and local health departments was critical to increasing COVID-19 vaccine access and building a broad network of trusted messengers that promoted vaccine confidence. Data from monthly and quarterly REDCap reports and monthly partner calls showed that through these partnerships, more than 295,000 community-level spokespersons were trained as trusted messengers and more than 2.1 million COVID-19 vaccinations were administered at new or existing vaccination sites. More than 535,035 healthcare personnel were reached through outreach strategies. Quality improvement interventions were implemented in healthcare systems, long-term care settings, and community health centers resulting in changes to the clinical workflow to incorporate COVID-19 vaccine assessments, recommendations, and administration or referrals into routine office visits. Funded partners' activities improved COVID-19 vaccine access and addressed community concerns among racial and ethnic minority groups, as well as among people with barriers to vaccination due to chronic illness or disability, older age, lower income, or other factors.
Objectives
To develop an algorithm to identify individuals with limited life expectancy and examine the effect of limited life expectancy on glycemic control and treatment intensification in ...individuals with diabetes mellitus.
Design
Individuals with diabetes mellitus and coexisting congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, dementia, end‐stage liver disease, and/or primary or metastatic cancer with limited life expectancy were identified. To validate the algorithm, 5‐year mortality was assessed in individuals identified as having limited life expectancy. Rates of meeting performance measures for glycemic control between individuals with and without limited life expectancy were compared. In individuals with uncontrolled glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels, the effect of limited life expectancy on treatment intensification within 90 days was examined.
Setting
One hundred ten Department of Veterans Affairs facilities; October 2006 to September 2007.
Participants
Eight hundred eighty‐eight thousand six hundred twenty‐eight individuals with diabetes mellitus.
Measurements
HbA1c; treatment intensification within 90 days of index HbA1c reading.
Results
Twenty‐nine thousand sixteen (3%) participants had limited life expectancy. Adjusting for age, 5‐year mortality was five times as high in participants with limited life expectancy than in those without. Participants with limited life expectancy had poorer glycemic control than those without (glycemic control: 77.1% vs 78.1%; odds ratio (OR) = 0.84, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.81–0.86) and less‐frequent treatment intensification (treatment intensification: 20.9% vs 28.6%; OR = 0.71, 95% CI = 0.67–0.76), even after controlling for patient‐level characteristics.
Conclusion
Participants with limited life expectancy were less likely than those without to have controlled HbA1c levels and to receive treatment intensification, suggesting that providers treat these individuals less aggressively. Quality measurement and performance‐based reimbursement systems should acknowledge the different needs of this population.
In 2011 CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, a large mid-Atlantic health insurance plan, implemented a payment and delivery system reform program. The model, called the Total Care and Cost Improvement ...Program, includes enhanced payments for primary care, significant financial incentives for primary care physicians to control spending, and care coordination tools to support progress toward the goal of higher-quality and lower-cost patient care. We conducted a mixed-methods evaluation of the initiative's first three years. Our quantitative analyses used spending and utilization data for 2010-13 to compare enrollees who received care from participating physician groups to similar enrollees cared for by nonparticipating groups. Savings were small and fully shared with providers, which suggests no significant effect on total spending (including bonuses). Our qualitative analysis suggested that early in the program, many physicians were not fully engaged with the initiative and did not make full use of its tools. These findings imply that this and similar payment reforms may require greater time to realize significant savings than many stakeholders had expected. Patience may be necessary if payer-led reform is going to lead to system transformation.
Abstract Purpose The aim of this study was to identify patient and physician factors related to enrollment onto Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG) trials. Methods Prospective study of women with ...primary or recurrent cancer of the uterus or cervix treated at a GOG institution from July 2010 to January 2012. Logistic regression examined probability of availability, eligibility and enrollment in a GOG trial. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for significant (p < 0.05) results reported. Results Sixty institutions, 781 patients, and 150 physicians participated, 300/780 (38%) had a trial available, 290/300 had known participation status. Of these, 150 women enrolled (59.5%), 102 eligible did not enroll (35%), 38 (13%) were ineligible. Ethnicity and specialty of physician, practice type, data management availability, and patient age were significantly associated with trial availability. Patients with > 4 comorbidities (OR 4.5; CI 1.7–11.8) had higher odds of trial ineligibility. Non-White patients (OR 7.9; CI 1.3–46.2) and patients of Black physicians had greater odds of enrolling (OR 56.5; CI 1.1–999.9) in a therapeutic trial. Significant patient therapeutic trial enrollment factors: belief trial may help (OR 76.9; CI 4.9–> 1000), concern about care if not on trial (OR12.1; CI 2.1–71.4), pressure to enroll (OR .27; CI 0.12–.64), caregiving without pay (OR 0.13; CI .02–.84). Significant physician beliefs were: patients would not do well on standard therapy (OR 3.6; CI 1.6–8.4), and trial would not be time consuming (OR 3.3; CI 1.3–8.1). Conclusions Trial availability, patient and physician beliefs were factors identified that if modified could improve enrollment in cancer cooperative group clinical trials.
IMPORTANCE Understanding the frequency and correlates of redundant lipid testing could identify areas for quality improvement initiatives aimed at improving the efficiency of cholesterol care in ...patients with coronary heart disease (CHD). OBJECTIVE To determine the frequency and correlates of repeat lipid testing in patients with CHD who attained low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) goals and received no treatment intensification. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS We assessed the proportion of patients with LDL-C levels of less than 100 mg/dL and no intensification of lipid-lowering therapy who underwent repeat lipid testing during an 11-month follow-up period. We performed logistic regression analyses to evaluate facility, provider, and patient characteristics associated with repeat testing. In total, we analyzed 35 191 patients with CHD in a Veterans Affairs network of 7 medical centers with associated community-based outpatient clinics. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Frequency and correlates of repeat lipid testing in patients having CHD with LDL-C levels of less than 100 mg/dL and no further treatment intensification with lipid-lowering therapies. RESULTS Of 27 947 patients with LDL-C levels of less than 100 mg/dL, 9200 (32.9%) had additional lipid assessments without treatment intensification during the following 11 months (12 686 total additional panels; mean, 1.38 additional panel per patient). Adjusting for facility-level clustering, patients with a history of diabetes mellitus (odds ratio OR, 1.16; 95% CI, 1.10-1.22), a history of hypertension (OR, 1.21; 95% CI, 1.13-1.30), higher illness burden (OR, 1.39; 95% CI, 1.23-1.57), and more frequent primary care visits (OR, 1.32; 95% CI, 1.25-1.39) were more likely to undergo repeat testing, whereas patients receiving care at a teaching facility (OR, 0.74; 95% CI, 0.69-0.80) or from a physician provider (OR, 0.93; 95% CI, 0.88-0.98) and those with a medication possession ratio of 0.8 or higher (OR, 0.75; 95% CI, 0.71-0.80) were less likely to undergo repeat testing. Among 13 114 patients who met the optional LDL-C target level of less than 70 mg/dL, repeat lipid testing was performed in 8177 (62.4% of those with LDL-C levels of <70 mg/dL) during 11 follow-up months. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE One-third of patients having CHD with LDL-C levels at goal underwent repeat lipid panels. Our results highlight areas for quality improvement initiatives to reduce redundant lipid testing. These efforts would be more important if the forthcoming cholesterol guidelines adopt a medication dose–based approach in place of the current treat-to-target approach.
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Background: Treatment options for patients with recurrent cervical and endometrial cancer remain limited. Even with optimum care, median survival has stalled at 12-17 months. The ...PARP inhibitor rucaparib has demonstrated activity in both BRCA wild-type and mutant cancers. Furthermore, preclinical studies suggest a synergistic effect of PARP inhibitors and antiangiogenic agents. We hypothesized that the combination of rucaparib and the VEGF inhibitor bevacizumab would yield a clinically-significant anti-cancer effect in patients with persistent or recurrent cervical or endometrial carcinoma. Methods: NCT03476798 is a phase II trial of adults with histologically-documented carcinoma of the cervix or endometrium. Patients with evaluable lesions who had undergone at least one prior line of systemic therapy, had adequate performance status and organ function, with a life expectancy of at least three months were eligible. Biopsies were obtained prior to treatment initiation for assessment of baseline tumor biomarkers, including ARID1A mutation status. Each cycle comprised 21 days. Rucaparib was administered orally at 600 mg, twice daily. Bevacizumab was administered by IV at 15 mg/kg on day 1 of each cycle. The primary objective was to estimate the proportion of patients with persistent or recurrent cervical or endometrial cancer who survive progression-free for at least six months (PFS6). Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to estimate progression-free survival. Results: There were 28 evaluable patients; six had cervical and 22 had endometrial cancer. Median age was 60.5 years (range, 30-74). Self-reported patient races were White (82.1%), Black (10.7%), and Native American (7.1%). Self-identified Hispanic or Latina patients comprised 3.6% of the cohort. Twenty-two of 28 patients had progressive disease by six months survival distribution function estimate = 0.214 (lower CI, 0.087; upper CI, 0.378). Of the six patients who achieved PFS6, one had cervical and five had endometrial cancer. Six patients had a mutation in the ARID1A gene and those patients achieved PFS6 at a rate of 66.7%. Conclusions: The study hypothesis was evaluated in a two-stage design, and the interim analysis occurred once 28 evaluable patients were enrolled. In order to move on to the second stage, at least seven patients needed to remain progression-free at six months, but only six did. Thus, the study was ended after the interim analysis. The combination of rucaparib and bevacizumab did not provide the expected clinical benefit in this cohort of patients, but may warrant further exploration in patients with ARID1A mutations. Clinical trial information: NCT03476798.
Data sharing between laboratories, clinicians, researchers, and patients is essential for improvements and standardization in genomic medicine; encouraging genomic data sharing (GDS) is a key ...activity of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded Clinical Genome Resource (ClinGen). The ClinGen initiative is dedicated to evaluating the clinical relevance of genes and variants for use in precision medicine and research. Currently, data originating from each of the aforementioned stakeholder groups is represented in ClinVar, a publicly available repository of genomic variation, and its relationship to human health hosted by the National Center for Biotechnology Information at the NIH. Although policies such as the 2014 NIH GDS policy are clear regarding the mandate for informed consent for broad data sharing from research participants, no clear guidance exists on the level of consent appropriate for the sharing of information obtained through clinical testing to advance knowledge. ClinGen has collaborated with ClinVar and the National Human Genome Research Institute to develop points to consider for clinical laboratories on sharing de-identified variant-level data in light of both the NIH GDS policy and the recent updates to the Common Rule. We propose specific data elements from interpreted genomic variants that are appropriate for submission to ClinVar when direct patient consent was not sought and describe situations in which obtaining informed consent is recommended.
To assess the impact of clinical complexity on 3 dimensions of diabetes care.
We identified 35,872 diabetic patients receiving care at 7 Veterans Affairs facilities between July 2007 and June 2008 ...using administrative and clinical data. We examined control at index and appropriate care (among uncontrolled patients) within 90 days, for blood pressure (<130/80 mm Hg), glycated hemoglobin (<7%), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (<100 mg/dL). We used ordered logistic regression to examine the impact of complexity, defined by comorbidities count and illness burden, on control at index and a combined measure of quality (control at index or appropriate follow-up care) for all 3 measures.
There were 6260 (17.5%) patients controlled at index for all 3 quality indicators. Patients with >3 comorbidities (odds ratio OR, 1.94; 95% confidence interval CI, 1.67-2.26) and illness burden >2.00 (OR, 1.22; 95% CI, 1.13-1.32) were more likely than the least complex patients to be controlled for all 3 measures. Patients with >3 comorbidities (OR, 2.30; 95% CI, 2.07-2.54) and illness burden >2.00 (OR, 1.25; 95% CI, 1.18-1.33) were also more likely than the least complex patients to meet the combined quality indicator for all 3 measures.
Patients with greatest complexity received higher quality diabetes care compared with less complex patients, regardless of the definition of complexity chosen. Although providers may appropriately target complex patients for aggressive control, deficits in guideline achievement among all diabetic patients highlight the challenges of caring for chronically ill patients and the importance of structuring primary care to promote higher-quality, patient-centered care.
This article describes evidence suggesting that science curiosity counteracts politically biased information processing. This finding is in tension with two bodies of research. The first casts doubt ...on the existence of "curiosity" as a measurable disposition. The other suggests that individual differences in cognition related to science comprehension--of which science curiosity, if it exists, would presumably be one--do not mitigate politically biased information processing but instead aggravate it. The article describes the scale-development strategy employed to overcome the problems associated with measuring science curiosity. It also reports data, observational and experimental, showing that science curiosity promotes open-minded engagement with information that is contrary to individuals' political predispositions. We conclude by identifying a series of concrete research questions posed by these results. Reprinted by permission of Blackwell Publishers
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