Standardized Patient-Centered Medication Review in Home Hospice (SPECTORx)

May 5, 2025 updated by: Jennifer Tjia, University of Massachusetts, Worcester

Standardized PatiEnt-CenTered medicatiOn Review (SPECTORx) in Home Hospice

This is a pilot cluster randomized trial that tests the effect of a novel intervention that trains hospice staff to 1. regularly review, simplify, and align patients' prescribed medications with their goals of care as their illness progresses, and 2. support family caregivers with education that empowers them to understand each medication's use, develop skills for safe administration, and 3. understand when stopping medications may be beneficial.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Completed

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Detailed Description

A tremendous challenge in home hospice care is ensuring that medication prescribing is appropriately aligned to patients' goals of care and that medications are appropriately managed by family caregivers. Therefore, the Investigators propose a novel intervention that trains hospice staff to 1. regularly review, simplify, and align patients' prescribed medications with their goals of care as their illness progresses, and 2. support family caregivers with education that empowers them to understand each medication's use, develop skills for safe administration, and understand when stopping medications may be beneficial. This program is called Standardized PatiEnt-CenTered medicatiOn Review (SPECTORx) in Home Hospice, and is based on a combination of 3 existing, complementary, educational programs that, together, train hospice staff to create a comprehensive, patient-centered, medication management care plan. The program also creates an online learning community that promotes ongoing education and practice change for hospice clinicians. This pilot study aims to demonstrate the feasibility of conducting a clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy of SPECTORx. The long-term objective is to test the hypothesis that SPECTORx reduces inappropriate medication prescribing and improves family caregiver reported quality of care. However, to accomplish this, the Investigators must first address challenging questions regarding the design, feasibility, and execution of trials in home hospice. The Investigators will accomplish this using a stakeholder engagement process to refine the SPECTORx intervention and trial protocol. The Investigators will then conduct a pilot cluster randomized trial and compare outcomes within and across 2 large, multi-office, hospice agencies from Utah and Massachusetts. Within each hospice agency, the Investigators will randomize 1 office to intervention and 1 office to attention control. Target enrollment is n=60 family caregiver-patient dyads of patients aged ≥65 years with advanced, life-limiting illness. Primary outcomes are acceptability and feasibility of the SPECTORx intervention by hospice stakeholders, and acceptability, burden and completion of family caregiver assessments (Family Caregiver Medication Administration Hassle Scale at baseline, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 12 weeks, and quarterly). The overarching goal of this research is to align patient's prescribed medications with their goals of care at each stage of their advanced illness and to support family caregivers' medication management challenges. Ultimately, the Investigators want to improve the quality of medication prescribing, reduce treatment complexity and medication-related harm, and improve family caregiver outcomes for the almost 600,000 elderly Americans who receive home hospice services annually.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
23

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Massachusetts
      • Danvers, Massachusetts, United States, 01923
        • Care Dimensions

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

65 years to 110 years (Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

Patient - Newly admitted home hospice enrollees, aged ≥65 years old with:

  • 1. advanced life-limiting illness;
  • 2. an estimated life expectancy of >1 month;
  • 3. recent functional status decline (defined as change in Karnofsky Performance Status [KPS] to < 80% in prior 3 months);
  • 4. polypharmacy (defined as ≥ 5 regularly scheduled medications [excluding antimicrobials]);
  • 5. cognitive ability to provide informed consent based on a Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire (SPMSQ) score ≥6 OR, with a legally authorized representative who is willing and able to provide proxy consent.

Family ("any relative, partner, friend or neighbor who has a significant personal relationship with, and provides a broad range of assistance) Caregiver -

  • self-identification as "usually" or "always" providing care to the eligible patient;
  • English-speaking;
  • telephone access; and
  • cognitive ability to participate.

Exclusion Criteria:

Patient:

  • Imminent death;
  • pain crisis;
  • no family caregiver or health care proxy

Family Caregiver:

  • no telephone access;
  • cognitive impairment.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Supportive Care
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Experimental: SPECTORx Educational Intervention
The program intervention is based on a combination of 3 existing, complementary, educational programs that, together, equip hospice staff to create a comprehensive, patient-centered, medication management care plan.
Behavioral: STOPPFrail (Screening Tool of Older Persons Prescriptions)
A screening tool used by clinicians with frail older adults with life-limiting illness to review medications
Behavioral: "Discontinuing Medication Appropriately" and "Understanding the Art of Communication about Deprescribing"
Education resoruce used by clinicians to simplify and align medications with goals of care
Behavioral: "Key Approaches to Support Informal Family Caregivers in Managing Medications"
Education resource used by clinicians to support Family Care Givers (FCGs)
Active Comparator: Attention Control
As the attention control, we will refer staff in control offices to the National Institute of Aging (NIA)'s website on "Medicines and Medication Management" to review content and materials for use in Family Care Giver (FCG) support.
Behavioral: NIA Medication Management - Active Comparator
As the attention control, we will refer staff in control offices to the National Institution on Aging (NIA)'s website on "Medicines and Medication Management" to review content and materials for use in Family Care Giver (FCG) support.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Intervention Training Completion by Hospice Staff
Time Frame: Baseline
Number of Completed Intervention Trainings
Baseline
Patient and Family Caregiver Eligibility Screens
Time Frame: 2 weeks prior to enrollment
Number of Eligible Dyad Participants (i.e. participant = 1 dyad) screened for potential eligibility to inform subsequent eligibility criteria to obtain a sufficient study population.
2 weeks prior to enrollment
Patient and Family Caregiver Enrollment
Time Frame: Baseline
Number of Patients and Family Caregivers who enrolled
Baseline
Completion of Primary Patient Outcome--Retention
Time Frame: Baseline
Number of Dyads who completed the Medication Regimen Complexity Score at Baseline
Baseline

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Family Caregiver Medication Administration Hassle Scale
Time Frame: Baseline, 2, 4, 6, 8 12, 16, 20, 24 weeks(or death)
The 24-item Family Caregiver Medication Administration Hassle Scale has four subscales: Information Seeking/Sharing, Safety Issues, Scheduling Logistics, and Polypharmacy. The theoretical range of the scores across 4 subscales is 0 to 120. Higher scores indicate greater burden. Overall scale reliability is .95.
Baseline, 2, 4, 6, 8 12, 16, 20, 24 weeks(or death)
Medication Regimen Complexity Index
Time Frame: Baseline, 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24 weeks(or death)
Medication Regimen Complexity Index (MCRI) will characterize patients' chronic disease and preventive medication regimens (i.e. drugs initiated prior to hospice admission, not End of Life (EOL) symptom medications [e.g. haloperidol] because these increase over time). MRCI score weights dosage form, dosing frequency and administration instructions. Minimum MRCI is 1.5 [a single tablet once a day] and maximum score increases with medication number. Higher scores indicate greater complexity. MRCI score of 0 indicates no medication use. There is no established maximum score.
Baseline, 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24 weeks(or death)
Potential Adverse Event
Time Frame: Week 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24
Hospitalizations and Emergency Department (ED) visits will be abstracted from the hospice record. Potential Adverse Drug Event (ADE)s and Adverse Drug Withdrawal Events (ADWEs) will be determined from medical record review
Week 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
University of Massachusetts, Worcester

Collaborators

Collaborators

An organization other than the sponsor that provides support for a clinical study. This support may include activities related to funding, design, implementation, data analysis, or reporting.
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
University of Utah
Boston College

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Principal Investigator: Jennifer Tjia, MD, MSCE, UMass Medical School

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
January 15, 2020

Primary Completion (Actual)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
December 31, 2022

Study Completion (Actual)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
December 31, 2023

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
May 13, 2019

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
May 30, 2019

First Posted (Actual)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
June 3, 2019

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
May 21, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
May 5, 2025

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
May 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • H00015417
  • 1R21AG060017 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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