Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis in the Emergency Department (PrEPPED)

November 21, 2025 updated by: Ethan Cowan, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Provision in the Emergency Department (PrEPPED): A Pilot Feasibility Study

Despite an increasing armamentarium of behavioral and biomedical HIV prevention methods, since 2010 rates of new infection have remained around 40,000 annually. The demonstrated efficacy and subsequent approval of emtricitabine/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV by the FDA in 2012 was thought to represent a turning point that could significantly reduce the number of new infections. Since approval, the promise of PrEP as a transformative intervention has yet to be realized. Despite the implementation of systems for clinical evaluation for and initiation of PrEP by primary care providers, HIV specialists, and STI clinics, numerous barriers to PrEP expansion have been identified, including: 1) patient and provider lack of knowledge, 2) lack of access to medical care among high-risk individuals, 3) provider discomfort and inexperience with screening for risk behaviors, and 4) insurance and affordability. This proposal seeks to expand access to and engagement in PrEP among high risk individuals though an innovative delivery approach in the Emergency Department (ED) while addressing these four barriers.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Aim 1: Initiate a targeted ED-based PrEP screening program and optimize its feasibility and acceptability.

  1. Behavioral risk factor eligibility screening will be performed using the ICAP Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Screening for Substantial Risk and Eligibility tool.
  2. During a 3-month period, use continuous quality improvement methods to decrease the time for completion of PrEP eligibility screening to an interval that is acceptable to ED patients and providers.

Aim 2: Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Provision in the ED (PrEPPED) Trial:

Identify 40 PrEP eligible patients over a 12-month period who are interested in initiating PrEP in the ED. These patients will be offered immediate PrEP (iPrEP) initiation in the ED with facilitated linkage to comprehensive out-patient care.

  1. Evaluate the impact of a PrEP "starter pack" on patients agreeing to iPrEP. The primary outcome is engagement in care at 30-days post PrEP initiation visit. Secondary outcomes include retention in care, STI diagnosis, risk behavior and PrEP adherence.
  2. Collect data on recruitment and attrition rates, as well as means and standard deviations for key measures that will be needed to plan a definitive trial of ED-initiated PrEP.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

26

Phase

  • 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

    • New York
      • New York, New York, United States, 10003
        • Mount Sinai Beth Israel Hospital

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

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

PrEP screen group:

  • Patients 18 years of age and above
  • Medically stable as determined by their provider
  • Able to speak English
  • Willing and able to consent to study participation.
  • Not requiring hospital admission for ongoing care.

iPrep group:

  • ED patients 18 years of age and above
  • HIV negative determined by 4th generation rapid testing with no evidence of acute HIV infection as determined by their ED provider
  • Medically stable as determined by their primary provider
  • Able to speak English
  • Able to consent to participation
  • Contact information available for linkage
  • Not requiring hospital admission for ongoing care.
  • Eligible for PrEP based on CDC risk behavior and clinical criteria.

Exclusion Criteria:

PrEP screen group:

  • ED patients younger than 18 years of age
  • Medically or psychiatrically unstable as determined by the ED provider
  • Unable to speak or understand English
  • Unable to provide consent for study participation.
  • Being admitted to the hospital for ongoing care

iPrEP group:

  • ED patients younger than 18 years of age
  • Known HIV positive or positive rapid HIV test in ED
  • Medically or psychiatrically unstable as determined by the ED provider
  • Unable to speak or understand English
  • Unable to provide consent for study participation
  • No means of re-contact upon ED discharge
  • No behavioral risk factors indicating need for PrEP
  • Medical contraindications to PrEP
  • Pregnant or breastfeeding

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: Screening
  • Allocation: Non-Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Immediate PreP initiation
PreP screening program with immediate PrEP (iPrEP) initiation in the ED using a PrEP "starter pack" with facilitated linkage to care.
ICAP Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Screening for Substantial Risk and Eligibility tool
emtricitabine/tenofovir alafenamide or emtricitabine/tenofovir disoproxil
Active Comparator: Out-patient care for PrEP initiation
PrEP screening program with referral to out-patient care for PrEP initiation
ICAP Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Screening for Substantial Risk and Eligibility tool
Experimental: PreP Screening Program
Part 1: Targeted ED-based patients
ICAP Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Screening for Substantial Risk and Eligibility tool

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Engagement in Care (Implementation Component)
Time Frame: 30 days post-ED visit
Engagement is care is defined by attending at least 1 out-patient clinic appointment with a PrEP provider within 30-days of the ED visit.
30 days post-ED visit
Number of Participants on PrEP Usage
Time Frame: 90 days
90 days

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
PrEPPED Satisfaction and Acceptability Survey (RCT Component)
Time Frame: 30 days post-ED visit

PrEPPED Satisfaction and Acceptability Survey is a patient satisfaction questionnaire was developed by the study team. It's a series of independent Likert questions from 1-6 addressing different aspects of the program. Full scale from 0 to 18, with higher score indicating more satisfaction.

Satisfaction data were not collected at 30, 60, or 90 days. After study initiation, it was determined by the researchers that the satisfaction items were specific to the emergency department visit experience and not relevant to the follow-up period. Consequently, decision was made to not administer the follow-up satisfaction assessments, therefore, no data was collected so there is no data to report.

30 days post-ED visit
The VSQ-9 is a Visit-specific Satisfaction Instrument (RCT Component)
Time Frame: 30 days post-ED visit

The VSQ-9 is a visit-specific satisfaction instrument adapted by the American Medical Guidelines Regimen Information Program (GRIP) survey. GRIP guide is a self-report to assess PrEP adherence at 30-days post ED visit, with 6 categorical items: excellent, very good, good, fair, poor, and very poor.

Because participants were not required to follow up at a single clinic, post-discharge care settings varied widely. The VSQ-9 assesses satisfaction with a specific clinical encounter, and applying it across multiple, non-standardized settings was deemed inappropriate and unlikely to yield interpretable data. Therefore, decision was made by the researcher to not administer the VSQ-9 at 30, 60, or 90 days. Consequently, no follow-up VSQ-9 data were collected so there is no data to report.

30 days post-ED visit
CDC Sexual Behavior Questions (CSBQ) (RCT Component)
Time Frame: 30 days post-ED visit

CDC Sexual Behavior Questions (CSBQ) to measure HIV risk behavior. CSBQ is a multi-tiered, gender-specific questionnaire developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention HIV-STID Behavioral Surveillance Working Group. Three separate domains - Sexual Behavior, Drug-related HIV risk, and HIV testing. Responses are yes/no with no summation.

Number of participants who engaged in unsafe sexual behavior, was under substance influence and who had a HIV test.

30 days post-ED visit
Number of Participants of New STI Diagnoses (RCT Component)
Time Frame: 30 days, 60 days, and 90 days post-ED visit
Number of new STI diagnosis between day 1 (day after enrollment) and day 90 (final day of follow-up) broken down into days 1-30, 31-60, 61-90.
30 days, 60 days, and 90 days post-ED visit
Number of Participants of New HIV Infection (RCT Component)
Time Frame: 90 days post-ED visit
Number of new HIV diagnosis at 90-days after enrollment. This question was only asked for those individuals who had not been lost to follow-up.
90 days post-ED visit

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Ethan Cowan, MD, ICAHN School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

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)

March 18, 2020

Primary Completion (Actual)

July 31, 2023

Study Completion (Actual)

July 31, 2023

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 10, 2020

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 10, 2020

First Posted (Actual)

June 12, 2020

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimated)

December 9, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 21, 2025

Last Verified

November 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • GCO 19-2596

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

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

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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