Health E Heart Study (South Texas Veterans Health Care System Heart Failure Disease Management Program/Study)

June 19, 2008 updated by: US Department of Veterans Affairs
The primary objective of this telephonic heart failure specific patient education study is to assess the incremental clinical, psycho-social, and functional lifestyle benefits of the Health E Heart Study (South Texas Veterans Health Care System Heart Failure Disease Management Program/Study) when added to standard care among veteran beneficiaries with a heart failure diagnosis. A secondary objective is to assess the impact of the Health E Heart Study on total system utilization costs.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

CHF is one of the most common diagnoses for Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) patients. Cost of care, particularly inpatient hospitalization, is high dollar expenditure in the budget.

Study subjects, recruited from the enrolled patient population of the STVHCS, are identified by a diagnosis of CHF in VA clinical databases. Administrative and clinical inclusion and exclusion criteria will be applied by review of medical records. Subjects who appear to meet inclusion criteria will be mailed a pre-enrollment letter containing an Information Sheet describing the program. A follow-up phone call by an RN will go over the program in detail, review the Information Sheet, and initiate enrollment if the subject wishes to participate. As a less than minimal risk study, verbal consent or refusal will be documented in the respective subject's computerized medical record. Assenting subjects will be randomized by the last digit of the social security (odd and even) in a 1:1 ratio to the control group (standard care at STVHCS) or the intervention group (receiving the telephonic disease management services in addition to standard care). The intervention group will receive a telephonic intervention for one year that consists of formal scheduled nurse telephone education sessions, 24-hour access to a nurse counseling and symptom advice telephone line, printed action plans, workbooks, and individualized assessment letters, medication compliance reminders, vaccination reminders, and physician alerts about signs and symptoms of decompensation. Once enrolled, the RN conducts a telephonic assessment at intake, 6, and 12 months to assess each participant's knowledge, behavior, and health status related to the HF condition.

All subjects enrolled in the study will continue to receive comprehensive heart failure care from the STVHCS with those subjects randomized to the program receiving the additional telephonic intervention. Risk stratification is determined from a combination of review of the medical record patient admission history, and other self-reported information. Factors considered include: Goldman Specific Activity Scale, self-management practices, medical history, medical management, and psychosocial factors. The algorithm employs Boolean logic and sorts patients into one of three categories that determines the frequency of scheduled calls over the course of the year. The communications to physicians occurs through the VA CPRS system regularly, usually after each scheduled patient call. Pre-specific clinical, process, and economic outcomes will be collected on all subjects and analyzed at 6 and 12 months post-randomization.

Comparisons: The study will compare resources consumed in providing care to patients with heart failure post-randomization receiving standard care with resources consumed with standard care supplemented by the Health E Heart Disease Management Program. The study will measure direct VA medical care costs.

Study subjects will all receive comprehensive medical care for congestive heart failure from the STVHCS. Experimental subjects will receive additional telephone calls, patient education sessions, customized treatment and self-management plans, and written patient education materials. All subjects will receive telephonic assessments of health status, and functional status at 6 and 12 months after randomization.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

420

Phase

  • Phase 4

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
    • Texas
      • San Antonio, Texas, United States, 78229-5700
        • VA South Texas Health Care System

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

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

Inclusion criteria are designed to enroll a population of VA patients with moderate-severe heart failure who are expected to be reasonably representative of and generalizable to potential candidates for the Health E Heart Disease Management Program intervention. To be eligible for the study, veteran beneficiaries must:

  • Be 18 years of age
  • Have a diagnosis of heart failure
  • Have received care in urgent care or have been hospitalized, or have more than 12 outpatient visits in the last twelve months.
  • Speak either English or Spanish.

Exclusion Criteria:

Exclusion criteria are designed to exclude persons who are unable to participate in the intervention, whose mortality or health care utilization are driven by co-morbid conditions, or who are enrolled in other research.

  • End-stage renal disease on chronic dialysis
  • Prior heart transplant
  • End-stage or terminal illness in addition to heart failure, such as metastatic malignancy or AIDS with anticipated life expectancy less than 6 months.
  • Residence in a nursing home
  • Currently participating in another research or care management program.
  • No access to a telephone
  • Severe dementia

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

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

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Other: 1
Behavioral: Telephone care

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Cardiovascular death/re-hospitalization within 6 to12 months from enrollment; 6 to 12 month all-cause mortality/re-hospitalization treatment failure; 6-month heart failure mortality/re-hospitalization; interim analyses
Time Frame: At 6 months and at 12 months
At 6 months and at 12 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
all measures at 6-month intervals
Secondary outcomes include alternative definitions of clinical impact through chart review at study start; functional status and resource utilization and costs at study start, at 6 months, and at twelve months.

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

US Department of Veterans Affairs

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Richard L Bauer, MD MSc BA, VA South Texas Health Care System

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

June 1, 2005

Primary Completion (Actual)

June 1, 2008

Study Completion (Actual)

June 1, 2008

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

August 30, 2005

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 30, 2005

First Posted (Estimate)

September 1, 2005

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

June 23, 2008

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 19, 2008

Last Verified

June 1, 2008

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 045-0023-313
  • Bauer0004

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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