Supporting Decision Making for Musculoskeletal Preference-Sensitive Care

A Prospective, Randomized Trial to Assess the Impact of Decision Aids and Health Coaching on Health Care Costs, Surgery Rates, and Decision Quality for Individuals At Risk for Musculoskeletal Preference-Sensitive Surgical Decisions

The purpose of this study is to compare condition oriented whole person Health Coaching along with the provision of decision aids to decision aids without condition oriented Health Coaching to neither condition oriented health coaching nor decision aids on medical cost, preference sensitive surgeries and measures of subject knowledge, decision process and decision quality.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Back Pain; Knee Pain Chronic; Arthritis (Hip); Arthritis (Knee)
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Provision of condition specific shared decision making (SDM) aids only; Behavioral: Telephonic outreach and support by Health Coach

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 9925
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Massachusetts
    • Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02109
      • Health Dialog

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Participants in two large, commercial Blue Cross and/or Blue Shield branded insurance products with eligibility for Health Dialog services
• Identified by distinct Health Dialog proprietary models for risk of lumbar back, knee or hip surgeries
• Selected by simple randomization for inclusion in an interactive voice response (IVR) administered screening survey
• Participated in an IVR-administered screener survey and responded affirmatively to questions on pain for any one of the three conditions, any current or planned treatment for the conditions, and responded negatively to having had a condition specific surgery within the past six months

Exclusion Criteria:

• People under 18 years of age at time of identification for the IVR filtering survey, approximately 6 weeks prior to the start of the study
• People with invalid phone numbers or invalid mailing addresses based on automated review of those fields
• People for whom Health Dialog has information of a request for no IVR, no Health Coach outreach, or mailings prior to the start of the study
• People with claims based indication of spinal stenosis prior to the start of the study
• People who have been targeted for any IVR outreach within 180 days of the initiation of the IVR filtering survey
• People who have a Health Coach communication record, as documented in the Health Coaching application within 90 days of the start of the study
• Any members of households who have a household member already selected for inclusion in the study
• People for whom there is claims evidence of any one of the targeted surgeries prior the start of the study
• People with no eligibility for services through insurer after the start of the study

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

3

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Decision Aid with Health Coaching	Behavioral: Provision of condition specific shared decision making (SDM) aids only; Subjects are mailed decision aid digital video discs (DVDs) and pamphlets regarding lumbar back, hip osteoarthritis or knee osteoarthritis.; Behavioral: Telephonic outreach and support by Health Coach; Subjects are direct dial attempted by Health Coaches up to three attempts. If contacted, Health Coaches tailor support around health matters of importance to the subjects and to help individuals become active participants in their treatment plans, and make more informed decisions in consort with their health care providers. The number of total contacts is determined by mutual agreement between the subject and the Health Coach. Health Coaches may provide additional educational materials and resources.
Experimental: Decision Aid only	Behavioral: Provision of condition specific shared decision making (SDM) aids only; Subjects are mailed decision aid digital video discs (DVDs) and pamphlets regarding lumbar back, hip osteoarthritis or knee osteoarthritis.
No Intervention: No condition specific support

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Total Medical Costs Per Member Per Month	total medical cost paid for covered services for the subject for six months after initiation of the study. This total includes all places of service and types of covered services, including inpatient, outpatient and pharmacy.	6 months
Total Medical Costs That Can be Impacted Per Member Per Month	total medical cost paid for covered services for the subject for six months after initiation of the study. This total includes all places of service and types of covered services, including inpatient, outpatient and pharmacy. Costs that cannot be impacted include: Costs related to Trauma and Accident, Psychiatric/Substance Abuse, Malignant Neoplasm, Maternity and Childbirth excluded	6 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Rate of Targeted Conditions Surgeries	rate of any one claims based instance of lumbar back, hip repair, hip replacement, knee repair, or knee replacement surgery	6 months
Concordance	Self-reported consistency of choices with goals and concerns--extent to which the treatment choices subjects make are or are not consistent with the issues they state are priorities including avoiding surgery, reducing pain and regaining function	6 months
Quality of Decision Making Process	Self-reported measure of the extent to which subject interactions with providers involve discussions of the pros and cons of treatment options and provide an opportunity for subjects to have input into the decisions.	6 months
Knowledge	Subject self-reported knowledge about the risks and benefits of surgical options and likely outcomes with and without surgical interventions.Knowledge score calculated (score of 0-5, counting number of correct answers) for every respondent who completes at least 3 of the 5 items.	12 weeks
Decision Conflict	Self-reported measure of the extent to which subjects feel comfortable, supported and confident in choosing one treatment approach over others. Score computed on a scale of 1-3, where 1 = 'No', 2='Yes, somewhat', 3='Yes, completely' (3 indicates less conflict, 1 indicates most conflict) on a 4 item survey question set- asks whether respondents feel sure, have enough support, know and are clear about benefits and risks of treatment options.	12 weeks
Decision Satisfaction	Self-reported measure of subject satisfaction with decision as measured retrospectively, including how subjects feel their decision worked out and whether or not they would make the same decision again.	6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Health Dialog
• Collaborators: University of Massachusetts, Boston; Foundation for Informed Medical Decision Making
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: David R Veroff, MPP, Health Dialog Services Corporation

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: January 1, 2011
• Primary Completion (Actual): November 1, 2011
• Study Completion (Actual): December 1, 2011

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 28, 2011
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 28, 2011
• First Posted (Estimate): April 29, 2011

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimate): October 30, 2013
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 26, 2013
• Last Verified: August 1, 2013

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Joint Diseases; Musculoskeletal Diseases; Arthritis
• Other Study ID Numbers: SDMBKH-HD012011