PRescribing INterventions for Chronic Pain Via the Electronic Health Record Study - Primary Care Providers (PRINCE)

June 4, 2024 updated by: University of Minnesota
The objective of this research is to assess the effects of electronic health record (EHR)-based decision support tools on primary care provider (PCP) decision-making around pain treatment and opioid prescribing. The decision support tools are informed by principles of "behavioral economics," whereby clinicians are "nudged," though never forced, towards guideline-concordant care.

Study Overview

Detailed Description

To test the effects of these decision support tools for improving the quality of care for pain treatment, the investigators will implement a pragmatic clinic-randomized trial across the primary care clinics of Fairview Medical Group and University of Minnesota Physicians.

The study has two parallel components. The decision support tools to be tested will differ somewhat depending on whether a given patient is opioid-naïve, or whether a given patient is a current opioid-user. Four sets of analyses will be conducted separately: one for the opioid-naïve group using EHR data, one for the current opioid-user group using EHR data, one at the PCP-level using web survey data, and one at the PCP-level using MN Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) data.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

472

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

    • Minnesota
      • Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, 55455
        • University of Minnesota

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

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

- All primary care providers from all of the Fairview and University of Minnesota Physicians study clinics

Exclusion Criteria:

- Primary care providers who work less than 20% full time equivalent (FTE)

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: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Care as Usual
Clinics assigned to this arm will continue to care for the patients as usual in regards to opioid prescribing.
Experimental: Choice Architecture Nudge
Clinics in this arm will receive the choice architecture nudge intervention.

Primary Care Providers (PCPs) will be sent alerts in the Electronic Health Record system when they initiate an opioid order for a patient who has not had an opioid prescription within the past six months. The alert provides guidance language about opioid prescribing and prompts the PCP to open the "SmartSet" to order non-opioid treatment alternatives. When the SmartSet is opened, PCPs can choose to click on a variety of treatment order options, including both non-opioid pharmacological options and non-pharmacological options.

PCPs will also be sent alerts when they initiate an opioid order for a patient will a current opioid prescription. The alerts prompt PCPs to consider tapering the patient's opioid. The alert also displays the MME of the patient's current opioid prescription and automatically calculates what a 10% reduction in MME relative to the current prescription would be. The alert contains options to either cancel the refill order, or to continue with the order.

Experimental: PMP Integration & Nudge
Clinics in this arm will receive the Prescription Drug Monitoring (PMP) Integration & Nudge intervention.
During the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PMP) integration & nudge intervention, Primary Care Providers (PCPs) will have integrated access to the PMP embedded within the EHR. All clinicians can already access the PMP to look up a patient's prior opioid prescriptions and prescription fills. However, this process involves signing in to the separate PMP website and can be complicated and time-consuming within typical clinical workflow. The integrated PMP tool makes it much easier and faster for a PCP to access the PMP information for a given patient.
Experimental: Choice Architecture Nudge + PMP Integration & Nudge
Clinics in this arm will receive both the choice architecture nudge and prescription drug monitoring (PMP) integration & nudge interventions.

Primary Care Providers (PCPs) will be sent alerts in the Electronic Health Record system when they initiate an opioid order for a patient who has not had an opioid prescription within the past six months. The alert provides guidance language about opioid prescribing and prompts the PCP to open the "SmartSet" to order non-opioid treatment alternatives. When the SmartSet is opened, PCPs can choose to click on a variety of treatment order options, including both non-opioid pharmacological options and non-pharmacological options.

PCPs will also be sent alerts when they initiate an opioid order for a patient will a current opioid prescription. The alerts prompt PCPs to consider tapering the patient's opioid. The alert also displays the MME of the patient's current opioid prescription and automatically calculates what a 10% reduction in MME relative to the current prescription would be. The alert contains options to either cancel the refill order, or to continue with the order.

During the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PMP) integration & nudge intervention, Primary Care Providers (PCPs) will have integrated access to the PMP embedded within the EHR. All clinicians can already access the PMP to look up a patient's prior opioid prescriptions and prescription fills. However, this process involves signing in to the separate PMP website and can be complicated and time-consuming within typical clinical workflow. The integrated PMP tool makes it much easier and faster for a PCP to access the PMP information for a given patient.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Frequency of PDMP Checks
Time Frame: 12 months
Outcome is reported as the mean number of times an individual Primary Care Provider checks the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program per month.
12 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
PCP Satisfaction #1
Time Frame: 12 months
In order to assess satisfaction with the electronic health record-based decision support tools, Primary Care Providers (PCP) will be asked to answer the following question on a scale from 1 (very unsatisfied) to 5 (very satisfied): "How would you rate your overall satisfaction with the best practice (BPA) alerts (pop-ups) and clinical decision support you received in the EHR for opioid prescribing for patients with acute pain?"
12 months
PCP Satisfaction #2
Time Frame: 12 months
In order to assess satisfaction with the electronic health record-based decision support tools, Primary Care Providers (PCP) will be asked to answer the following question on a scale from 1 (very unsatisfied) to 5 (very satisfied): "How would you rate your overall satisfaction with the best practice (BPA) alerts (pop-ups) and clinical decision support you received in the EHR for opioid prescribing for patients with chronic pain?"
12 months
PCP Satisfaction #3
Time Frame: 12 months
In order to assess satisfaction with the electronic health record-based decision support tools, Primary Care Providers (PCP) will be asked to answer the following question on a scale from 1 (very unsatisfied) to 5 (very satisfied): "How would you rate your overall satisfaction with the PDMP when prescribing opioids for patients with acute pain?"
12 months
PCP Satisfaction #4
Time Frame: 12 months
In order to assess satisfaction with the electronic health record-based decision support tools, Primary Care Providers (PCP) will be asked to answer the following question on a scale from 1 (very unsatisfied) to 5 (very satisfied): "How would you rate your overall satisfaction with the PDMP when prescribing opioids for patients with chronic pain?"
12 months
PCP Satisfaction #5
Time Frame: 12 months
In order to assess satisfaction with the electronic health record-based decision support tools, Primary Care Providers (PCP) will be asked to answer the following question on a scale from 1 (very easy) to 5 (very difficult): "Over the past year, how easy or difficult was it to access information on prescription drug use for your own patients in the PDMP?"
12 months
PCP Satisfaction #6
Time Frame: 12 months
In order to assess satisfaction with the electronic health record-based decision support tools, Primary Care Providers (PCP) will be asked to answer the following question on a scale from 1 (not useful at all) to 5 (very useful): "Over the past year, how useful was the information that you accessed from the PDMP?"
12 months
PCP Satisfaction #7
Time Frame: 12 months
In order to assess satisfaction with the electronic health record-based decision support tools, Primary Care Providers (PCP) will be asked to answer the following question on a scale from 1 (a lot more) to 5 (a lot less): "Compared to 12 months ago, how frequently are you engaging patients in discussions about opioids?"
12 months

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Ezra Golberstein, PhD, University of Minnesota

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.

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)

August 26, 2020

Primary Completion (Actual)

October 1, 2021

Study Completion (Actual)

October 1, 2021

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

October 19, 2020

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 19, 2020

First Posted (Actual)

October 23, 2020

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

June 27, 2024

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 4, 2024

Last Verified

June 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • STUDY00006522-3
  • R33DA046084 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

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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