Primary Care Implementation and Evaluation of Coach McLungs

Primary Care Implementation and Evaluation of Coach McLungs, an Asthma Shared Decision-making Intervention, Across a Large Healthcare System

The goal of this study is to evaluate the implementation of the Coach McLungsSM shared decision making (SDM) intervention into primary care across a large healthcare system. Coach McLungsSM is a virtual evidence-based asthma intervention with built-in asthma education and clinical decision support. All asthma patients aged 5-17 who attend these practices will be assessed for uncontrolled asthma. Asthma exacerbations attributed to emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and oral steroid use, will be evaluated to serve as surrogate measures for patient-centered asthma outcomes.

Study Overview

• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Conditions: Asthma
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Coach McLungs Intervention

Detailed Description

Changing behavior of health providers can be challenging, and significant gaps exist in our knowledge of how to best implement new medical evidence into everyday practice. Numerous individual- and system-level factors contribute to poor asthma outcomes which persist due to the lack of a comprehensive approach for asthma care that is scalable, sustainable, and widely disseminated. Improved asthma outcomes are associated with effective communication strategies between the patient and provider. Shared decision making (SDM) is a patient-centered process in which patients and providers work together to make decisions and select tests, treatments, and care plans based on evidence that balances risks with patient preferences and values. Previous studies, including a PCORI-funded dissemination study, have shown that SDM is associated with improved outcomes for asthma patients in primary care. The implementation of Coach McLungsSM, a virtual evidence-based asthma SDM intervention with built-in asthma education and clinical decision support, will be evaluated as it is implemented into primary care practices across a large healthcare system. Atrium Health, the 2nd largest virtually integrated healthcare system in the nation, with over 14 million patient visits per year and the region's largest primary care network, provides an ideal venue to evaluate implementation into primary care. Coach McLungsSM will be fully integrated into the electronic medical record at all primary care practices. All asthma patients aged 5-17 who attend these practices will be assessed for uncontrolled asthma. The goal of this study will be to evaluate the implementation of the Coach McLungsSM SDM intervention into primary care. Implementation will be guided using the Expert Recommendations for Implementing Change (ERIC), a compilation of implementation strategies, and evaluated using the RE-AIM (Reach Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, Maintenance) framework. Research questions are: How best can Coach McLungsSM SDM asthma intervention be implemented into primary care? Will use of Coach McLungsSM in primary care improve outcomes for patients with uncontrolled asthma? After convening a Stakeholder Advisory Committee (SAC) composed of providers, researchers, patients, stakeholders with expertise in implementation science, asthma research and advocacy, the Coach McLungsSM SDM intervention will be implemented into primary care practices using a stepped wedge randomized control study design. Providers and staff will be trained in SDM communication and use of the Coach McLungsSM tool. Changes in emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and oral steroid use, which serve as surrogate measures for patient-centered asthma outcomes will be evaluated. The SAC will use an iterative process improvement method and give best practice recommendations back to the practices for implementation improvement. Findings will be disseminated through local stakeholders, practice-based research networks, asthma advocacy national organizations, and academic research meetings for healthcare, primary care, and asthma.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 19
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • North Carolina
    • Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, 28204
      • Atrium Health

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 5 years to 17 years (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Established mild, moderate, or severe persistent asthma
• English or Spanish speaking.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Decisional impaired or mentally incompetent

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Crossover Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Control; Coach McLungs not yet implemented in practice
Active Comparator: Intervention; Coach McLungs Implemented in Practice	Behavioral: Coach McLungs Intervention; Practices have received implementation of Coach McLungs

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Number of Participants with Asthma Exacerbations	Participant utilization data of ED visits and hospitalizations for asthma exacerbations will be extracted from the electronic data warehouse (EDW) for participants who have a diagnosis of asthma (ICD-10 code J45.XXX) irrespective of intervention, allowing measurement of any outcome improvements over the life of the study.	6 Months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Number of Participants with Asthma Exacerbations	Participant utilization data of ED visits and hospitalizations for asthma exacerbations will be extracted from the electronic data warehouse (EDW) for participants who have a diagnosis of asthma (ICD-10 code J45.XXX) irrespective of intervention, allowing measurement of any outcome improvements over the life of the study.	12 months
Number of Participants with Asthma Exacerbations	Participant utilization data of ED visits and hospitalizations for asthma exacerbations will be extracted from the electronic data warehouse (EDW) for participants who have a diagnosis of asthma (ICD-10 code J45.XXX) irrespective of intervention, allowing measurement of any outcome improvements over the life of the study.	18 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Wake Forest University Health Sciences
• Collaborators: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Hazel Tapp, PhD, Wake Forest University Health Sciences

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Ludden T, O'Hare K, Shade L, Reeves K, Patterson CG, Tapp H. Implementation of Coach McLungsSM into primary care using a cluster randomized stepped wedge trial design. BMC Med Inform Decis Mak. 2022 Nov 4;22(1):285. doi: 10.1186/s12911-022-02030-1.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): February 1, 2022
• Primary Completion (Actual): September 1, 2025
• Study Completion (Estimated): August 31, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: September 17, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 17, 2021
• First Posted (Actual): September 28, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 30, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 27, 2026
• Last Verified: April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Asthma; Shared Decision Making
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Immune System Diseases; Respiratory Tract Diseases; Lung Diseases; Bronchial Diseases; Lung Diseases, Obstructive; Respiratory Hypersensitivity; Hypersensitivity, Immediate; Hypersensitivity; Asthma
• Other Study ID Numbers: IRB00082608; 1R01HL151854-01A1 (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