Creating A Cardiorenal Multidisciplinary Team for Management HF and CKD Patients

July 21, 2023 updated by: Gurusher Panjrath, George Washington University

A Comparative Effectiveness Study to Assess the Impact of a Multidisciplinary Cardiorenal Care Team to Assist Primary Care Clinicians in Managing Patients With Heart Failure and Chronic Kidney Disease vs Usual Care.

Several drugs have been labeled as guideline-directed-medical therapies (GDMT) to improve overall health outcomes and slow the progression of disease in patients with heart failure (HF). Although scientific trials have deemed these drugs to be successful, many HF patients have been unable to either get started on the appropriate drug regimens or be optimized on the doses required to show substantial benefit, particularly in those who also suffer from chronic kidney disease (CKD). This is largely due to the current health care delivery model that requires a primary care clinician or general internist to refer patients to heart failure specialists and nephrologists. The specialty care itself then requires even more coordination resulting in patients getting lost to follow-up, physicians losing track of recommendations from different clinics, and too many separate electronic medical documentations to consolidate prior to deciding on what medication is appropriate at one thirty-minute outpatient visit. This study plans to create a new, virtual cardio-renal multidisciplinary team including a heart failure specialist and nephrologist to ease the coordination of care and consequently show a better implementation of GDMT in patients with HF and CKD when comparing those rates to the traditional referral-based way that these medications get prescribed.

Study Overview

Status

Active, not recruiting

Detailed Description

Major advancements have occurred in guideline-directed medical therapies (GDMT) for heart failure (HF) over the last decade. Various classes of drugs including beta-adrenergic receptor blockers, renin-angiotensin system inhibitors, sodium-glucose co-transporter inhibitors, etc. have demonstrated significant improvement in the quality of life, prevention of recurrent hospitalizations for HF, and reduction in overall morbidity and mortality. However, despite the billions of healthcare dollars and additional clinical resources invested into developing these evidence-based treatment regimens, a substantial proportion of the affected patient populations remains undertreated worldwide rendering GDMT unrealistic to implement broadly, particularly in the subgroup of patients with concomitant chronic kidney disease (CKD).

Several deterrents contribute to the low implementation rates of GDMT in HF with CKD including clinicians' therapeutic inertia and fear of inducing harm, poor coordination of care between inpatient and outpatient titration of medications, fragmented healthcare models, inaccessibility to specialists' support, and high-cost burden deeming certain medications unaffordable. These factors also primarily affect minority communities, patients among the lower socioeconomic strata, and individuals with limited health literacy who are unequally affected by higher rates of HF with CKD. Although current research can both qualify and quantify the benefits of the medications, minimal treatment prototypes exist to ensure that patients have and maintain access to these therapies, the frequent follow-up visits, and the surveillance screenings required to monitor long-term symptoms and potential medication side-effects.

This study aims to compare the effects of a co-localized multidisciplinary cardiorenal team supporting a primary care clinician versus the traditional referral-based care model, on the implementation rates of GDMT in patients with specifically heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) and CKD. Investigators will conduct a single-center pragmatic randomized controlled trial that will compare the following approaches:

1. Co-localized care with a telemedicine-based cardiorenal multidisciplinary team (cardiologist, nephrologist, and research coordinators) providing guidance and recommendations to the primary care clinician 2. A control group of usual care with a primary care clinician making referrals to a cardiologist or nephrologist "for-cause" as determined by the primary care clinician, to ultimately assess the rates of improvement in the implementation of GDMT. The research coordinators will also play a crucial role in identifying financial barriers, circumventing insurance and prior authorization issues, as well as monitoring medication side-effect profiles and potential drug-to-drug interactions as they pertain to each individual patient involved in the study.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

96

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

    • District of Columbia
      • Washington, District of Columbia, United States, 20037
        • George Washington University Medical Faculty Associates

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:

  • 18 years of age or older
  • History of HF with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) or ejection fraction (EF) <50% and chronic kidney disease (CKD) with estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) < 60cc/min/1.73m2

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patients < 18 years of age
  • Patients with a heart or kidney transplant
  • Patients on dialysis at the time of enrollment
  • Pregnant
  • Non-English speaking
  • Patients that are unable to understand the process of the study and consent

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

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Intervention
Patients randomized based on their primary care clinician to a co-localized care with a telemedicine-based cardiorenal multidisciplinary team (cardiologist, nephrologist, and research coordinators) providing guidance and recommendations to the primary care clinician.
The intervention group will be patients whose primary care clinicians will be receiving guidance and recommendations from the multidisciplinary team consisting of cardiologists, nephrologists, and specialty pharmacists.
No Intervention: Control
Patients randomized to the control group will proceed with usual care with a primary care clinician making referrals to a cardiologist or nephrologist "for-cause" as determined by the primary care clinician, to ultimately assess the rates of improvement in the implementation of GDMT.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Difference in rate of sodium glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i)
Time Frame: 6 months
Given that increased SGLT2i is likely to be the major driver of improved clinical outcomes in patients with heart failure and chronic kidney disease, the primary outcome of interest is the difference in rate of SGLT2i use between multidisciplinary care model versus usual care model at 3 months and 6 months.
6 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Quality of life of patients-Kidney Disease Questionnaire
Time Frame: 6 months
Quality of life will be measured by a score at baseline, 3-months, and 6-months, using the Kidney Disease and Quality of Life survey (KDQOL-36).
6 months
Quality of life of patients-Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire
Time Frame: 6 months
Quality of life will be measured by a score at baseline, 3-months, and 6-months, using the Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (Kansas City) (KCCQ-12).
6 months
Heart failure hospitalizations
Time Frame: 6 months
Heart failure hospitalizations, ≥40% sustained decline in kidney function, need for maintenance dialysis or a kidney transplant.
6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Janai Rangaswami, MD, Fellowship program director for the Division of Nephrology, Director of the cardiorenal program

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)

June 1, 2022

Primary Completion (Actual)

January 30, 2023

Study Completion (Estimated)

June 1, 2024

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 10, 2022

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 2, 2022

First Posted (Actual)

September 7, 2022

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimated)

July 24, 2023

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 21, 2023

Last Verified

July 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

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

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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