A Governance Framework to Integrate Longitudinal Clinical and Community Data in a Distributed Data Network: The Childhood Obesity Data Initiative

CONTEXT

Integrating longitudinal data from community-based organizations (eg, physical activity programs) with electronic health record information can improve capacity for childhood obesity research.

OBJECTIVE

A governance framework that protects individual privacy, accommodates organizational data stewardship requirements, and complies with laws and regulations was developed and implemented to support the harmonization of data from disparate clinical and community information systems.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

Through the Childhood Obesity Data Initiative (CODI), 5 Colorado-based organizations collaborated to expand an existing distributed health data network (DHDN) to include community-generated data and assemble longitudinal patient records for research.

DESIGN

A governance work group expanded an existing DHDN governance infrastructure with CODI-specific data use and exchange policies and procedures that were codified in a governance plan and a delegated-authority, multiparty, reciprocal agreement.

RESULTS

A CODI governance work group met from January 2019 to March 2020 to conceive an approach, develop documentation, and coordinate activities. Governance requirements were synthesized from the CODI use case, and a customized governance approach was constructed to address governance gaps in record linkage, a procedure to request data, and harmonizing community and clinical data. A Master Sharing and Use Agreement (MSUA) and Memorandum of Understanding were drafted and executed to support creation of linked longitudinal records of clinical- and community-derived childhood obesity data. Furthermore, a multiparty infrastructure protocol was approved by the local institutional review board (IRB) to expedite future CODI research by simplifying IRB research applications.

CONCLUSION

CODI implemented a clinical-community governance strategy that built trust between organizations and allowed efficient data exchange within a DHDN. A thorough discovery process allowed CODI stakeholders to assess governance capacity and reveal regulatory and organizational obstacles so that the governance infrastructure could effectively leverage existing knowledge and address challenges. The MSUA and complementary governance documents can inform similar efforts.

Associations Between Patient-Provider Secure Message Content and Patients' Health Care Visits

Background: Between-visit communications can play a vital role in improving intermediate patient outcomes such as access to care and satisfaction. Secure messaging is a growing modality for these communications, but research is limited about the influence of message content on those intermediate outcomes. We examined associations between secure message content and patients' number of health care visits. Methods: Our study included 2,111 adult patients with hypertension and/or diabetes and 18,309 patient- and staff-generated messages. We estimated incident rate ratios (IRRs) for associations between taxonomic codes assigned to message content, and the number of office, emergency department, and inpatient visits. Results: Patients who initiated message threads in 2017 had higher numbers of outpatient visits (p < 0.001) compared with patients who did not initiate threads. Among patients who initiated threads, we identified an inverse relationship between outpatient visits and preventive care scheduling requests (IRR = 0.92; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.86-0.98) and requests for appointments for new conditions (IRR = 0.95; 95% CI: 0.92-0.99). Patients with higher proportions of request denials or more follow-up appointment requests had more emergency department visits compared with patients who received or sent other content (IRR = 1.18; 95% CI: 1.03-1.34 and IRR = 1.14; 95% CI: 1.07-1.23, respectively). We identified a positive association between outpatient visits and the proportion of threads that lacked a clinic response (IRR = 1.02; 95% CI: 1.00-1.03). Discussion: We report on the first analyses to examine associations between message content and health care visits. Conclusions: Our findings are relevant to understanding how to better use secure messaging to support patients and their care.

Patient and Clinician Characteristics Associated With Secure Message Content: Retrospective Cohort Study

BACKGROUND

Good communication has been shown to affect patient outcomes; however, the effect varies according to patient and clinician characteristics. To date, no research has explored the differences in the content of secure messages based on these characteristics.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to explore characteristics of patients and clinic staff associated with the content exchanged in secure messages.

METHODS

We coded 18,309 messages that were part of threads initiated by 1031 patients with hypertension, diabetes, or both conditions, in communication with 711 staff members. We conducted four sets of analyses to identify associations between patient characteristics and the types of messages they sent, staff characteristics and the types of messages they sent, staff characteristics and the types of messages patients sent to them, and patient characteristics and the types of messages they received from staff. Logistic regression was used to estimate the strength of the associations.

RESULTS

We found that younger patients had reduced odds of sharing clinical updates (odds ratio [OR] 0.77, 95% CI 0.65-0.91) and requesting prescription refills (OR 0.77, 95% CI 0.65-0.90). Women had reduced odds of self-reporting biometrics (OR 0.78, 95% CI 0.62-0.98) but greater odds of responding to a clinician (OR 1.20, 95% CI 1.02-1.42) and seeking medical guidance (OR 1.19, 95% CI 1.01-1.40). Compared with White patients, Black patients had greater odds of requesting preventive care (OR 2.68, 95% CI 1.30-5.51) but reduced odds of requesting a new or changed prescription (OR 0.72, 95% CI 0.53-0.98) or laboratory or other diagnostic procedures (OR 0.66, 95% CI 0.46-0.95). Staff had lower odds of sharing medical guidance with younger patients (OR 0.83, 95% CI 0.69-1.00) and uninsured patients (OR 0.21, 95% CI 0.06-0.73) but had greater odds of sharing medical guidance with patients with public payers (OR 2.03, 95% CI 1.26-3.25) compared with patients with private payers. Staff had reduced odds of confirming to women that their requests were fulfilled (OR 0.82, 95% CI 0.69-0.98). Compared with physicians, nurse practitioners had greater odds of sharing medical guidance with patients (OR 2.74, 95% CI 1.12-6.68) and receiving prescription refill requests (OR 3.39, 95% CI 1.49-7.71). Registered nurses had greater odds of deferred information sharing (OR 1.61, 95% CI 1.04-2.49) and receiving responses to messages (OR 3.93, 95% CI 2.18-7.11) than physicians.

CONCLUSIONS

The differences we found in content use based on patient characteristics could lead to the exacerbation of health disparities when content is associated with health outcomes. Disparities in the content of secure messages could exacerbate disparities in patient outcomes, such as satisfaction, trust in the system, self-care, and health outcomes. Staff and administrators should evaluate how secure messaging is used to ensure that disparities in care are not perpetuated via this communication modality.

National findings regarding health IT use and participation in health care delivery reform programs among office-based physicians

OBJECTIVE

Our objective was to characterize physicians' participation in delivery and payment reform programs over time and describe how participants in these programs were using health information technology (IT) to coordinate care, engage patients, manage patient populations, and improve quality.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A nationally representative cohort of physicians was surveyed in 2012 (unweighted N = 2567) and 2013 (unweighted N = 2399). Regression analyses used those survey responses to identify associations between health IT use and participation in and attrition from patient-centered medical homes (PCMHs), accountable care organizations (ACOs), and pay-for-performance programs (P4Ps).

RESULTS

In 2013, 45% of physicians participated in PCMHs, ACOs, or P4Ps. While participation in each program increased (P < .05) between 2012 and 2013, program attrition ranged from 31-40%. Health IT use was associated with greater program participation (RR = 1.07-1.16). PCMH, ACO, and P4P participants were more likely than nonparticipants to perform quality improvement and patient engagement activities electronically (RR = 1.09-1.14); only ACO participants were more likely to share information electronically (RR = 1.07-1.09).

DISCUSSION

Participation in delivery and payment reform programs increased between 2012 and 2013. Participating physicians were more likely to use health IT. There was significant attrition from and switching between PCMHs, ACOs, and P4Ps.

CONCLUSION

This work provides the basis for understanding physician participation in and attrition from delivery and payment reform programs, as well as how health IT was used to support those programs. Understanding health IT use by program participants may help to identify factors enabling a smooth transition to alternative payment models.

Physician Opinions about EHR Use by EHR Experience and by Whether the Practice had optimized its EHR Use

Optimization and experience with using EHRs may improve physician experiences. Physician opinions about EHR-related impacts, and the extent to which these impacts differ by self-reported optimized EHR use and length of experience are examined through nationally representative physician data of EHR users from the National Electronic Health Records Survey extended survey (n=1,471). Logistic regression models first estimated how physicians’ length of times using an EHR were associated with each EHR-related impact. Additionally, a similar set of models estimated the association of self-reported optimized EHR use with each EHR impact. At least 70% of physicians using EHRs continue to attribute their administrative burdens to their EHR use. Physicians with 4 or more years of EHR experience accounted for 58% of those using EHRs. About 71% of EHR users self-reported using an optimized EHR. Physicians with more EHR experience and those in practices that optimized EHR use had positive opinions about the impacts of using EHRs, compared to their counterparts. These findings suggest that longer experience with EHRs improves perceptions about EHR use; and that perceived EHR use optimization is crucial to identifying EHR-related benefits. Finding ways to reduce EHR-related administrative burden has yet to be addressed.

Using electronic clinical quality measure reporting for public health surveillance

By June 2013, three fourths of office-based practicing physicians in the United States had adopted some form of electronic health record (EHR) system. With greater EHR use, more health data are linked with available patient demographic information in a format that is easily retrievable and collected at the point of care. This highlights the potential of electronic clinical quality measure (CQM) reporting data for use in monitoring population health for those receiving health care services. To assess this possibility, electronic CQM data that were submitted to the Medicare EHR Incentive Program were analyzed to assess provider progress toward achieving blood pressure control among their patients with hypertension. Approximately 63,000 health care providers reported at least 1 time over 3 years, representing approximately 17 million patients with hypertension. On average, 62% of patients with hypertension had controlled blood pressure. Use of EHR data for public health surveillance could streamline reporting, facilitating more timely and possibly more complete data collection in key areas of public health concern.

Integrating clinical practice and public health surveillance using electronic medical record systems

Electronic medical record (EMR) systems have rich potential to improve integration between primary care and the public health system at the point of care. EMRs make it possible for clinicians to contribute timely, clinically detailed surveillance data to public health practitioners without changing their existing workflows or incurring extra work. New surveillance systems can extract raw data from providers' EMRs, analyze them for conditions of public health interest, and automatically communicate results to health departments. We describe a model EMR-based public health surveillance platform called Electronic Medical Record Support for Public Health (ESP). The ESP platform provides live, automated surveillance for notifiable diseases, influenza-like illness, and diabetes prevalence, care, and complications. Results are automatically transmitted to state health departments.

Integrating clinical practice and public health surveillance using electronic medical record systems

Electronic medical record (EMR) systems have rich potential to improve integration between primary care and the public health system at the point of care. EMRs make it possible for clinicians to contribute timely, clinically detailed surveillance data to public health practitioners without changing their existing workflows or incurring extra work. New surveillance systems can extract raw data from providers' EMRs, analyze them for conditions of public health interest, and automatically communicate results to health departments. The current paper describes a model EMR-based public health surveillance platform called Electronic Medical Record Support for Public Health (ESP). The ESP platform provides live, automated surveillance for notifiable diseases, influenza-like illness, and diabetes prevalence, care, and complications. Results are automatically transmitted to state health departments.

Evaluating real-time syndromic surveillance signals from ambulatory care data in four states

OBJECTIVES

We evaluated a real-time ambulatory care-based syndromic surveillance system in four metropolitan areas of the United States.

METHODS

Health-care organizations and health departments in California, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Texas participated during 2007-2008. Syndromes were defined using International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision diagnostic codes in electronic medical records. Health-care organizations transmitted daily counts of new episodes of illness by syndrome, date, and patient zip code. A space-time permutation scan statistic was used to detect unusual clustering. Health departments followed up on e-mailed alerts. Distinct sets of related alerts ("signals") were compared with known outbreaks or clusters found using traditional surveillance.

RESULTS

The 62 alerts generated corresponded to 17 distinct signals of a potential outbreak. The signals had a median of eight cases (range: 3-106), seven zip code areas (range: 1-88), and seven days (range: 3-14). Two signals resulted from true clusters of varicella; six were plausible but unconfirmed indications of disease clusters, six were considered spurious, and three were not investigated. The median investigation time per signal by health departments was 50 minutes (range: 0-8 hours). Traditional surveillance picked up 124 clusters of illness in the same period, with a median of six ill per cluster (range: 2-75). None was related to syndromic signals.

CONCLUSIONS

The system was able to detect two true clusters of illness, but none was of public health interest. Possibly due to limited population coverage, the system did not detect any of 124 known clusters, many of which were small. The number of false alarms was reasonable.

Prolonged outbreak of giardiasis with two modes of transmission

Large outbreaks of giardiasis caused by person-to-person transmission, or a combination of transmission routes, have not previously been reported. A large, prolonged giardiasis outbreak affected families belonging to a country club in a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts, during June-December 2003. We conducted a retrospective cohort study to determine the source of this outbreak. Giardiasis-compatible illness was experienced by 149 (25%) respondents to a questionnaire, and was laboratory confirmed in 97 (65%) of these cases. Of the 30 primary cases, exposure to the children's pool at the country club was significantly associated with illness (risk ratio 3.3, 95% confidence interval 1.7-6.5). In addition, 105 secondary cases probably resulted from person-to-person spread; 14 cases did not report an onset date. This outbreak illustrates the potential for Giardia to spread through multiple modes of transmission, with a common-source outbreak caused by exposure to a contaminated water source resulting in subsequent prolonged propagation through person-to-person transmission in the community. This capacity for a common-source outbreak to continue propagation through secondary person-to-person spread has been reported with Shigella and Cryptosporidium and may also be a feature of other enteric pathogens having low infectious doses.

An outbreak of norovirus gastroenteritis associated with wedding cakes

We sought to determine the source of a norovirus outbreak among attendees of 46 weddings taking place during a single weekend. Norovirus-compatible illness was experienced by 332 (39%) of wedding guests surveyed; the outbreak affected up to 2700 persons. Illness was associated with eating wedding cake provided by a bakery common to the weddings (adjusted RR 4.5, P<0.001). A cake requiring direct hand contact during its preparation accounted for the majority of illness. At least two bakery employees experienced norovirus-compatible illness during the week preceding the weddings. Identical sequence types of norovirus were detected in stool specimens submitted by two wedding guests, a wedding hall employee, and one of the ill bakery employees. It is likely that one or more food workers at the bakery contaminated the wedding cakes through direct and indirect contact. These findings reinforce the necessity of proper food-handling practices and of policies that discourage food handlers from working while ill.

Connecting health departments and providers: syndromic surveillance's last mile

INTRODUCTION

A critical need exists for mechanisms to identify and report acute illness clusters to health departments. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) works with partner organizations to conduct syndromic surveillance. This effort is based on CDC's Health Alert Network program and includes automated generation and notification of signals and a mechanism to obtain detailed clinical information when needed.

METHODS

Syndromic surveillance partners collect emergency department and ambulatory care data. The principal communications platform between syndromic surveillance partners and MDPH is the Massachusetts Homeland and Health Alert Network (HHAN). This Internet-based application serves as a portal for communication and collaboration and alerts predefined groups of users involved in emergency response. Syndromic surveillance partners' systems report to HHAN by using Public Health Information Network Messaging System events that meet thresholds selected by MDPH. Cluster summaries are automatically posted into a document library. HHAN notifies users by electronic mail, alphanumeric pager, facsimile, or voice communications; users decide how they want to be notified for each level of alert. Discussion threads permit real-time communication among all parties.

RESULTS

This automated alert system became operational in July 2004. During July-December 2004, HHAN facilitated communication and streamlined investigation of 15 alerts.

CONCLUSION

The system allows rapid, efficient alerting and bidirectional communication among public health and private-sector partners and might be applicable to other public health agencies.

Population-based surveillance for childhood invasive pneumococcal disease in the era of conjugate vaccine

BACKGROUND

Heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine was licensed in the United States in February 2000 and, following national guidelines, universally distributed in Massachusetts starting in July 2000 to children younger than 2 years of age and selected children 2-5 years of age. We performed statewide surveillance for all cases of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) in children younger than 18 years of age to determine risk features and contribution of vaccine failure to ongoing pneumococcal invasive disease.

METHODS

Massachusetts pediatric IPD cases were identified via enhanced passive surveillance of microbiology laboratory reports of pneumococcal isolates from sterile body sites of children younger than 18 years for 2 years starting in October 2001. Serotyping was performed on isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae from normally sterile body fluid. Case demographic and clinical data (including dates of prior doses of PCV7) were collected via follow-up telephone interviews with case primary care providers and/or parents.

RESULTS

Between October 1, 2001 and September 30, 2003, 191 cases of IPD were identified statewide (138 in children younger than 5 years). Annual incidence rate for IPD was 17.4 per 100,000 children younger than 5 years, representing a decline of 69% when compared with annual incidence rate of 56.9 per 100,000 from Massachusetts statewide active surveillance performed 1990-1991. In 2001-2003, 30% of cases occurred in the first year of life (36.5 per 100,000), representing a 7.8-fold increased risk compared with children older than 1 year of age. Race-specific annual incidence rates in blacks and Hispanics were 2.3-fold (95% confidence interval, 1.21-4.42) and 1.9-fold (95% confidence interval, 1.06-3.37), greater than in whites. Fifty-nine cases were reported to have underlying comorbid conditions. Serotyping was available for 136 of 191 (71%) cases younger than 18 years; of isolates available for serotyping, 40 (29%) were vaccine serotype (ST), 31 (23%) vaccine-related ST and 65 (48%) nonvaccine ST. Seven of 40 cases with IPD caused by vaccine ST received at least 3 doses of PCV7 vaccine before IPD.

CONCLUSIONS

Universal administration of PCV7 to children younger than 2 years of age and selective administration to children 2-5 years of age has resulted in a significant decline in IPD in Massachusetts. Children younger than 1 year of age, African American and Hispanic children and those with recognized comorbid illnesses (malignancy, human immunodeficiency virus, immune deficiency, nephrotic syndrome, etc.) continue to remain at risk for IPD. These risk features should be considered when evaluating febrile infants and children.