1. Results of a Regional Effort to Improve Warfarin Management
- Author
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Ashley J Benedict, Daniel M. Witt, Ellen A. Jones, Heather Ourth, Angela Park, Ann M. Borzecki, James E Schlosser, Christopher Gillespie, Beth Ann Petrakis, Adam J. Rose, Michael F Mayo-Smith, Arthur Allen, Timothy J Schmoke, Anthony P. Morreale, Carol VanDeusen Lukas, Al Ozonoff, Christian D. Helfrich, Joel I. Reisman, William Lukesh, and Megan B. McCullough
- Subjects
medicine.medical_specialty ,Quality management ,030204 cardiovascular system & hematology ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,New england ,New England ,medicine ,Humans ,Pharmacology (medical) ,International Normalized Ratio ,030212 general & internal medicine ,Intensive care medicine ,Adverse effect ,Blood Coagulation ,business.industry ,Warfarin ,Anticoagulants ,Quality Improvement ,United States ,Surgery ,United States Department of Veterans Affairs ,business ,Delivery of Health Care ,medicine.drug - Abstract
Background: Improved anticoagulation control with warfarin reduces adverse events and represents a target for quality improvement. No previous study has described an effort to improve anticoagulation control across a health system. Objective: To describe the results of an effort to improve anticoagulation control in the New England region of the Veterans Health Administration (VA). Methods: Our intervention encompassed 8 VA sites managing warfarin for more than 5000 patients in New England (Veterans Integrated Service Network 1 [VISN 1]). We provided sites with a system to measure processes of care, along with targeted audit and feedback. We focused on processes of care associated with site-level anticoagulation control, including prompt follow-up after out-of-range international normalized ratio (INR) values, minimizing loss to follow-up, and use of guideline-concordant INR target ranges. We used a difference-in-differences (DID) model to examine changes in anticoagulation control, measured as percentage time in therapeutic range (TTR), as well as process measures and compared VISN 1 sites with 116 VA sites located outside VISN 1. Results: VISN 1 sites improved on TTR, our main indicator of quality, from 66.4% to 69.2%, whereas sites outside VISN 1 improved from 65.9% to 66.4% (DID 2.3%, P < 0.001). Improvement in TTR correlated strongly with the extent of improvement on process-of-care measures, which varied widely across VISN 1 sites. Conclusions: A regional quality improvement initiative, using performance measurement with audit and feedback, improved TTR by 2.3% more than control sites, which is a clinically important difference. Improving relevant processes of care can improve outcomes for patients receiving warfarin.
- Published
- 2016
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