Search

Abstract Background Integration of medical care across clinicians and settings could enhance the quality of care for patients. To date, there is limited data on the levels of integration in practice. Our objective was to compare primary care clinicians' perceptions of clinical integration and three sub-aspects in two healthcare systems: Kaiser Permanente, Northern California (KPNC) and the Danish healthcare system (DHS). Further, we examined the associations between specific organizational factors and clinical integration within each system. Methods Comparable questionnaires were sent to a random sample of primary care clinicians in KPNC (n = 1103) and general practitioners in DHS (n = 700). Data were analysed using multiple logistic regression models. Results More clinicians in KPNC perceived to be part of a clinical integrated environment than did general practitioners in the DHS (OR = 3.06, 95% CI: 2.28, 4.12). Further, more KPNC clinicians reported timeliness of information transfer (OR = 2.25, 95% CI: 1.62, 3.13), agreement on roles and responsibilities (OR = 1.79, 95% CI: 1.30, 2.47) and established coordination mechanisms in place to ensure effective handoffs (OR = 6.80, 95% CI: 4.60, 10.06). None of the considered organizational factors in the sub-country analysis explained a substantial proportion of the variation in clinical integration. Conclusions More primary care clinicians in KPNC reported clinical integration than did general practitioners in the DHS. Focused measures of clinical integration are needed to develop the field of clinical integration and to create the scientific foundation to guide managers searching for evidence based approaches.

African American patient populations are disproportionately diagnosed with severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) compared to non-Hispanic white adults. Research suggests a link between OSA and anxiety. However, OSA and anxiety symptoms may present differently across minority groups. Research examining the reliability and validity of measures used to assess anxiety symptom severity in African American patient populations living with OSA is needed. This pilot study evaluated the reliability and validity of the Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Anxiety short form and the longer State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-State (STAI-S) in a sample of African American adults recently diagnosed with OSA. In this cross-sectional pilot study, 32 African American patients newly diagnosed with OSA were recruited from an academic sleep medicine clinic in the Southeastern United States to complete survey measures. Participants completed the 6-item PROMIS Anxiety short form and 20-item STAI-S. Cronbach's alphas assessed the internal reliability of measures, and concurrent validity between measures was assessed using correlation coefficients ( r s ). Both PROMIS Anxiety and STAI-S showed excellent internal consistency with Cronbach's α ≥.90. The PROMIS Anxiety T-scores and STAI-S scores were positively moderately correlated with each other ( r s  = .68; p  < .0001), indicating concurrent validity. These results illustrate that both the PROMIS Anxiety and STAI-S scales have strong internal reliability in this sample of African American adults with co-occurring OSA and prediabetes. The brief PROMIS Anxiety short-form measure is validated to the longer STAI measure in this sample. An advantage of the PROMIS Anxiety scale is that it has a lower participant burden when completing questionnaires, contributing to a more refined approach to diagnosis and management when both OSA and anxiety coexist. These findings also underscore the importance of validating psychometric measures in marginalized populations, such as African Americans, who have historically been underrepresented in psychometric research., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

An ontology is a structured framework that categorizes entities, concepts, and relationships within a domain to facilitate shared understanding, and it is important in computational linguistics and knowledge representation. In this paper, we propose a novel framework to automatically extend an existing ontology from streaming data in a zero-shot manner. Specifically, the zero-shot ontology extension framework uses online and hierarchical clustering to integrate new knowledge into existing ontologies without substantial annotated data or domain-specific expertise. Focusing on the medical field, this approach leverages Large Language Models (LLMs) for two key tasks: Symptom Typing and Symptom Taxonomy among breast and bladder cancer survivors. Symptom Typing involves identifying and classifying medical symptoms from unstructured online patient forum data, while Symptom Taxonomy organizes and integrates these symptoms into an existing ontology. The combined use of online and hierarchical clustering enables real-time and structured categorization and integration of symptoms. The dual-phase model employs multiple LLMs to ensure accurate classification and seamless integration of new symptoms with minimal human oversight. The paper details the framework's development, experiments, quantitative analyses, and data visualizations, demonstrating its effectiveness in enhancing medical ontologies and advancing knowledge-based systems in healthcare., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Wu, Ling, Graetz and Zhao.)

Purpose: Oral capecitabine improves convenience compared to intravenous therapies but presents monitoring challenges. We conducted a randomized pilot trial to evaluate a mobile health intervention to remotely monitor capecitabine adherence and patient-reported outcomes (PROs) among women with breast cancer., Methods: Patients with breast cancer prescribed capecitabine, an oral chemotherapy with a complex, cyclical regimen, were randomly assigned to enhanced usual care (EUC) or PRO arm. Participants were asked to use a smart pill bottle to measure adherence (timing and dose) and complete baseline and 90-day follow-up surveys. PRO participants received text messages for missed or incorrect doses and weekly text-based symptom assessments, and their oncologists received alerts for severe symptoms or missed doses. We compared nonadherence (<80%) and changes from enrollment to follow-up on reported physical and mental health quality-of-life scores and number of severe symptoms by study arm., Results: Overall, 32 women were randomly assigned (17 EUC and 15 PRO): 28 (87.5%) received the intervention and 24 (78.1%) completed the follow-up survey. Among participants who received the intervention, PRO participants responded to 83.3% of symptom questions; 7.7% of PRO participants were nonadherent compared with 40.0% of EUC participants ( P = .049). Among those who completed the follow-up survey, 12.5% of PRO participants had reductions in their mental health composite scores compared with 69.2% of EUC participants ( P = .011); 10% of PRO participants had more severe symptoms at follow-up compared with 57.1% of EUC participants ( P = .019)., Conclusion: A mobile health intervention using text message reminders and symptom assessments improved medication adherence and mental health quality-of-life scores and lowered symptom burden of patients with breast cancer prescribed capecitabine. Future work should evaluate the longer-term impacts of this intervention.

Background: The effectiveness of telemedicine by a patient's own primary care provider (PCP) versus another available PCP is understudied., Objective: Examine the association between primary care visit modality with timeliness and follow-up in-person healthcare, including variation by visits with the patient's own PCP versus another PCP., Design and Participants: Cohort study including primary care visits in a large, integrated delivery system in 2022., Measures: Outcomes included timeliness (visit completed within 7 days of scheduling) and in-person follow-up (PCP visits, emergency department (ED) visits, hospitalizations) within 7 days of the index PCP visit. Logistic regression measured the association between visit modality (in-person, video, and audio-only telemedicine) with the patient's own PCP or another PCP and outcomes, adjusting for characteristics., Key Results: Among 4,817,317 primary care visits, 59% were in-person, 27% audio-only, and 14% video telemedicine. Most (71.3%) were with the patient's own PCP. Telemedicine visits were timelier, with modality having a larger association for visits with patient's own PCP versus another PCP (P < 0.001). For visits with patient's own PCPs, return office visit rates were 1.2% for in-person, 5.3% for video, and 6.1% for audio-only. For another PCP, rates were 2.2% for in-person, 7.3% for video, and 8.1% for audio. Follow-up ED visits ranged from 1.4% (in-person) to 1.6% (audio-only) with own PCP, compared to 1.9% (in-person) to 2.3% (audio-only) with another PCP. Differences in return office and ED visits between in-person and telemedicine were larger for visits with another PCP compared to their own PCP (P < 0.001). Follow-up hospitalizations were rare, ranging from 0.19% (in-person with own PCP) to 0.32% (video with another PCP)., Conclusion: Differences in return office and ED visits between in-person and telemedicine were larger when patients saw a less familiar PCP compared to their own PCP, reinforcing the importance of care continuity., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Society of General Internal Medicine.)

Purpose: Medicare's differential payments for services delivered in physician offices versus hospital outpatient settings incentivize hospital-physician integration (ie, vertical integration) across many specialties, but evidence for oncologists is mixed. We examined the association of Medicare site-based payment policy and physician practice characteristics, including service volume and diversity, with vertical integration among oncologists in 2013-2019., Methods: Using the Medicare Provider Utilization and Payment Data and Medicare Data on Provider Practice and Specialty in 2013-2019, we extracted nonintegrated medical/hematologic oncologists (hereafter oncologists) in 2013 and followed them through 2019. We quantified the incentives from Medicare site-based payment policy using the hospital-office ratio-total Medicare payments if all services were delivered in the hospital outpatient department (HOPD) versus physician office. Vertical integration was defined as billing >10% of services to HOPD in a year. Multivariable linear probability regressions estimated the association between hospital-office ratio and vertical integration in 2014-2019 with and without accounting for provider characteristics., Results: In 2013, the average hospital-office ratio was 1.63, which increased to 1.99 in 2018. A 25th-to-75th percentile increase in the hospital-office ratio was negatively associated with integration (-1.01 percentage points [ppts], 95% CI = -1.45 to -0.57, p < .001) not accounting for physician practice characteristics; this association was attenuated (-0.30 ppts, 95% CI = -0.67 to 0.07, p = .11) after adjusting for these characteristics. Higher baseline (ie, 2013) service volume (Quartile4 v Quartile1 = -3.00 ppts, 95% CI = -4.42 to -1.59, p < .001), more diverse services (Quartile4 v Quartile1 = -3.55 ppts, 95% CI = -4.97 to -2.13, p < .001), and urban location (-5.23 ppts, 95% CI = -6.89 to -3.57, p < .001) were more strongly associated with vertical integration., Conclusion: Compared to Medicare site-based payment policy, oncologists' practice characteristics emerged as more potent factors for integration and should be considered to ensure the intended impacts of site-based payment reform. Our finding raises questions about the effectiveness of ongoing movements toward site-neutral payment for drug administration services to deter vertical integration in oncology.

Introduction: Travel burden leads to worse cancer outcomes. Understanding travel burden and the level and types of travel support provided at large cancer centers is critical for developing systematic programs to alleviate travel burden. This study analyzed patients who received travel assistance, including their travel burden, types and amount of travel support received, and factors that influenced these outcomes., Methods: We analyzed 1063 patients who received travel support from 1/1/2021 to 5/1/2023 at Winship Cancer Institute, in which ~18,000 patients received cancer care annually. Travel burden was measured using distance and time to Winship sites from patients' residential address. Travel support was evaluated using the monetary value of total travel support and type of support received. Patients' sociodemographic and clinical factors were extracted from electronic medical records. Area-level socioeconomic disadvantage was coded by the Area Deprivation Index using patient ZIP codes., Results: On average, patients traveled 57.2 miles and 67.3 min for care and received $74.1 in total for travel support. Most patients (88.3%) received travel-related funds (e.g., gas cards), 5% received direct rides (e.g., Uber), 3.8% received vouchers for taxi or public transportation, and 3% received combined travel support. Male and White had longer travel distance and higher travel time than female and other races, respectively. Patients residing in more disadvantaged neighborhoods had an increased travel distance and travel time. Other races and Hispanics received more travel support ($) than Black and White patients or non-Hispanics. Patients with higher travel distance and travel time were more like to receive travel-related financial support., Conclusion: Among patients who received travel support, those from socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods had greater travel burden. Patients with greater travel burden were more likely to receive travel funds versus other types of support. Further understanding of the impact of travel burden and travel support on cancer outcomes is needed., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Importance: Adjuvant endocrine therapy (AET) use among women with early-stage, hormone receptor-positive breast cancer reduces the risk of cancer recurrence, but its adverse symptoms contribute to lower adherence., Objective: To test whether remote monitoring of symptoms and treatment adherence with or without tailored text messages improves outcomes among women with breast cancer who are prescribed AET., Design, Setting, and Participants: This nonblinded, randomized clinical trial (RCT) following intention-to-treat principles included English-speaking women with early-stage breast cancer prescribed AET at a large cancer center with 14 clinics across 3 states from November 15, 2018, to June 11, 2021. All participants had a mobile device with a data plan and an email address and were asked to use an electronic pillbox to monitor AET adherence and to complete surveys at enrollment and 1 year., Interventions: Participants were randomized into 3 groups: (1) an app group, in which participants received instructions for and access to the study adherence and symptom monitoring app for 6 months; (2) an app plus feedback group, in which participants received additional weekly text messages about managing symptoms, adherence, and communication; or (3) an enhanced usual care (EUC) group. App-reported missed doses, increases in symptoms, and occurrence of severe symptoms triggered follow-ups from the oncology team., Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcome was 1-year, electronic pillbox-captured AET adherence. Secondary outcomes included symptom management abstracted from the medical record, as well as patient-reported health care utilization, symptom burden, quality of life, physician communication, and self-efficacy for managing symptoms., Results: Among 304 female participants randomized (app group, 98; app plus feedback group, 102; EUC group, 104), the mean (SD) age was 58.6 (10.8) years (median, 60 years; range, 31-83 years), and 60 (19.7%) had an educational level of high school diploma or less. The study completion rate was 87.5% (266 participants). There were no statistically significant differences by treatment group in AET adherence (primary outcome): 76.6% for EUC, 73.4% for the app group (difference vs EUC, -3.3%; 95% CI, -11.4% to 4.9%; P = .43), and 70.9% for the app plus feedback group (difference vs EUC, -5.7%; 95% CI, -13.8% to 2.4%; P = .17). At the 1-year follow-up, app plus feedback participants had fewer total health care encounters (adjusted difference, -1.23; 95% CI, -2.03 to -0.43; P = .003), including high-cost encounters (adjusted difference, -0.40; 95% CI, -0.67 to -0.14; P = .003), and office visits (adjusted difference, -0.82; 95% CI, -1.54 to -0.09; P = .03) over the previous 6 months compared with EUC participants., Conclusions and Relevance: This RCT found that a remote monitoring app with alerts to the patient's care team and tailored text messages to patients did not improve AET adherence among women with early-stage breast cancer; however, it reduced overall and high-cost health care encounters and office visits without affecting quality of life., Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03592771.

Purpose: Adjuvant endocrine therapy (AET) increases sexual health challenges for women with early-stage breast cancer. Black women are more likely than women of other racial/ethnic groups to report adverse symptoms and least likely to initiate and maintain AET. Little is known about how sexual health challenges influence patient-clinician communication and treatment adherence. This study explores facilitators of and barriers to patient-clinician communication about sexual health and how those factors might affect AET adherence among Black women with early-stage breast cancer., Methods: We conducted 32 semi-structured, in-depth interviews among Black women with early-stage breast cancer in the U.S. Mid-South region. Participants completed an online questionnaire prior to interviews. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis., Results: Participants' median age was 59 (range 40-78 years, SD = 9.0). Adverse sexual symptoms hindered participants' AET adherence. Facilitators of patient-clinician communication about sexual health included female clinicians and peer support. Barriers included perceptions of male oncologists' disinterest in Black women's sexual health, perceptions of male oncologists' biased beliefs about sexual activity among older Black women, cultural norms of sexual silence among Southern Black women, and medical mistrust., Conclusions: Adverse sexual symptoms and poor patient-clinician communication about sexual health contribute to lower AET adherence among Black women with early-stage breast cancer. New interventions using peer support models and female clinicians trained to discuss sexual health could ameliorate communication barriers and improve treatment adherence., Implications for Cancer Survivors: Black women with early-stage breast cancer in the U.S. Mid-South may require additional resources to address sociocultural and psychosocial implications of cancer survivorship to enable candid discussions with oncologists., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Objective: To pilot test a mobile health intervention using a CONnected CUstomized Treatment Platform that integrates a connected electronic adherence monitoring smartbox and an early warning system of non-adherence with bidirectional automated texting feature and provider alerts., Methods: In total, 29 adult women with hormone-receptor-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative metastatic breast cancer and a prescription for palbociclib were asked to complete a survey and participate in a CONnected CUstomized Treatment Platform intervention, including use of a smartbox for real-time adherence monitoring, which triggered text message reminders for any missed or extra dose, and referrals to (a) participant's oncology provider after three missed doses or an episode of over-adherence, or (b) a financial navigation program for any cost-related missed dose. Use of smartbox, number of referrals, palbociclib adherence, CONnected CUstomized Treatment Platform usability measured by System Usability Scale, and changes in symptom burden and quality of life were assessed., Results: Mean age was 57.6 and 69% were white. The smartbox was used by 72.4% of participants, with palbociclib adherence rate of 95.8%±7.6%. One participant was referred to oncology provider due to missed doses and one was referred to financial navigation. At baseline, 33.3% reported at least one adherence barrier including inconvenience to get prescription filled, forgetfulness, cost, and side effects. There were no changes in self-reported adherence, symptom burden or quality of life over 3 months. CONnected CUstomized Treatment Platform usability score was 61.9 ± 14.2., Conclusion: The CONnected CUstomized Treatment Platform interventions is feasible, resulting in a high palbociclib adherence rate without any decline in overtime. Future efforts should focus on improving usability., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared the following potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: G Sadigh, A Robles, D Coleman, J Meisel, K Byers, K Yeager, and I Graetz received related research support from the Emory University Woodruff Health Sciences Synergy Award. G Sadigh, J Meisel, K Byers, and I Graetz received related research support from National Cancer Institute (NCI). G Sadigh receives honorarium from the Journal of the American College of Radiology in her role as Associate Editor. I Graetz receives research support from Pfizer. K Byers is an advisory board participant for SeaGen Inc., and a speaker for Wellstat Therapeutics. J Meisel receives research support from Pfizer and SeaGen Inc. She is a consultant for AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, Genentech, GlaxoSmithKleine, Pfizer, Sanofi Genzyme, and SeaGen.

Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated risk for poor mental health (MH) outcomes among youth from low-income families and propelled a shift to telemental health. Yet, little is known about barriers to and facilitators of MH care access when services are delivered via synchronous telehealth to Medicaid-enrolled youth., Study Design: Between December 2020 and March 2021, we conducted in-depth interviews with 19 therapists from a large safety-net organization who served Medicaid-enrolled youth (< 18 years of age) to elucidate their perspectives on barriers to and facilitators of access to telemental health services among this population., Methods: We conducted a thematic content analysis, guided by the 5 dimensions of health care access identified by Fortney and colleagues: geographical, temporal, digital, cultural (including acceptability of services), and financial access., Results: Therapists noted that when components of digital access are met (ie, access to hardware and software, connectivity, and technological literacy), then telehealth could facilitate temporal access and eliminate geographic barriers; elimination of these barriers was particularly beneficial for youth in rural and hard-to-reach communities. Notably, many families depended on smartphones for telemental health access, and many youth depended on their caregiver's smartphone. When considering acceptability of services, some youth preferred in-person services, whereas other youth (especially some teenagers with high technological literacy) had a preference for telemental health., Conclusions: Our results highlight the need for flexibility in reimbursement policies that allows providers to optimize MH care access by offering telehealth delivered via telephone and video as well as in-person services, depending on the needs and preferences of youth and families.

Background: Patient perceptions of primary care telephone and video telemedicine and whether COVID-19 pandemic-related telemedicine exposure shifted patients' visit preference is unknown., Objectives: We examined patient surveys to understand the health care experience of patients seeking primary care through telemedicine and how patients expected their preferences to shift as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic., Research Design/subjects: In an integrated delivery system that shifted to a "telemedicine-first" health care model during the COVID-19 pandemic, we sampled monthly and collected 1000 surveys from adults with primary care telemedicine visits scheduled through the online patient portal between 3/16/2020 and 10/31/2020., Measures: Participants reported their preferred primary care visit modality (telephone, video, or in-person visits) across 3 time points: before, during and (hypothetically) after the COVID-19 pandemic, and reported their general assessment of primary care visits during the pandemic., Results: The majority of participants preferred in-person visits before (69%) and after the COVID-19 pandemic (57%). However, most participants reported a preference for telemedicine visits during the pandemic and continue to prefer telemedicine visits at a 12% higher rate post-pandemic. Many participants (63%) expressed interest in using telemedicine at least some of the time. Among participants reporting a recent telemedicine visit, 85% agreed that the visit addressed their health needs., Conclusion: As primary care visit modality preferences continue to evolve, patients anticipate that they will continue to prefer telemedicine visits, both video and telephone, at an increased rate than before the COVID-19 pandemic., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Beyond initial COVID-19 pandemic emergency expansions of telemedicine use, it is unclear how well primary care telemedicine addresses patients' needs., Objective: To compare treatment and follow-up visits (office, emergency department, hospitalization) between primary care video or telephone telemedicine and in-person office visits., Design: Retrospective design based on administrative and electronic health record (EHR) data., Setting: Large, integrated health care delivery system with more than 1300 primary care providers, between April 2021 and December 2021 (including the COVID-19 pandemic Delta wave)., Patients: 1 589 014 adult patients; 26.5% were aged 65 years or older, 54.9% were female, 22.2% were Asian, 7.4% were Black, 22.3% were Hispanic, 46.5% were White, 21.5% lived in neighborhoods with lower socioeconomic status, and 31.8% had a chronic health condition., Measurements: Treatment outcomes included medication or antibiotic prescribing and laboratory or imaging ordering. Follow-up visits included in-person visits to the primary care office or emergency department or hospitalization within 7 days. Outcomes were adjusted for sociodemographic and clinical characteristics overall and stratified by clinical area (abdominal pain, gastrointestinal concerns, back pain, dermatologic concerns, musculoskeletal pain, routine care, hypertension or diabetes, and mental health)., Results: Of 2 357 598 primary care visits, 50.8% used telemedicine (19.5% video and 31.3% telephone). After adjustment, medications were prescribed in 46.8% of office visits, 38.4% of video visits, and 34.6% of telephone visits. After the visit, 1.3% of in-person visits, 6.2% of video visits, and 7.6% of telephone visits had a 7-day return in-person primary care visit; 1.6% of in-person visits, 1.8% of video visits, and 2.1% of telephone visits were followed by an emergency department visit. Differences in follow-up office visits were largest after index office versus telephone visits for acute pain conditions and smallest for mental health., Limitations: In the study setting, telemedicine is fully integrated with ongoing EHRs and with clinicians, and the study examines an insured population during the late COVID-19 pandemic period. Observational comparison lacks detailed severity or symptom measures. Follow-up was limited to 7 days. Clinical area categorization uses diagnosis code rather than symptom., Conclusion: In-person return visits were somewhat higher after telemedicine compared with in-person primary care visits but varied by specific clinical condition., Primary Funding Source: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality., Competing Interests: Disclosures: Disclosures can be viewed at www.acponline.org/authors/icmje/ConflictOfInterestForms.do?msNum=M23-1335.

Objectives: Few studies examine sexual orientation disclosures (SODs) among women with breast cancer; fewer examine the impact of culture and geography on disclosure processes. This study explores how sexual minority women (SMW) in the Southern United States engage in SODs with oncology clinicians., Data Sources: We conducted in-depth interviews with SMW (eg, lesbian, bisexual) treated for early-stage (stages I-III), hormone receptor-positive breast cancer (N = 12), using a semistructured interview guide. Participants completed an online survey prior to the 60-minute interview. Data was analyzed using an adapted pile sorting approach and thematic analysis conventions., Conclusion: Average age of participants was 49.5 years (range: 30-69), all self-identified as cisgender; 83.3% as lesbian, 58.3% were married, 91.7% had completed a 4-year college degree or higher, 66.7% identified as non-Hispanic White, 16.7% as Black, and 16.7% as Hispanic/Latina. Half of the sample had not engaged in SODs with an oncology clinician. Key themes were: (1) religious and political conservatism in the South create SOD barriers; (2) oncologist-specific barriers to SODs; (3) "straight passing" as a discrimination mitigation strategy; and (4) SOD facilitators in oncology settings (ie, strategic disclosures, medical privilege, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender-friendly branding of oncology centers)., Implications for Nursing Practice: SMW with breast cancer living in the U.S. South navigate unique interpersonal barriers to SODs in oncology settings. Clinicians could encourage SODs by fostering inclusive environments via nonheteronormative language, inclusive intake forms, and respect for SMW's SOD navigation processes. Oncology clinicians require culturally relevant, geographic-specific communication training to facilitate SODs among SMW., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Janeane N. Anderson, Rebecca A. Krukowski, and Ilana Graetz report that financial support was provided by the National Cancer Institute. Graetz also reports a relationship with Pfizer that includes funding grants. Andrew Robles reports financial support was provided by Thomas Jefferson University., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: The share of oncology practices owned by hospitals (ie, vertically integrated) nearly doubled from 2007 to 2017. We examined how integration between hospitals and oncologists affected care quality, outcomes, and spending among metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) patients., Methods: Using Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results-Medicare linked data and the Medicare Data on Provider Practice and Specialty, we identified Medicare beneficiaries who initiated systemic therapy for mCRPC between 2008 and 2017 (n = 9172). Primary outcomes included 1) bone-modifying agents (BMA) use, 2) time on systemic therapy, 3) survival, and 4) Medicare spending for the first 3 months following therapy initiation. We used a differences-in-differences approach to estimate the impact of vertical integration on outcomes, adjusting for patient and provider characteristics., Results: The proportion of patients treated by integrated oncologists increased from 28% to 55% from 2008 to 2017. Vertical integration was associated with an 11.7 percentage point (95% confidence interval [CI] = 4.2 to 19.1) increased likelihood of BMA use. There were no satistically significant changes in time on systemic therapy, survival, or total per-patient Medicare spending. Further decomposition showed an increase in outpatient payment ($5190, 95% CI = $1451 to $8930) and decrease in professional service payment (-$4757, 95% CI = -$7644 to -$1870) but no statistically significant changes for other service types (eg, inpatient and prescription drugs)., Conclusions: Vertical integration was associated with statistically significant increased BMA use but not with other cancer outcomes among mCRPC patients. For oncologists who switched service billing from physician offices to outpatient departments, there was no statistically significant change in overall Medicare spending in the first 3 months of therapy initiation. Future studies should extend the investigation to other cancer types and patient outcomes., (© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

To address the opioid epidemic, some states mandate that prescribers review a state-run prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP) database before prescribing opioids. We used Medicare Part D prescriber data from 2013 (baseline) to 2019 to examine the association between state mandatory-access PDMPs, with and without a cancer exemption, and changes in the percent of oncologists' patients with any opioid fill per year, stratified by oncologists' baseline prescribing volume. Among 9746 medical or hematologic oncologists, the proportion of patients prescribed opioids declined after states implemented mandatory-access PDMPs without a cancer exemption overall (-0.49 percentage point, 95% confidence interval = -0.78 to -0.20 percentage point) and among those with above-median baseline prescribing, but not in states with a cancer exemption (-0.16 percentage point, 95% confidence interval = -0.50 to 0.18 percentage point) or with below-median baseline prescribing. Carefully designed mandatory-access PDMPs with cancer exemptions minimize unnecessary reductions in prescription opioid treatments among oncology patients in need of pain management., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press.)

Background: Cancer treatment requires substantial demands on patients and their caregivers. Mobile apps can provide support for self-management during oncology treatment, but few have been rigorously evaluated., Methods: A 3-month randomized controlled trial was conducted at a large cancer center to evaluate the efficacy of an app (LivingWith®) that provides self-management support during cancer treatment on quality of life and health care utilization. Patients in chemotherapy treatment were randomized into the intervention (n = 113) and control group (n = 111). Intervention group participants agreed to use the app weekly for 3 months, and all participants completed a survey at enrollment and after 3 months to evaluate changes in quality of life and health care utilization., Results: Retention rate was 75.4% with 169 participants completing the follow-up survey. The intervention group reported 0.74 fewer medical office visits (p = 0.043) and 0.24 fewer visits with a mental health professional (p = 0.061) during the 3 and month intervention compared with controls. There were no significant changes by study group in quality of life, or emergency room and urgent care visits. Among intervention participants, 75.3% reported using the app and on average, used it 11.7 times during the 3-month intervention. Reasons for not using the app among intervention participants included lack of time, lack of interest in apps, and usability challenges., Conclusions and Relevance: Apps are inexpensive and scalable tools that can provide additional support for individuals coping with complex cancer treatments. This trial provides evidence that a well-designed oncology support app used during chemotherapy resulted in fewer clinic visits. Still, nearly a quarter of participants randomized to the intervention arm reported never using the app due to personal preference and usability challenges, which points to future opportunities for calibrating target user population and improving user-centered design., Clinicaltrials: gov identifier: NCT04331678., (© 2022 The Authors. Cancer Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: Symptom burden differences may contribute to racial disparities in breast cancer survival. We compared symptom changes from before to during chemotherapy among women with breast cancer., Methods: This observational study followed a cohort of Black and White women diagnosed with Stage I-III, hormone receptor-positive breast cancer from a large cancer center in 2007 to 2015, and reported symptoms before and during chemotherapy. We identified patients who experienced a one-standard deviation (SD) increase in symptom burden after starting chemotherapy using four validated composite scores (General Physical Symptoms, Treatment Side Effects, Acute Distress, and Despair). Kitagawa-Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition was used to quantify race differences in symptom changes explained by baseline characteristics (sociodemographic, baseline scores, cancer stage) and first-line chemotherapy regimens., Results: Among 1,273 patients, Black women (n = 405, 31.8%) were more likely to report one-SD increase in General Physical Symptoms (55.6% vs. 48.2%, P = 0.015), Treatment Side Effects (74.0% vs. 63.4%, P < 0.001), and Acute Distress (27.4% vs. 20.0%, P = 0.010) than White women. Baseline characteristics and first-line chemotherapy regimens explained a large and significant proportion of the difference in Acute Distress changes (93.7%, P = 0.001), but not General Physical Symptoms (25.7%, P = 0.25) or Treatment Side Effects (16.4%, P = 0.28)., Conclusions: Black women with early-stage breast cancer were more likely to experience significant increases in physical and psychological symptom burden during chemotherapy. Most of the difference in physical symptom changes remained unexplained by baseline characteristics, which suggests inadequate symptom management among Black women., Impact: Future studies should identify strategies to improve symptom management among Black women and reduce differences in symptom burden. See related commentary by Rosenzweig and Mazanec, p. 157., (©2022 American Association for Cancer Research.)

The COVID-19 pandemic pushed hospitals to deliver care outside of their four walls. To successfully scale virtual care delivery, it is important to understand how its implementation affects frontline workers, including their teamwork and patient-provider interactions. We conducted in-depth interviews of 17 clinicians and staff involved with the COVID-19 Virtual Observation Unit (CVOU) in the emergency department (ED) of an academic hospital. The program leveraged remote patient monitoring and mobile integrated health care. In the CVOU (vs. the ED), participants observed increases in interactions among clinicians and staff, patient participation in care delivery, attention to nonmedical factors, and involvement of coordinators and paramedics in patient care. These changes were associated with unintended, positive consequences for staff, namely, feeling heard, experience of meaningfulness, and positive attitudes toward virtual care. This study advances research on reconfiguration of roles following implementation of new practices using digital tools, virtual work interactions, and at-home care delivery.

Objectives: Telemedicine use expanded greatly during the COVID-19 pandemic, and broad use of telemedicine is expected to persist beyond the pandemic. More evidence on the efficiency and safety of different telemedicine modalities is needed to inform clinical and policy decisions around telemedicine use. To evaluate the efficiency and safety of telemedicine, we compared treatment and follow-up care between video and telephone visits during the COVID-19 pandemic., Study Design: Observational study of patient-scheduled telemedicine visits for primary care., Methods: We used multivariate logistic regression to compare treatment (medication prescribing, laboratory/imaging orders) and 7-day follow-up care (in-person office visits, emergency department visits, and hospitalizations) between video and telephone visits, adjusted for patient characteristics., Results: Among 734,442 telemedicine visits, 58.4% were telephone visits. Adjusted rates of medication prescribing and laboratory/imaging orders were higher in video visits than telephone visits, with differences of 3.5% (95% CI, 3.3%-3.8%) and 3.9% (95% CI, 3.6%-4.1%), respectively. Adjusted rates of 7-day follow-up in-person office visits, emergency department visits, and hospitalizations were lower after video than telephone visits, with differences of 0.7% (95% CI, 0.5%-0.9%), 0.3% (95% CI, 0.2%-0.3%), and 0.04% (95% CI, 0.02%-0.06%), respectively., Conclusions: Among telemedicine visits with primary care clinicians, return visits were not common and downstream emergency events were rare. Adjusted rates of treatment measures were higher and adjusted rates of follow-up care were lower for video visits than telephone visits. Although video visits were marginally more efficient than telephone visits, telephone visits may offer an accessible option to address patient primary care needs without raising safety concerns.

Background: Women undergoing treatment for breast cancer require frequent clinic visits for maintenance of therapy. With COVID-19 causing health care disruptions, it is important to learn about how this population's access to health care has changed. This study compares self-reported health care utilization and changes in factors related to health care access among women treated at a cancer center in the mid-South US before and during the pandemic., Methods: Participants (N = 306) part of a longitudinal study to improve adjuvant endocrine therapy (AET) adherence completed pre-intervention baseline surveys about their health care utilization prior to AET initiation. Questions about the impact of COVID-19 were added after the pandemic started assessing financial loss and factors related to care. Participants were categorized into three time periods based on the survey completion date: (1) pre-COVID (December 2018 to March 2020), (2) early COVID (April 2020 - December 2020), and later COVID (January 2021 to June 2021). Negative binomial regression analyses used to compare health care utilization at different phases of the pandemic controlling for patient characteristics., Results: Adjusted analyses indicated office visits declined from pre-COVID, with an adjusted average of 17.7 visits, to 12.1 visits during the early COVID period (p = 0.01) and 9.9 visits during the later COVID period (p < 0.01). Hospitalizations declined from an adjusted average 0.45 admissions during early COVID to 0.21 during later COVID, after vaccines became available (p = 0.05). Among COVID period participants, the proportion reporting changes/gaps in health insurance coverage increased from 9.5% participants during early-COVID to 14.8% in the later-COVID period (p = 0.05). The proportion reporting financial loss due to the pandemic was similar during both COVID periods (34.3% early- and 37.7% later-COVID, p = 0.72). The proportion of participants reporting delaying care or refilling prescriptions decreased from 15.2% in early-COVID to 4.9% in the later-COVID period (p = 0.04)., Conclusion: COVID-19 caused disruptions to routine health care for women with breast cancer. Patients reported having fewer office visits at the start of the pandemic that continued to decrease even after vaccines were available. Fewer patients reported delaying in-person care as the pandemic progressed., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Importance: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released an opioid-prescribing guideline in March 2016. Little is known about the guideline's potential effects on childhood cancer survivors, a population at high risk for pain., Objective: To examine changes in opioid prescriptions and potential misuse/substance use disorders (SUD) among childhood cancer survivors and peers without cancer following the guideline release., Design, Setting, and Participants: In this cohort study using the MarketScan Commercial Claims and Encounters Database, 8969 survivors who completed treatment for hematologic, central nervous system, bone, or gonadal cancers (aged ≤21 years at diagnosis) from 2009 to 2018 and 44 845 age-matched, sex-matched, and region-matched individuals without cancer were identified. With data aggregated based on the quarter-year of survivors' treatment completion, interrupted time series analyses were conducted in this cohort study to estimate the immediate (level) change and change in time trend (trend change) for each outcome after the guideline release, accounting for autocorrelation. Data were analyzed from September 2021 to April 2022., Exposures: Release of the CDC opioid-prescribing guideline., Main Outcomes and Measures: Outcomes included any opioid prescription and any indicator for potential misuse/SUD within 1 year following completion of treatment., Results: This study included 8969 childhood cancer survivors (mean [SD] age, 13.7 [6.2] years old; 3814 [42.5%] female patients) and 44 845 peers without cancer (mean [SD] age, 13.7 [6.2] years old; 19 070 [42.5%] female patients). Before the guideline release, the opioid prescription rate (21.1% vs 7.2%) and rate of potential misuse/SUD (5.6% vs 1.9%) were higher among survivors than peers without cancer. After the guideline release, the trend in opioid prescription rate declined among survivors (trend change, -1.1 percentage points [ppt]; P < .001; 95% CI, -1.5 to -0.7). Survivors also experienced an immediate level decrease (-2.1 ppt; P = .04; 95% CI, -4.2 to -0.1) and a decreasing trend (trend change, -0.4 ppt; P = .009; 95% CI, -0.6 to -0.1) in rate of potential misuse/SUD. Peers without cancer experienced decreasing trends in opioid prescription rate (trend change, -0.3 ppt; P < .001; 95% CI, -0.5 to -0.1) and rate of potential misuse/SUD (trend change, -0.1 ppt; P = .03; 95% CI, -0.1 to -0.01). By 2 years after the guideline release, relative reductions in opioid prescription rate and rate of potential misuse/SUD among survivors were 36.7% and 65.4%, respectively, with peers without cancer experiencing smaller reductions (15.9% and 29.9%)., Conclusions and Relevance: In this cohort study, the opioid prescription rate and rate of potential misuse/SUD declined among both survivors and peers without cancer following the CDC guideline release, with survivors experiencing greater reductions. More research is needed to understand the guideline's potential effects on access to opioids required for pain control among childhood cancer survivors.

Introduction: Telemedicine could increase timely access to primary care-a key dimension of care quality. Methods: Among patient-scheduled appointments with their own primary care providers using the online portal in a large integrated health care delivery system, we measured the association between visit type (telemedicine or in-person) and appointment timeliness. We calculated the calendar days between the scheduling date and the actual appointment time. Results: Overall, 2,178,440 primary care visits were scheduled and 14% were done through telemedicine. The mean calendar days between the scheduling and the appointment time were 1.80 for telephone visits, 2.29 for video visits, and 3.52 for in-person visits. After multivariate adjustment, 66.61% (confidence interval [95% CI]: 66.44-66.79) of telephone visits, 56.58% (95% CI: 55.90-57.27) of video visits, and 46.49% (95% CI: 46.42-46.57) of in-person visits were scheduled to occur within 1 day of making the appointment. Conclusions: In a setting with comparable in-person and telemedicine scheduling availability, choosing telemedicine was associated with more timely access to primary care.

Importance: Adjuvant endocrine therapy (AET) reduces breast cancer recurrence, but symptom burden is a key barrier to adherence. Black women have lower AET adherence and worse health outcomes than White women., Objective: To investigate the association between symptom burden and AET adherence differences by race., Design, Setting, and Participants: A retrospective cohort study using electronic health records with patient-reported data from a large cancer center in the US. Patients included Black and White women initiating AET therapy for early-stage breast cancer from August 2007 to December 2015 who were followed for 1 year from AET initiation. Sixty symptoms classified into 7 physical and 2 psychological symptom clusters were evaluated. For each cluster, the number of symptoms with moderate severity at baseline, and symptoms with 3-point or greater increases during AET were counted. Adherence was measured as the proportion of days covered by AET during the first-year follow-up. Multivariable regressions for patients' adherence adjusting for race, symptom measures, sociodemographic characteristics, and clinical characteristics were conducted. Kitagawa-Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition was used to quantify racial differences in adherence explained by symptoms and patient characteristics. Analyses were conducted from July 2021 to January 2022., Exposures: Physical and psychological symptoms at baseline and changes during AET., Results: Among 559 patients (168 [30.1%] Black and 391 [69.9%] White; mean [SD] age 65.5 [12.1] years), Black women received diagnoses younger (mean [SD] age at diagnosis, 58.7 [13.7] vs 68.5 [10.0] years old) than White women, with more advanced stages (30 Black participants [17.9%] vs 31 White participants [7.9%] had stage III disease at diagnosis), and lived in areas with fewer adults attaining high school education (mean [SD], 78.8% [7.8%] vs 84.0% [9.3%]). AET adherence in the first year was 78.8% for Black and 82.3% for White women. Black women reported higher severity in most symptom clusters than White women. Neuropsychological, vasomotor, musculoskeletal, cardiorespiratory, distress, and despair symptoms at baseline and increases during the follow-up were associated with 1.2 to 2.6 percentage points decreases in adherence, which corresponds to 4 to 9 missed days receiving AET in the first year. After adjusting for psychological symptoms, being Black was associated with 6.5 percentage points higher adherence than being White., Conclusions and Relevance: In this cohort study, severe symptoms were associated with lower AET adherence. Black women had lower adherence rates that were explained by their higher symptom burden and baseline characteristics. These findings suggest that better symptom management with a focus on psychological symptoms could improve AET adherence and reduce racial disparities in cancer outcomes.

Background: Three major hospital pay for performance (P4P) programs were introduced by the Affordable Care Act and intended to improve the quality, safety and efficiency of care provided to Medicare beneficiaries. The financial risk to hospitals associated with Medicare's P4P programs is substantial. Evidence on the positive impact of these programs, however, has been mixed, and no study has assessed their combined impact. In this study, we examined the combined impact of Medicare's P4P programs on clinical areas and populations targeted by the programs, as well as those outside their focus., Methods: We used 2007-2016 Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project State Inpatient Databases for 14 states to identify hospital-level inpatient quality indicators (IQIs) and patient safety indicators (PSIs), by quarter and payer (Medicare vs. non-Medicare). IQIs and PSIs are standardized, evidence-based measures that can be used to track hospital quality of care and patient safety over time using hospital administrative data. The study period of 2007-2016 was selected to capture multiple years before and after introduction of program metrics. Interrupted time series was used to analyze the impact of the P4P programs on study outcomes targeted and not targeted by the programs. In sensitivity analyses, we examined the impact of these programs on care for non-Medicare patients., Results: Medicare P4P programs were not associated with consistent improvements in targeted or non-targeted quality and safety measures. Moreover, mortality rates across targeted and untargeted conditions were generally getting worse after the introduction of Medicare's P4P programs. Trends in PSIs were extremely mixed, with five outcomes trending in an expected (improving) direction, five trending in an unexpected (deteriorating) direction, and three with insignificant changes over time. Sensitivity analyses did not substantially alter these results., Conclusions: Consistent with previous studies for individual programs, we detect minimal, if any, effect of Medicare's hospital P4P programs on quality and safety. Given the growing evidence of limited impact, the administrative cost of monitoring and enforcing penalties, and potential increase in mortality, CMS should consider redesigning their P4P programs before continuing to expand them., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Introduction: Video telehealth can offer people convenient, real-time access to clinicians without arranging transportation or time off work. Among people with diabetes, this study examines the association between video telehealth access and changes in HbA1c., Methods: This longitudinal cohort study (2016-2019) used linear regression with person-level fixed effects, stratified by baseline HbA1c (last value in 2015), to examine the association between video visit access and changes in HbA1c. HbA1c values were categorized into 3 periods of video visit exposure: (1) before any video visit, (2) during video visit transition year (calendar year of the first video visit), and (3) after video visits. The model compared changes in HbA1c values collected before the patient had any video visits with those collected after the transition year. Analyses were conducted in September 2020., Results: Among 204,301 people with diabetes, video visit access was associated with a statistically significant reduction of 0.15 (95% CI= -0.19, -0.11) percentage points in HbA1c, with greater reductions among patients with an elevated baseline HbA1c value (-0.22 percentage points, 95% CI= -0.32, -0.11) and with no baseline HbA1c measurement (-0.39 percentage points, 95% CI= -0.71, -0.07)., Conclusions: Gaining access to video telehealth was associated with reductions in HbA1c among people with diabetes. Video telehealth offers people with chronic conditions a new, convenient way to access health care, is not associated with worsening HbA1c, and may support better disease management, particularly among patients with higher baseline HbA1c., (Copyright © 2021 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Breast cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers among women in the United States and pain is the most common side effect of breast cancer and its treatment. Yet, the relationships between social determinants of pain and pain experience/intensity remain under-investigated. We examined the associations between social determinants of pain both at the individual level and the neighborhood level to understand how social conditions are associated with pain perception among early stage breast cancer patients., Methods: We conducted integrated statistical analysis of 1,191 women with early stage breast cancer treated at a large cancer center in Memphis, Tennessee. Combining electronic health records, patient-reported data and census data regarding residential address at the time of first diagnosis, we evaluated the relationships between social determinants and pain perception. Pain responses were self-reported by a patient as a numerical rating scale score at the patient's initial diagnosis and follow-up clinical visits. We implemented two sets of statistical analyses of the zero-inflated Poisson model and estimated the associations between neighborhood poverty prevalence and breast cancer pain intensity. After adjustment for demographic characteristics, cancer stage, and chemotherapy, pain perception was significantly associated with poverty and blight level of the neighborhood., Results: Among women living in the highest-poverty areas, the odds of reporting pain were 2.48 times higher than those in the lowest-poverty area. Women living in the highest-blight area had 5.43 times higher odds of reporting pain than those in the lowest-blight area. Neighborhood-level social determinants were significantly associated with pain intensity among women diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer., Conclusions: Distressed neighborhood conditions are significantly associated with higher pain perception. Breast cancer patients living in socio-economically disadvantaged neighborhoods and in poor environmental conditions reported higher pain severity compared to patients from less distressed neighborhoods. Therefore, post-diagnosis pain treatment design needs to be tailored to the social determinants of the breast cancer patients., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Choi, Graetz, Shaban-Nejad, Schwartzberg, Vidal, Davis and Shin.)

The aim of this study is to examine the association between patient characteristics and primary care telemedicine choice among integrated delivery system patients self-scheduling visits during the COVID-19 pandemic. We used multivariate logistic regression to examine the association between the choice of video versus telephone and patient sociodemographic characteristics and technology access among patient-initiated primary care telemedicine visits scheduled online from March to October 2020. Among 978 272 patient-scheduled primary care telemedicine visits, 39% were video visits. Patients of Black or Hispanic race/ethnicity, or living in low socioeconomic status or low internet access neighborhoods were less likely to schedule video visits. Patients 65 years or older, with prior video visit experience or mobile portal access, or visiting their own personal provider were more likely to schedule video visits. While video adoption was substantial in all patient groups examined, differences in telemedicine choice suggest the persistence of a digital divide, emphasizing the importance of maintaining a telephone telemedicine option., (© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association.)

Obesity is a critical modifiable risk factor in cancer prevention, control, and survivorship. Comprehensive weight loss interventions (e.g., Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP)) have been recommended by governmental agencies to treat obesity. However, their high implementation costs limit their reach, especially in underserved African American (AA) communities. Community health workers (CHWs) or trusted community members can help increase access to obesity interventions in underserved regions facing provider shortages. CHW-led interventions have increased weight loss. However, in-person CHW training can be costly to deliver and often requires extensive travel to implement. Web-based trainings have become common to increase reach at reduced cost. However, the feasibility of an online CHW training to deliver the DPP in AAs is unknown. The feasibility of an online CHW training to deliver the DPP adapted for AAs was assessed. The online training was compared to an in-person DPP training with established effectiveness. CHW effectiveness and satisfaction were assessed at baseline and 6 weeks. Nineteen participants (in-person n = 10; online n = 9) were recruited. At post-training, all scored higher than the 80% on a knowledge test required to deliver the intervention. All participants reported high levels of training satisfaction (88.9% of online participants and 90% of in-person participants rated the training as at least 6 on a 1-7 scale) and comfort to complete intervention tasks (78% of online participants and 60% of in-person participants scored at least 6 on a 1-7 scale). There were no significant differences in outcomes by arm. An online CHW training to deliver the DPP adapted for AAs faith communities produced comparable effectiveness and satisfaction to an evidence-based in-person CHW training. Further research is needed to assess the cost-effectiveness of different CHW training modalities to reduce obesity., (© 2020. American Association for Cancer Education.)

Little is known about cancellation frequencies in telemedicine vs. in-person appointments and its impact on clinical outcomes. Our objective was to examine differences between in-person and video telemedicine appointments in terms of cancellation rates by age, race, ethnicity, gender, and insurance, and compare 30-day inpatient hospitalizations rates and 30-day emergency department visit rates between the two visit types. Demographic characteristics and comorbidities for adults scheduled for an Emory Healthcare ambulatory clinic appointment from June 2020 to December 2020 were extracted from the electronic medical record. Each appointment was identified as either a video telemedicine or in-person clinic appointment. The outcomes were ambulatory clinic cancellation rates, 30-day hospitalization rates, and 30-day emergency department visit rates. Multivariable logistic regression was used to assess differences between appointment types. A total of 1,652,623 ambulatory clinic appointments were scheduled. Ambulatory appointment cancellations rates were significantly lower among telemedicine compared to in-person appointments overall (20.4% vs. 31.0%, p < .001) and regardless of gender, age, race, ethnicity, insurance, or specialty (p < .05 for all sub-groups). Telemedicine appointments were associated with lower 30-day hospitalization rates compared to in-person appointments (AOR: 0.72, 95% CI: 0.71-0.74). There was no difference in 30-day emergency department visit rates between telemedicine and in-person appointment patients (AOR: 1.00, 95% CI: 0.98-1.02). Our findings suggest that there are fewer barriers to attending an ambulatory care visit via telemedicine relative to in-person. Using video telemedicine was not associated with more frequent adverse clinical events compared with in-person visits., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2021 The Authors.)

Importance: Telemedicine visits can offer patients convenient access to a clinician, but it is unclear whether treatment differs from that with in-person visits or how often patients require in-person follow-up., Objective: To examine whether physician prescribing and orders differ between telemedicine and office visits, whether physicians conducting telemedicine visits are more likely to require in-person follow-up, and whether telemedicine visits are associated with more health events., Design, Setting, and Participants: This cohort study included all patients who scheduled primary care appointments through the patient portal of a large integrated health care delivery system newly implementing patient-scheduled video telemedicine visits from January 2016 to May 2018., Main Outcomes and Measures: Adjusted rates of any medication prescribed or laboratory tests or imaging ordered and rates of follow-up health care utilization (in-person visits, emergency department visits, and hospitalizations) within 7 days after the index visit, stratified by index primary care visit type, were generated using multivariable adjustment for patient, access, and clinical characteristics., Results: This study included 1 131 722 patients (611 821 [54%] female; mean [SD] age, 43 [22] years) with 2 178 440 total appointments (307 888 [14%] telemedicine), of which 13.5% were for patients younger than 18 years, 22.2% were for patients 65 years or older, and 54.9% were for female patients. After adjustment, 38.6% (95% CI, 38.0%-39.3%) of video visits, 34.7% (95% CI, 34.5%-34.9%) of telephone visits, and 51.9% (95% CI, 51.8%-52.0%) of office visits had any medication prescribed; laboratory tests or imaging were ordered for 29.2% (95% CI, 28.5%-29.8%) of video visits, 27.3% (95% CI, 27.1%-27.5%) of telephone visits, and 59.3% (95% CI, 59.3%-59.4%) of clinic visits. After adjustment, follow-up visits within 7 days occurred after 25.4% (95% CI, 24.7%-26.0%) of video visits, 26.0% (95% CI, 25.9%-26.2%) of telephone visits, and 24.5% (95% CI, 24.5%-24.6%) of office visits. Adjusted emergency department visits and rates of hospitalizations were not statistically significantly different by primary care index visit type., Conclusions and Relevance: In this cohort study of patient self-scheduled primary care telemedicine visits within ongoing patient-physician relationships, prescribing and orders were significantly lower for telemedicine visits than for clinic visits, with slightly higher follow-up office visits for telemedicine but no difference in health events (emergency department visits or hospitalizations). Video or telephone visits may be a convenient and efficient way to access primary care and address patient needs.

Patient-provider communication is a critical component of healthcare and is associated with treatment quality and outcomes for women with breast cancer. This qualitative study examines similarities and differences in patient perspectives of communication needs between Black and White breast cancer survivors. We conducted four focus groups ( N = 28) involving women with early-stage breast cancer on adjuvant endocrine therapy (AET), stratified by race and length of time on AET (< 6 months and > 6  months). Each group was moderated by a race-concordant moderator and analyzed by emergent themes. Participants expressed common patient-provider communication needs, namely increased sensitivity from oncologists during the initial cancer diagnosis, personalized information to facilitate treatment decisions, emotional support during the transition from active treatment to maintenance, and rapid provider responses to mobile app-based queries. Communication differences by race also emerged. Black women were less likely than White women to describe having their informational needs met. White women praised longstanding relationships with providers, while Black women shared personal stories of disempowered interactions and noted the importance of patient advocates. White women more often reported privacy concerns about technology use. Unlike White women, Black women reported willingness to discuss sensitive topics, both online and offline, but believed those discussions made their providers feel uncomfortable. Early-stage breast cancer patients on AET, regardless of race, have similar needs for patient-centered communication with their oncologists. However, Black women were more likely to report experiencing poorer communication with providers than White women, which may be improved by technology and advocates.

Importance: Race disparities persist in breast cancer mortality rates. One factor associated with these disparities may be differences in symptom burden, which may reduce chemotherapy tolerance and increase early treatment discontinuation., Objectives: To compare symptom burden by race among women with early-stage breast cancer before starting chemotherapy and quantify symptom differences explained by baseline characteristics., Design, Setting, and Participants: A cross-sectional analysis of symptom burden differences by race among Black and White women with a diagnosis of stage I to III, hormone receptor-positive breast cancer who had a symptom report collected before chemotherapy initiation in a large cancer center in the southern region of the US from January 1, 2007, through December 31, 2015. Analyses were conducted from November 1, 2019, to March 31, 2021. Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition was used, adjusting for baseline sociodemographic and clinical characteristics., Main Outcomes and Measures: Four symptom composite scores with a mean (SD) of 50 (10) were reported before starting chemotherapy (baseline) and were derived from symptom items: general physical symptoms (11 items), treatment adverse effects (8 items), acute distress (4 items), and despair (7 items). Patients rated the severity of each symptom they experienced in the past week on a scale of 0 to 10 (where 0 indicates not a problem and 10 indicates as bad as possible)., Results: A total of 1338 women (mean [SD] age, 54.6 [11.6] years; 420 Black women [31.4%] and 918 White women [68.6%]) were included in the study. Before starting chemotherapy, Black women reported a statistically significantly higher (ie, worse) symptom composite score than White women for adverse effects (44.5 vs 43.8) but a lower acute distress score (48.5 vs 51.0). Decomposition analyses showed that Black patients' characteristics were associated with higher symptom burden across all 4 scores. However, these differences were offset by relatively greater, statistically significant, unexplained physical, distress, and despair symptom reporting by White patients., Conclusions and Relevance: In this study, before starting chemotherapy, Black patients with early-stage breast cancer reported significantly higher burden for symptoms that may be exacerbated with chemotherapy and lower distress symptoms compared with White patients. Future studies should explore how symptoms change before and after treatment and differ by racial/ethnic groups and how they are associated with treatment adherence and mortality disparities.

Background: Women with hormone receptor-positive, early-stage breast cancer who adhere to adjuvant endocrine therapy (AET) reduce the risk of cancer recurrence and mortality. AET, however, is associated with adverse symptoms that often result in poor adherence. We applied participatory action research (PAR) principles to conduct focus groups and interviews to refine and enhance a web-enabled app intervention that facilitates patient-provider communication about AET-related symptoms and other barriers to adherence., Methods: We conducted four focus groups with women with early-stage breast cancer on AET (N=28), stratified by race (Black and White) and length of time on AET (<6 months and >6 months), to determine preferences and refine the app-based intervention. A fifth mixed-race focus group was convened (N=6) to refine THRIVE app content using high-fidelity mock-ups and to develop new, tailored feedback messages. We also conducted interviews with oncology nurses (N=5) who participated in the THRIVE randomized controlled trial., Results: Participants reported preferences for weekly reminder messages to use the THRIVE app, a free-text option to write in AET-related symptoms, and app aesthetics. Other requested app features included: a body map for identifying pain, sleep and dental problems on the symptom list, a dashboard, tailored feedback messages, and information about social support resources. Participants also developed new intervention messages, decided which messages to keep, and edited language for appropriateness and sensitivity. They also discussed the type of electronic pill monitor and incentive plan to be used in the intervention. Nurses reported THRIVE alerts integrated seamlessly into their clinical workflow and increased patient-provider communication, facilitating quicker response to patients' reported symptoms. Nurses reported no negative feedback or usability concerns with the app., Conclusions: THRIVE app content reflects researchers' partnership with a racially diverse sample of breast cancer survivors and healthcare providers and adherence to participatory design by incorporating patient-requested app features, app aesthetics, and message content. The app has the potential to improve AET adherence and quality of life among breast cancer survivors and reduce disparities in mortality rates for Black women by facilitating communication with healthcare providers., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form (available at http://dx.doi.org/10.21037/jhmhp-20-103). The series “Innovations and Practices that Influence Patient-Centered Health Care Delivery” was commissioned by the editorial office without any funding or sponsorship. Dr. GAV reports receiving personal fees from Roche/Genetech, Novartis, Eli Lilly, Immunomedics, Puma, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Biotheranautics, Daiichi Sankyo, Vector Oncology and research funding from Roche/Genetech, Puma, Celcuity, Merck, BMS, Eli Lilly, GTx inc, Astrazeneca, Pfizer, Immunomedics, Tesaro, Halozyme, and ownership of Oncodisc, outside the submitted work. Dr. LS reports receiving personal fees from Amgen, Pfizer, Helsinn, Genentech, Genomic Health, BMS, Myriad, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Spectrum, Napo and research support from Amgen, Pfizer, outside the submitted work. Dr. IG reports receiving research support from Pfizer, outside the submitted work. Dr. RAK reports a speaking fee from General Mills, Inc, outside the submitted work. The authors have no other conflicts of interest to declare.

Objectives: Continuity of patient information across settings can improve transitions after hospital discharge, but outpatient clinicians often have limited access to complete information from recent hospitalizations. We examined whether providers' timely access to clinical information through shared inpatient-outpatient electronic health records (EHRs) was associated with follow-up visits, return emergency department (ED) visits, or readmissions after hospital discharge in patients with diabetes., Study Design: Stepped-wedge observational study., Methods: As an integrated delivery system staggered implementation of a shared inpatient-outpatient EHR, we studied 241,510 hospital discharges in patients with diabetes (2005-2011), examining rates of outpatient follow-up office visits, telemedicine (phone visits and asynchronous secure messages), laboratory tests, and return ED visits or readmissions (as adverse events). We used multivariate logistic regression adjusting for time trends, patient characteristics, and medical center and accounting for patient clustering to calculate adjusted follow-up rates., Results: For patients with diabetes, provider use of a shared inpatient-outpatient EHR was associated with a statistically significant shift toward follow-up delivered through a combination of telemedicine and outpatient laboratory tests, without a traditional in-person visit (from 22.9% with an outpatient-only EHR to 27.0% with a shared inpatient-outpatient EHR; P < .05). We found no statistically significant differences in 30-day return ED visits (odds ratio, 1.02; 95% CI, 0.96-1.09) or readmissions (odds ratio, 0.98; 95% CI, 0.91-1.06) with the shared EHR compared with the outpatient-only EHR., Conclusions: Real-time clinical information availability during transitions between health care settings, along with robust telemedicine access, may shift the method of care delivery without adversely affecting patient health outcomes. Efforts to expand interoperability and information exchange may support follow-up care efficiency.

Importance: Video or telephone telemedicine can offer patients access to a clinician without arranging for transportation or spending time in a waiting room, but little is known about patient characteristics associated with choosing between telemedicine or office visits., Objective: To examine patient characteristics associated with choosing a telemedicine visit vs office visit with the same primary care clinicians., Design, Setting, and Participants: This cross-sectional study included data from 1 131 722 patients who scheduled a primary care appointment through the Kaiser Permanente Northern California patient portal between January 1, 2016, and May 31, 2018. All completed primary care appointments booked via the patient portal were identified. Only index visits without any other clinical visits within 7 days were included to define a relatively distinct patient-initiated care-seeking episode. Visits for routine physical, which are not telemedicine-eligible, were excluded. Data were analyzed from July 1, 2018, to December 31, 2019., Main Outcomes and Measures: Patient choice between an office, video, or telephone visit. Relative risk ratios (RRRs) for patient sociodemographic characteristics (age, sex, race/ethnicity, neighborhood socioeconomic status, language preference), technology access (neighborhood residential internet, mobile portal use), visiting the patient's own personal primary care clinician, and in-person visit barriers (travel-time, parking, cost-sharing), associated with choice of video or telephone telemedicine (vs office visit)., Results: Of 2 178 440 patient-scheduled primary care visits scheduled by 1 131 722 patients, 86% were scheduled as office visits and 14% as telemedicine visits, with 7% of the telemedicine visits by video. Choosing telemedicine was statistically significantly associated with patient sociodemographic characteristics. For example, patients aged 65 years and over were less likely than patients aged 18 to 44 years to choose telemedicine (RRR, 0.24; 95% CI, 0.22-0.26 for video visit; RRR 0.55; 95% CI, 0.54-0.57 for telephone visit). Choosing telemedicine was also statistically significantly associated with technology access (patients living in a neighborhood with high rates of residential internet access were more likely to choose a video visit than patients whose neighborhoods had low internet access: RRR, 1.10; 95% CI, 1.06-1.14); as well as in-person visit barriers (patients whose clinic had a paid parking structure were more likely to choose a telemedicine visit than patients whose facility had free parking: RRR, 1.70; 95% CI, 1.41-2.05 for video visit; and RRR, 1.73, 95% CI, 1.61-1.86 for telephone visit)., Conclusions and Relevance: In this cross-sectional study, patients usually chose an in-person visit when scheduling an appointment online through the portal. Telemedicine may offer the potential to reach vulnerable patient groups and improve access for patients with transportation, parking, or cost barriers to clinic visits.