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PurposeCommunication between specialists and primary care clinicians is suboptimal, and access to referrals is often limited, which can lead to lower quality, inefficiency, and errors. An electronic consultation (e-consultation) is an asynchronous, non-face-to-face consultation between a primary care clinician and a specialist using a secure electronic communication platform. The purpose of this study was to conduct a randomized controlled trial of e-consultations to test its efficacy and effectiveness in reducing wait times and improving access to specialty care.MethodsPrimary care clinicians were randomized into a control (9 traditional) or an intervention (17 e-consultation) arm for referrals to cardiologists. Primary care clinicians were recruited from 12 practice sites in a community health center in Connecticut with mainly medically underserved patients. Two end points were analyzed with a Cox proportional hazards model where the hazard of either a visit or an e-consultation was linked to study arm, sex, race, and age.ResultsThirty-six primary care clinicians participated in the study, referring 590 patients. In total, 69% of e-consultations were resolved without a visit to a cardiologist. After adjusting for covariates, median days to a review for an electronic consultation vs a visit for control patients were 5 and 24, respectively. A review of 6-month follow-up data found fewer cardiac-related emergency department visits for the intervention group.ConclusionE-consultation referrals improved access to and timeliness of care for an underserved population, reduced overall specialty utilization, and streamlined specialty referrals without any increase in adverse cardiovascular outcomes. e-consultations are a potential solution for improving access to specialty care.

Purpose: This article explores primary care physicians' (PCPs) self-reported approaches and barriers to management of patients with dementia, with a focus on comparisons in dementia care practices between PCPs in 2 states. Design and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, questionnaires were mailed to 600 randomly selected licensed PCPs in Connecticut and to all 1,017 licensed PCPs in Maine. Results: A total of 422 eligible PCPs responded. Nearly 90% of PCPs prescribed donepezil in the previous year for their dementia patients. Connecticut PCPs were more likely to prescribe several other therapeutics than their Maine counterparts. Connecticut PCPs were more likely to refer dementia patients to adult day care (85% vs. 59%) but less likely to refer to Area Agencies on Aging (21% vs. 44%; both ps less than 0.05); referral rates to Alzheimer's Association chapters were low in both states (30%). A greater proportion of Connecticut PCPs reported barriers to optimal dementia care, including time constraints (54% vs. 31% of Maine PCPs), unfamiliarity with community resources (46% vs. 30%), and reimbursement constraints (45% vs. 23%; all ps [less than or equal] 0.05). Two thirds of PCPs were "very" or "somewhat" interested in using information technology to assist with dementia diagnosis and management; controlling for other variables, youngest PCPs were more than twice as likely as oldest to profess such interest (adjusted odds ratio = 2.04; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.02-4.08). Implications: Geographic variations are evident in PCP medication prescription patterns, community resource referral patterns, and reported barriers to optimal dementia care. Younger PCPs are more likely to adopt information technology to assist in dementia diagnosis and management.

Purpose: This article explores primary care physicians' (PCPs) self-reported approaches and barriers to management of patients with dementia, with a focus on comparisons in dementia care practices between PCPs in 2 states. Design and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, questionnaires were mailed to 600 randomly selected licensed PCPs in Connecticut and to all 1,017 licensed PCPs in Maine. Results: A total of 422 eligible PCPs responded. Nearly 90% of PCPs prescribed donepezil in the previous year for their dementia patients. Connecticut PCPs were more likely to prescribe several other therapeutics than their Maine counterparts. Connecticut PCPs were more likely to refer dementia patients to adult day care (85% vs. 59%) but less likely to refer to Area Agencies on Aging (21% vs. 44%; both ps < .05); referral rates to Alzheimer's Association chapters were low in both states (30%). A greater proportion of Connecticut PCPs reported barriers to optimal dementia care, including time constraints (54% vs. 31% of Maine PCPs), unfamiliarity with community resources (46% vs. 30%), and reimbursement constraints (45% vs. 23%; all ps [less than or equal to] 05). Two thirds of PCPs were 'very' or 'somewhat' interested in using information technology to assist with dementia diagnosis and management; controlling for other variables, youngest PCPs were more than twice as likely as oldest to profess such interest (adjusted odds ratio = 2.04; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.024.08). Implications: Geographic variations are evident in PCP medication prescription patterns, community resource referral patterns, and reported barriers to optimal dementia care. Younger PCPs are more likely to adopt information technology to assist in dementia diagnosis and management. Key Words: Alzheimer's disease, Primary care, Geographic variations, Health information technology doi: 10.1093/geront/gnp106

Successful organizational improvement processes depend on application of reliable metrics to establish targets and to monitor progress. This study examined the utility of the Pain Care Quality (PCQ) extraction tool in evaluating implementation of the Stepped Care Model for Pain Management at one Veterans Health Administration (VHA) healthcare system over 4 yr and in a non-VHA Federally qualified health center (FQHC) over 2 yr. Two hundred progress notes per year from VHA and 150 notes per year from FQHC primary care pre-scribers of long-term opioid therapy (>90 consecutive days) were randomly sampled. Each note was coded for the presence or absence of key dimensions of PCQ (i.e., pain assessment, treatment plans, pain reassessment/outcomes, patient education). General estimating equations controlling for provider and facility were used to examine changes in PCQ items over time. Improvements in the VHA were noted in pain reassessment and patient education, with trends in positive directions for all dimensions. Results suggest that the PCQ extraction tool is feasible and may be responsive to efforts to promote organizational improvements in pain care. Future research is indicated to improve the reliability of the PCQ extraction tool and enhance its usability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of electronic consultations (eConsults) for cardiology compared with traditional face-to-face consults., Study Design: Cost-effectiveness analysis for a subset of Medicaid-insured patients in a cluster-randomized trial of eConsults versus the traditional face-to-face consultation process in a statewide federally qualified health center., Methods: A total of 369 Medicaid patients were referred for cardiology consultations by primary care providers who were randomly assigned to use either eConsults or their usual face-to-face referral process. Primary care providers in the eConsult arm transmitted consults to cardiologists using a secure peer-to-peer communication platform in an electronic health record. Intention-to-treat analysis was used to assess the total cost of care and cost across 7 categories: inpatient, outpatient, emergency department, pharmacy, labs, cardiac procedures, and "all other." Costs are from the payer's perspective., Results: Six months after the cardiology consult, patients in the eConsult group had significantly lower mean unadjusted total costs by $655 per patient, or lower mean costs by $466 per patient when adjusted for non-normality, compared with those in the face-to-face arm. The eConsult group had a significantly lower cost by $81 per patient in the outpatient cardiac procedures category., Conclusions: These findings suggest that eConsults are associated with total cost savings to payers due principally to reductions in the cost of cardiac outpatient procedures.