THRIVE+ Pharmacy Liaison-Patient Navigation Intervention
Condition: Healthcare Utilization
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      This is a pragmatic comparative effectiveness trial (n=364) to compare two screening and
      referral program models to address health-related social needs (HRSN) among the intermediate
      risk population of Boston Accountable Care Organization (BACO), a Medicaid ACO. The first
      study arm is THRIVE-Basic, the low-touch usual care model already implemented in all primary
      care clinics at Boston Medical Center (BMC) where patients are screened for HRSN and receive
      a printed paper resource referral guide. The second study arm is THRIVE+, which enhances the
      THRIVE-Basic model by engaging a pharmacy liaison-patient navigator to provide targeted
      navigation services and motivational interviewing to ensure connection to hospital- and
      community-based resources. The patient navigators will also interface directly with a partner
      community organization, Action for Boston Community Development (ABCD), to further help
      connect patients receiving THRIVE+ to community resources for HRSN. All patients in our study
      will receive pharmacy services via an existing Pharmacy Care Program. Patients in study arm 1
      will be connected to a pharmacy liaison, which is standard clinical practice for intermediate
      risk ACO members in the BMC General Internal Medicine clinics. Patients in study arm 2 will
      receive systematic screening for and addressing of HRSN (THRIVE+) via a pharmacy
      liaison-patient navigator (a pharmacy technician trained as a patient navigator to deploy
      both pharmacy services and the THRIVE+ intervention), thereby avoiding duplication of
      services and multiple touches. Assignment to the study arms will be linked to existing
      Pharmacy Care Program enrollment activities and will be based on medical record number. The
      investigators' rationale for the study is that if patients' HRSN are addressed, patients will
      be better positioned to manage chronic conditions, adhere to preventive care plans, and less
      likely to use the emergency department (a conduit to inpatient care) for ambulatory
      care-sensitive conditions. The effectiveness of these two models will be compared with
      respect to alleviating HRSN and reducing acute health care utilization over a 12-month
      follow-up period.
    


Intervention name(s): THRIVE screening and referral; Pharmacy Care Program services; Patient Navigation Services; Motivational Interviewing; Linkage to Community Partner Organization
Intervention type(s): Other; Other; Other; Other; Other
Intervention description(s): The THRIVE screening tool includes questions to identify eight potentially unmet health-related social needs associated with health outcomes and healthcare utilization: housing and food insecurity, inability to afford medications, need for transportation, trouble paying for heat and electricity, need for employment or education, and difficulty taking care of children or other family members. The survey is written at a 3rd grade reading level, is available in multiple languages, and requires less than five minutes to complete. The paper screener consists of two parts: part one screens patients for health-related social needs in the eight domains. Part two asks patients to indicate the resources they want help accessing across the eight domains. Patients who request resources in one or more domains receive paper guides that describe available hospital and community resources to address the specific domain(s) indicated.; Pharmacy services provided by a pharmacy liaison include assessing gaps in obtaining refills, identifying barriers to medication adherence, reviewing the patient's engagement in medical care, and developing an action plan with the patient. Action plans focus on strategies to increase medication adherence and engagement in care. The pharmacy liaison will also link the patient to a clinical pharmacist, when appropriate, and will assist the patient with prescription management. After the initial intake is completed, the pharmacy liaison will call patients monthly (or meet with them prior to or following scheduled appointments) over a twelve-month period to confirm medication adherence and address any new barriers to medication adherence and engagement in medical care. The pharmacy liaison in the control arm does not systematically initiate screening for health-related social needs.; In traditional patient navigation programs, a lay person from the community guides individuals through the healthcare system to receive appropriate services. For the present study, the research team will train pharmacy liaisons (pharmacy technicians or pharmacy interns with at least a high school degree and four years of pharmacy experience) to provide patient navigation services, in addition to providing medication adherence support and assistance resolving barriers to accessing medication. In an effort to avoid duplication of services the patient navigation intervention will be delivered via a pharmacy liaison trained in patient navigation, thereby decreasing multiple intervention providers and increasing the potential for sustainability should the intervention prove effective.; Motivational interviewing is a counseling method that encourages patient-centered discussions. Motivational interviewing will be delivered by the intervention arm pharmacy liaison-patient navigators to identify the patient's unmet needs and encourage the patient to adopt behavior change that will promote engagement with resources and services to mitigate or alleviate HRSN.; The pharmacy liaison-patient navigator will partner with a community organization, Action for Boston Community Development (ABCD). ABCD will help connect patients receiving THRIVE+ to community resources including childcare, food, heating, and housing. The pharmacy liaison-patient navigator will interface directly with ABCD to coordinate receipt of resources for their patients.
Other intervention name(s): THRIVE-Basic
Intervention MeSH terms: Nicotine
Allocation: Non-Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Health Services Research
Keywords: THRIVE; Patient navigation; Accountable Care Organization; Pharmacy liaison; Pharmacy services; Social determinants of health; health-related social needs; screening and referral; Medicaid ACO; ACO