Controlled Trial of Tele-Support and Education for Womens Health Care in CBOCs

VA community-based outpatient clinics (CBOCs) typically serve only a small number of women Veterans, and generally do not have the women's health care resources that are available in larger settings. Women Veterans using these sites for primary care must sometimes travel to other sites to receive women's health care. That can create travel burdens, reduce continuity of care, and negatively affect patient outcomes. To address this, VA is implementing a clinical operations innovation that supports women's primary care providers with a technology-based intervention that combines interactive communication with women's health specialists and ongoing education. This research study is evaluating the implementation and effects of this women's healthcare delivery innovation. Findings from this research will inform VA women's health clinical practice and education, and will advance science in delivering technology-supported non-face-to-face care that is applicable to other clinical conditions and patient populations.

Project Background/Rationale: Women Veterans are a rapidly growing proportion of VA patients. While entitled to receive care equivalent to their male counterparts, women Veterans may receive lower quality care, in part due to a VA primary care (PC) workforce that has limited experience caring for women, particularly their gender-specific conditions. This workforce may be especially challenged in community-based outpatient clinics (CBOCs), where access to women's health (WH) expertise may not be readily available. CBOC PC providers (PCPs) typically have small caseloads of women Veterans, making it difficult for these providers to maintain their WH knowledge and skills. To ensure quality care for women Veterans, VA mandated designated WH providers (DWHPs) in every VA facility, and instituted intensive training opportunities-"WH mini-residencies"-for these providers. Although highly valuable in delivering a standard level of specialized WH training, these one-time trainings are not sufficient, as knowledge attenuates over time. Serial education re-enforcement over time is needed to produce and maintain long-term gains in knowledge. Furthermore, additional supports, such as enhanced communication between PCPs and specialists, are necessary to achieve and sustain quality gains. To address these issues, VA is implementing a clinical operations innovation that is designed to improve CBOC-based DWHP delivery of comprehensive WH care. This innovation (entitled DWHP Support) combines: 1) advanced WH serial patient-based education that exposes DWHPs, over time, to a depth and breadth of WH cases and issues (SCAN-ECHO); and 2) interactive communication between CBOC DWHPs and VA Medical Center-based specialists for "just in time" support of DWHP WH care (electronic consultations). The intervention is technology-supported and delivered virtually. It is being implemented in a stepwise manner.

Objectives: Facilitators and barriers to use of DWHP Support, and its effect on patient management are unknown. The investigators hypothesize that DWHP Support will improve the quality and efficiency of WH care in CBOCs. The specific aims are:

Aim #1: To evaluate the effect of DWHP Support on WH care quality and efficiency, using a modified stepped wedge design; Aim #2: To explore the impact of DWHP Support in changing DWHP behavior and self-rated WH knowledge, skills, and self-efficacy; Aim #3: To assess attitudes about DWHP Support and its use, specialist time for its implementation, and other features that could influence DWHP Support's effectiveness, sustainability and spread; Aim #4: To develop tools to measure quality of WH care in VA.

Methods: The investigators will conduct an observational study of DWHP Support for CBOC DWHPs. The investigators will use a mixed methods analytic approach (combining a modified stepped wedge quantitative analysis with provider surveys and interviews) to measure the intervention's effect after 1 year, while also evaluating the implementation process and use of the intervention. The investigators will use quality assessment methods to translate existing evidence-based WH performance guidelines into quality measurement tools applicable to VA WH care.

Anticipated Impact: This proposal aims to evaluate an innovation to improve WH care in CBOCs that uses a technology-based educational and interactive communication intervention designed for WH providers. To measure the intervention's effectiveness, this project will develop WH quality measures that will be valuable tools for other VA efforts to improve WH care. The findings on effectiveness and implementation could influence VA's approach and use of technology-supported interventions for other clinical conditions and in other special populations.

Eligibility Criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:

US Department of Veterans Affairs Women's Health primary care provider in who participates in Veterans Affairs SCAN-ECHO learning sessions or uses Veterans Affairs gynecology electronic consults.

Exclusion Criteria:

none