Clinical trial NCT02611999: Paid Price Information on Image and Procedure Ordering Rates
Official title: The Effect of Paid Price Information on Image and Procedure Ordering Rates
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Healthy
Keywords: Physicians' ordering behavior with price information
Lead sponsor: Boston Children's Hospital
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
name: Atrius Health
First posted: 2015-11-23
Enrollment: 1205
Sex: ALL
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Brief summary: The investigators' study seeks to explore the impact of price information on physicians' ordering behavior and care quality. The investigators will evaluate the impact of the physician price transparency initiative at Atrius Health (ATRIUS) on rate of overall procedure and test orders, clinically inappropriate orders, and appropriate orders. Ultimately, this study will help stakeholders understand the degree to which price information can help improve the value of healthcare.

Detailed description: The investigators' study team worked with Atrius Health (ATRIUS) to design a physician price transparency (PPT) intervention aimed at providing primary and specialty care physicians with price information on commonly-ordered outpatient procedures (e.g., Pap smears, ECHOs, colonoscopies) and imaging tests (e.g., CTs and MRIs). The 2014 PPT intervention was built upon a pilot that ATRIUS conducted in 2010. Starting January 1, 2014, ATRIUS randomized its physicians to 3 different study arms, those receiving:

1. No price display for common outpatient procedures or imaging tests,
2. A single price for each procedure or test, or
3. A pair of prices for each procedure or test (that allowed physicians to compare prices that would be charged if the test was conducted at a facility within the ATRIUS network versus outside of it).

The mode for delivering this PPT intervention was ATRIUS' common electronic medical record (EMR), which all of its physicians use to place all orders related to outpatient procedures and imaging studies.

The investigators used a blocked randomized-controlled study design to quantitatively and qualitatively evaluate the effect of No, Single and Paired procedure and imaging test price information on: rate of overall procedure and test orders, clinically inappropriate orders, and appropriate orders.

The investigators used ATRIUS' administrative and EMR Data Repository to assess the quantitative outcomes proposed within this study. This repository contains the information the investigators need to block randomize at the practice level and to describe practices (e.g., size, location) and physicians (e.g., age, gender, specialty). It also captures all of the actions that physicians take when caring for patients (all orders are placed through their common EMR) and collects all of the information needed to assess clinical care quality using Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) measures. Data from this system have been used in numerous prior analyses of healthcare quality.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

• Providers who can place orders in the EMR independently and who have worked at ATRIUS since 2013.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Providers who do not use the common electronic medical record system, cannot place orders in the electronic medical record independently (e.g., registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, registered dieticians), worked after hours Telecom, or were per diem.

Primary outcomes:
measure: Overall procedure and imaging test ordering rate
timeFrame: 1 year
measure: Choosing Wisely-based clinically inappropriate ordering rate
timeFrame: 1 year
measure: HEDIS-based clinically appropriate ordering rate
timeFrame: 1 year
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Boston
country: United States
facility: Boston Children's Hospital
state: Massachusetts
Study officials:
affiliation: Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Department of General Pediatrics, Division of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital
name: Alyna T Chien, MD, MS
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: