Clinical trial NCT00234806: Health-e-Access Telemedicine in Primary Pediatric Care
Official title: Health-e-Access: A Study of Telemedicine in Primary Pediatric Care in Rochester, NY
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Common Childhood Illnesses
Non-emergent Care
Keywords: telehealth
telemedicine
Lead sponsor: University of Rochester
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: United States Department of Commerce
name: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
First posted: 2005-10-07
Enrollment: 2000
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 6
Maximum age (years): 18
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: NON_RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

Brief summary: This study aims to take the existing model from the pilot of Telemedicine in Daycare and expand it to other suburban childcare centers and both urban and suburban elementary schools.

An assessment of the value of telehealth in the child programs will then be initiated to detail the impact of utilization and costs.

An assessment of the value of integrating telehealth into primary care practice will also be evaluated. The impact of continuity of care, well child visit rates, and immunization status will be among the various measures used in this evaluation.

Detailed description: This involves estimating the impact of reduced absence due to illness on parents and their employers and estimating the value of a telehealth visit to these stakeholders. An interview instrument was developed to administer before experience with telehealth and again after a family has had experience with the program. In addition program attendance (childcare or school) records will be collected to document changes in absenteeism pre and post telehealth service implementation.

This study involves a before and after research design including both historical and concurrent controls comparing a detailed utilization of health services including telehealth visits, emergency department services and illness related office visits. Analyses will include center-level analyses of service utilization on a weekly basis pre and post as well as a child-level analyses including utilization before enrollment in a participating childcare center or school through program participation and, eventually, telehealth participation.

This is a descriptive observational study of the feasibility and acceptability of integrating telehealth service into 10 primary care pediatric practices. This study will document the integration process by maintaining a log of key communications relating to decision making (meeting minutes, memos, written agreements, protocols) and by interviewing key staff such as residents, nurse practitioners, attending physicians, staff nurses, and administrative leaders following the study period.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* All children at participating childcare centers and elementary schools.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Foster care children, children whose parents have refused participation, or children whose parents are unable to appropriately comprehend the program for any reason.

Primary outcomes:
measure: Evaluation of the impact of telehealth on utilization and cost of health care
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Evaluation of the feasibility and acceptability of integrating telehealth services into 10 primary care practices
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Rochester
country: United States
facility: University of Rochester
state: New York
Study officials:
affiliation: University of Rochester
name: Kenneth McConnochie, MD, MPH
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: McConnochie KM, Wood NE, Kitzman HJ, Herendeen NE, Roy J, Roghmann KJ. Telemedicine reduces absence resulting from illness in urban child care: evaluation of an innovation. Pediatrics. 2005 May;115(5):1273-82. doi: 10.1542/peds.2004-0335.