Susan Enguidanos1, Anna Rahman2, Torrie Fields3, Wendy Mack4, Richard Brumley5, Michael Rabow6, Melissa Mert4. 1. Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA. 2. Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA. Electronic address: anrahman@protonmail.com. 3. Blue Shield of California, San Francisco, California, USA; VotiveHealth, San Luis Obispo, California, USA. 4. Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA. 5. Reliance Hospice and Palliative Care, Costa Mesa, California, USA. 6. University of California, San Francisco, California, USA.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Little is known about strategies for enrolling patients in home-based palliative care programs despite the need to conduct effectiveness studies of this emerging industry. PURPOSE: We used medical claims data from Accountable Care Organizations in California to identify patients for a randomized controlled trial of home-based palliative care. We report outcomes from this strategy and the implications for future research. RESULTS: Claims data identified 1357 patients. Research assistants could not reach 986 patients (72.7%), usually because the phone calls went unanswered (38.5%) and many patients' phone numbers were missing or incorrect (16.3%). Of 371 patients reached, 163 opted out. Of 208 patients screened, 177 were ineligible for the trial. Just 10 patients were enrolled. RECOMMENDATIONS: Our findings suggest that medical claims data may not be useful for engaging patients potentially eligible for palliative care research trials. We recommend that alternative identification and recruitment strategies be considered.
RCT Entities:
BACKGROUND: Little is known about strategies for enrolling patients in home-based palliative care programs despite the need to conduct effectiveness studies of this emerging industry. PURPOSE: We used medical claims data from Accountable Care Organizations in California to identify patients for a randomized controlled trial of home-based palliative care. We report outcomes from this strategy and the implications for future research. RESULTS: Claims data identified 1357 patients. Research assistants could not reach 986 patients (72.7%), usually because the phone calls went unanswered (38.5%) and many patients' phone numbers were missing or incorrect (16.3%). Of 371 patients reached, 163 opted out. Of 208 patients screened, 177 were ineligible for the trial. Just 10 patients were enrolled. RECOMMENDATIONS: Our findings suggest that medical claims data may not be useful for engaging patients potentially eligible for palliative care research trials. We recommend that alternative identification and recruitment strategies be considered.
Authors: Amy S Kelley; Laura C Hanson; Katherine Ast; Elizabeth L Ciemins; Stephan C Dunning; Chris Meskow; Christine S Ritchie Journal: J Pain Symptom Manage Date: 2021-04-29 Impact factor: 5.576