RESEARCH

The primary objective of this study is to identify immunization providers’ opinions on practice patterns, barriers and facilitators for Gardasil 3-dose regimen completion among those who initiated the Gardasil vaccine.

KPSC is one of nine sites throughout the country funded by an Innovation Award from the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid to implement a coordinated care model for depressed patients with cardiovascular disease. We have the following goals for this project: 1. To implement in three stages a multiple condition collaborative care management model in primary care clinics of care systems in states. 2. To demonstrate that this model improves care quality, patient experience and health, provider satisfaction, and total healthcare costs for the Medicare and Medicaid patients with the targeted conditions. 3. To develop role descriptions and training for the two new types of workers required for this model – care managers and care consultants. 4. To identify the costs and payment models needed by care systems to sustain and spread this care model.

The Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute created a new Health Systems Implementation Initiative (HSII) to accelerate the adoption of scientific evidence into health care practice. Kaiser Permanente Southerna California was selected as 1 of 6 health care systems throughout the U.S. to test the implementation and institutionalization of evidence-based programs for intensive lifestyle weight management in primary care settings. The proposal tests the following two aims: 1. To use a patient and clinician partner-driven process improvement method tested in community1 and healthcare settings2,3 to implement evidence-based strategies for a 12-month virtual intensive lifestyle treatment program in patients having class I obesity (Body Mass Index [BMI] 30 – 34.99 kg/m2) with a focus on those patients who also have uncontrolled type 2 diabetes (T2D; HbA1c> 8). 2. To use data and materials collected from this implementation to create a playbook for the organization to continue the program, institutionalize it for the care of patients with class I obesity, and expand its use in other populations of patients with obesity who are identified as high priorities for the organization (such as to prevent weight regain in patients who have undergone medication or surgical treatment for their obesity and those with multiple chronic conditions for which weight loss would be beneficial).

The overall goal of this mixed-method, phased evaluation approach is to document the successes, challenges, and lessons learned from implementation of the Focus Home ecosystem components, and to document the process and outcome measures for key system end-users including patients, family caregivers, and clinicians as the service, IT, and population management data analytical features of the ecosystem goes live over the next two years. 

Physicians spend many hours per day documenting patient encounters. It has been reported that physicians spend over 50% of their workdays in the electronic health record; averaging about 4.5 hours per day in clinic and 1.5 hours working outside of work hours. In addition, documenting during an encounter reduces the direct interaction with patients. The advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI) provides an opportunity to ease this documentation burden, and potentially improve physician accuracy and efficiency and patient satisfaction with their care experience. Kaiser Permanente Southern California has adopted an AI tool called Abridge4 to record, document, and summarize patient encounters. The purpose of this study is to understand physician experiences with this tool, including barriers to using the tool, and to explore the impact of the tool on patient satisfaction with care, physician burnout, and physician use of the electronic health record by addressing the following aims: 1. What is the Reach and Adoption of the Abridge AI Tool by medical center and specialty? 2. What physician factors are related to Reach and Adoption? 3. What is the overall impact of the Abridge AI Tool on providers and patients controlling for things related to adoption in #2? and 4. What is the overall impact of the Abridge AI Tool on provider workload?

This study will incorporate the voice of the patient and provider stakeholders as part of the implementation of the Zero Suicide framework in three health settings from the NIMH-funded parent award as well as the Southcentral Foundation which is an Alaska Native-owned, nonprofit health care organization serving nearly 65,000 American Indian/Alaskan Native people living in and around Anchorage, Alaska. Our scientific premise is that by 1) understanding the stakeholder perspective on the role of health systems in opioid-related overdoses, and 2) involving these stakeholders in all aspects of developing strategies that health systems can use to prevent opioid-related overdoses within the implementation of the Zero Suicide framework, we will have a much greater impact on reducing the mortality rates associated with opioid use.