Established Evidence Results

Intervention Components (click on component to see a list of all articles that use that intervention): Provider Training/Education, Technology-Based Support,

Intervention Description: In the US, many individuals with diabetes do not have consistent access to endocrinologists and therefore rely on primary care providers (PCPs) for their diabetes management. Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) Diabetes, a tele-education model, was developed to empower PCPs to independently manage diabetes, including education on diabetes technology initiation and use, to bridge disparities in diabetes.

Intervention Results: PCPs reported improvement in all domains of diabetes education and management. From baseline, PCPs reported improvement in their confidence to serve as the T1D provider for their community (pre vs post: 43.8% vs 68.8%, p=0.005), manage insulin therapy (pre vs post: 62.8% vs 84.3%, p=0.002), and identify symptoms of diabetes distress (pre vs post: 62.8% vs 84.3%, p=0.002) post-intervention. Compared to pre-intervention, providers reported significant improvement in their confidence in all aspects of diabetes technology including prescribing technology (41.2% vs 68.6%, p=0.001), managing insulin pumps (41.2% vs 68.6%, p=0.001) and hybrid closed loop (10.2% vs 26.5%, p=0.033), and interpreting sensor data (41.2% vs 68.6%, p=0.001) post-intervention.

Conclusion: PCPs who participated in Project ECHO Diabetes reported increased confidence in diabetes management, with notable improvement in their ability to prescribe, manage, and troubleshoot diabetes technology. These data support the use of tele-education of PCPs to increase confidence in diabetes technology management as a feasible strategy to advance equity in diabetes management and outcomes.

Study Design: Pre-post study

Setting: Health centers in underserved areas of California and Florida

Population of Focus: Primary care providers (PCPs) who were recruited from federally qualifying health centers and community health centers in underserved areas of California and Florida. The participants included physicians and advanced practice providers, with a focus on those who were responsible for managing diabetes care in these settings

Sample Size: 116 providers

Age Range: Adult providers serving pediatric populations

Intervention Components (click on component to see a list of all articles that use that intervention): Provider Training/Education, Educational Material (Provider),

Intervention Description: Training health professionals for the skills and capacity to respond adequately to children and adults who have been exposed to adverse childhood experiences is recognized as an essential need in health care. Accessible opportunities to educate physicians and physician-trainees are limited. Four computer-based e-modules were created focusing on addressing childhood adversity and implementing trauma-informed care in the pediatric primary care setting. These childhood adversity and trauma-informed care (CA-TIC) e-modules were designed as an individualized, self-directed experience to allow for distance learning with flexibility to be embedded into existing coursework. To foster an engaging learning environment, we narrated the modules, prioritized images, and included the opportunity for participant interaction via multiple-choice and short-answer questions. Twenty-eight pediatric residents, two medical students, four attending physicians, and one fellow at Children's National Hospital completed the e-modules.

Intervention Results: Overall, participants rated the CA-TIC e-modules 4.6 (SD = 0.5) out of 5 for design and quality. Using paired t tests and Wilcoxon signed rank tests, we found statistically significant score increases from presession to postsession for participants' knowledge, attitudes, practice, and confidence related to CA-TIC. The most commonly cited learning points and practice changes included asking about trauma in practice and the seven C's of resilience.

Conclusion: A trauma-informed, strengths-based approach to care can assist health care providers in mitigating the link between adversity and related poor health outcomes. The CA-TIC e-modules provide an opportunity to train health professionals using an innovative, self-directed, and low-resource mechanism.

Study Design: Pre-post study

Setting: Pediatric primary care practices in connection with Children’s National Hospital

Population of Focus: Pediatric health care providers (pediatric residents, medical students, attending physicians, and fellows)

Sample Size: 35 pediatric health care providers 28 pediatric residents, 2 medical students, 4 attending physicians, and 1 fellow

Age Range: Adults who take care of pediatric populations

Intervention Components (click on component to see a list of all articles that use that intervention): Quality Improvement/Practice-Wide Intervention, Provider Training/Education,

Intervention Description: The model for the Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (Project ECHO®) was used to extend specialist support to the pediatric medical home for the treatment of adolescent depression by taking a comprehensive, disease-specific approach. Child and adolescent psychiatrists constructed a course to train community pediatric primary care providers (PCPs) to screen patients for depression, initiate evidence-based interventions, and provide ongoing management. Participants were assessed for changes in clinical knowledge and self-efficacy. Secondary measures included self-reported practice change and emergency department (ED) mental health referrals 12 months pre- and post-course completion.

Intervention Results: Sixteen out of 18 participants in cohort 1 and 21 out of 23 participants in cohort 2 completed the pre- and post-assessments. Clinical knowledge and self-efficacy showed statistically significant improvement pre- and post-course completion. ED mental health referrals from participant PCPs decreased by 34% (cohort 1) and 17% (cohort 2) after course completion.

Conclusion: These findings indicate that utilizing the Project ECHO format to provide subspecialist support and education on the treatment of depression can improve pediatric PCPs' clinical knowledge and confidence in their ability to independently treat depression. Secondary measures suggest that this can translate into practice change and improved treatment access with decreased ED referrals for mental health assessments by participant PCPs. Future directions include more robust outcomes measurement and developing more courses with an in-depth approach to a single or similar cluster of mental health diagnoses such as anxiety disorders.

Study Design: Pre-post study

Setting: Pediatric primary care offices connected to a large midwestern academic children's hospital

Population of Focus: Pediatric primary care providers, including medical doctors, nurse practitioners, and other healthcare professionals working in pediatric primary care settings

Sample Size: 41 providers

Age Range: Primary care providers serving pediatrics patients 0-17

Intervention Components (click on component to see a list of all articles that use that intervention): Provider Training/Education,

Intervention Description: Novel teaching curricula using simulated patients (SP) and a team-based approach are needed to teach pediatric residents how to approach behavioral health (BH) conditions in an integrated care setting. This mixed-methods study evaluated a pilot curriculum on BH integration in pediatric primary care. Two 1-hour didactic sessions and 3 hours of SP encounters focused on attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and anxiety, followed by facilitated debriefings that included interdisciplinary team members. Residents completed pre- and postcurriculum surveys on self-efficacy in patient assessment and management. A subset of residents participated in semistructured interviews, reviewing video recordings of their SP encounters to facilitate reflection on their learning. We conducted qualitative analysis of interview transcripts until we reached thematic saturation.

Intervention Results: Residents (n = 31) reported significantly improved self-efficacy in the majority of BH skills (p ≤ .05 to p ≤ .0001), including assessing and discussing concerns with families, using screening tools, developing management plans, prescribing medications, and performing warm handoffs with BH clinicians. In analysis of 15 interviews, four themes emerged: shared experiences, mutual engagement, contextual meaning, and behavioral change, which aligned with the components of the communities of practice framework. Sharing experiences within an integrated BH-pediatric primary care learning community enhanced activated, self-reflective learning and consequent behavioral change that contributed to identity formation.

Conclusion: Resident participation in the integrated BH-pediatric curriculum improved self-efficacy in patient care for anxiety and ADHD. Curricula implemented in integrated learning communities could help promote reflection and improve integrated pediatric-BH care, including warm handoffs from pediatric to BH providers.

Study Design: Pre-post study

Setting: Two integrated pediatric primary care residency training sites at the University of Rochester Medical Center and at Rochester Regional Health

Population of Focus: Pediatric residents, BH providers, nurses, pediatric primary care providers, and social workers

Sample Size: 34 eligible pediatric residents participated in the integrated behavioral health (BH) and pediatric primary care curriculum. Of these, 31 residents completed all pre- and post-workshop survey evaluations for the fall 2015 and spring 2016 sessions. Additionally, 15 residents participated in face-to-face semistructured interviews 3-6 months after participating in the curriculum to reflect on their communication and interprofessional collaboration skills demonstrated during the simulation.

Age Range: Adult providers caring for pediatric patients

Intervention Components (click on component to see a list of all articles that use that intervention): Provider Training/Education, Expert Support (Provider),

Intervention Description: Transition-age youth and young adults with autism spectrum disorder have complex healthcare needs, yet the current healthcare system is not equipped to adequately meet the needs of this growing population. Primary care providers lack training and confidence in caring for youth and young adults with autism spectrum disorder. The current study developed and tested an adaptation of the Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes model to train and mentor primary care providers (n = 16) in best-practice care for transition-age youth and young adults with autism spectrum disorder. The Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes Autism Transition program consisted of 12 weekly 1-h sessions connecting primary care providers to an interdisciplinary expert team via multipoint videoconferencing. Sessions included brief didactics, case-based learning, and guided practice.

Intervention Results: Measures of primary care provider self-efficacy, knowledge, and practice were administered pre- and post-training. Participants demonstrated significant improvements in self-efficacy regarding caring for youth/young adults with autism spectrum disorder and reported high satisfaction and changes in practice as a result of participation. By contrast, no significant improvements in knowledge or perceived barriers were observed.

Conclusion: Overall, the results indicate that the model holds promise for improving primary care providers' confidence and interest in working with transition-age youth and young adults with autism spectrum disorder. However, further refinements may be helpful for enhancing scope and impact on practice.

Study Design: Program evaluation

Setting: Nationwide Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO) Autism Transition program delivered via videoconferencing

Population of Focus: Primary care providers from across the country

Sample Size: 16 providers

Age Range: Adult providers serving pediatric populations 0 to 17 years

Intervention Components (click on component to see a list of all articles that use that intervention): Provider Training/Education, Motivational Interviewing, Technology-Based Support,

Intervention Description: The aim of this study is to test the effects of an electronic screening and feedback tool and training for primary care clinicians on care and adolescent health behaviors. We conducted a stepped-wedge cluster randomized trial with six clinics randomly assigned to sequential crossover from control to intervention periods with clinician training between periods. Adolescents (ages 13-18) with a well visit during the control periods (n = 135) received usual care, while adolescents during the intervention periods (n = 167) received the electronic screening and feedback tool prior to their well visit, with results sent to their clinicians. Adolescents completed surveys at baseline, 1 day, 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months. Linear mixed effects models were used to examine associations between outcomes and treatment, controlling for time as a fixed effect and clinic as a random effect. All analyses employed intent-to-treat analyses and utilized multiple imputations for missing data.

Intervention Results: Adolescents who received the intervention had a higher rate of counseling for their endorsed risk behaviors during the well visit (45% vs. 33%, Wald's T = 2.29, p = .02). There were no significant intervention effects on adolescent satisfaction with the clinician or perception of patient centeredness. The intervention was associated with a small but statistically significant reduction in overall risk score relative to control at 3 months (-.63, 95% confidence interval [-1.07, -.19], Cohen's d = .21), but not at 6 or 12 months.

Conclusion: The results suggest that electronic screening and feedback may be associated with small reductions in risk behaviors at 3 months but that changes do not persist at longer term follow-up.

Study Design: Stepped-wedge cluster randomized trial

Setting: Six Puget Sound Pediatric Research Network Clinics located in Western Washington

Population of Focus: Adolescents aged 13-18 who had a scheduled well-child visit at a participating clinic were invited

Sample Size: 302 participants (135 adolescents in the control group and 167 adolescents in the intervention group)

Age Range: Adolescents aged 13-18

Intervention Components (click on component to see a list of all articles that use that intervention): Provider Training/Education,

Intervention Description: Adverse cross-cultural interactions are a persistent problem within medicine impacting minority patients' use of services and health outcomes. To test whether 1) enhancing the evidence-based Physician Asthma Care Education (PACE), a continuing medical education program, with cross cultural communication training (PACE Plus) would improve the asthma outcomes of African American and Latino/Hispanic children; and 2) whether PACE is effective in diverse groups of children. A three-arm randomized control trial was used to compare PACE Plus, PACE, and usual care. Participants were primary care physicians (n = 112) and their African American or Latino/Hispanic pediatric patients with persistent asthma (n = 867). The primary outcome of interest included changes in emergency department visits for asthma overtime, measured at baseline, and 9 and 21 months following the intervention. Other outcomes included hospitalizations, asthma symptom experience, caregiver asthma-related quality of life, and patient-provider communication measures.

Intervention Results: Over the long term, PACE Plus physicians reported significant improvements in confidence and use of patient-centered communication and counseling techniques (p < 0.01) compared to PACE physicians. No other significant benefit in primary and secondary outcomes was observed in this trial.

Conclusion: PACE Plus did not show significant benefit in asthma-specific clinical outcomes. More trials and multi-component strategies continue to be needed to address complex risk factors and reduce disparities in asthma care.

Study Design: Randomized controlled trial

Setting: Nine Michigan (MI) rural and urban cities, Bronx, New York (NY), and Atlanta, Georgia (GA)

Population of Focus: Primary care physicians (PCPs) and their African American or Latino/Hispanic pediatric patients with persistent asthma. The PCPs were board-certified in pediatrics or family medicine, treated children with asthma, practiced full-time in either MI, NY, or GA, and were not self-reporting Hispanic/Latino or African American racial identity. The caregivers of the children also needed to self-identify as African American or Hispanic/Latino, have primary responsibility for the child's care, and have access to a telephone.

Sample Size: 112 primary care physicians and 867 families of children with asthma

Age Range: Adult providers and children ages 1 to 16 years of age