Effect of a Comprehensive Telehealth Intervention vs Telemonitoring and Care Coordination in Patients With Persistently Poor Type 2 Diabetes Control: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Abstract

Importance

Persistently poorly controlled type 2 diabetes (PPDM) is common and causes poor outcomes. Comprehensive telehealth interventions could help address PPDM, but effectiveness is uncertain, and barriers impede use in clinical practice.

Objective

To address evidence gaps preventing use of comprehensive telehealth for PPDM by comparing a practical, comprehensive telehealth intervention to a simpler telehealth approach.

Design, setting, and participants

This active-comparator, parallel-arm, randomized clinical trial was conducted in 2 Veterans Affairs health care systems. From December 2018 to January 2020, 1128 outpatients with PPDM were assessed for eligibility and 200 were randomized; PPDM was defined as maintenance of hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) level of 8.5% or higher for 1 year or longer despite engagement with clinic-based primary care and/or diabetes specialty care. Data analyses were preformed between March 2021 and May 2022.

Interventions

Each 12-month intervention was nurse-delivered and used only clinical staffing/resources. The comprehensive telehealth group (n = 101) received telemonitoring, self-management support, diet/activity support, medication management, and depression support. Patients assigned to the simpler intervention (n = 99) received telemonitoring and care coordination.

Main outcomes and measures

Primary (HbA1c) and secondary outcomes (diabetes distress, diabetes self-care, self-efficacy, body mass index, depression symptoms) were analyzed over 12 months using intent-to-treat linear mixed longitudinal models. Sensitivity analyses with multiple imputation and inclusion of clinical data examined the impact of missing HbA1c measurements. Adverse events and intervention costs were examined.

Results

The population (n = 200) had a mean (SD) age of 57.8 (8.2) years; 45 (22.5%) were women, 144 (72.0%) were of Black race, and 11 (5.5%) were of Hispanic/Latinx ethnicity. From baseline to 12 months, HbA1c change was -1.59% (10.17% to 8.58%) in the comprehensive telehealth group and -0.98% (10.17% to 9.19%) in the telemonitoring/care coordination group, for an estimated mean difference of -0.61% (95% CI, -1.12% to -0.11%; P = .02). Sensitivity analyses showed similar results. At 12 months, patients receiving comprehensive telehealth had significantly greater improvements in diabetes distress, diabetes self-care, and self-efficacy; no differences in body mass index or depression were seen. Adverse events were similar between groups. Comprehensive telehealth cost an additional $1519 per patient per year to deliver.

Conclusions and relevance

This randomized clinical trial found that compared with telemonitoring/care coordination, comprehensive telehealth improved multiple outcomes in patients with PPDM at a reasonable additional cost. This study supports consideration of comprehensive telehealth implementation for PPDM in systems with appropriate infrastructure and may enhance the value of telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

Trial registration

ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03520413.

Department

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Provenance

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Citation

Published Version (Please cite this version)

10.1001/jamainternmed.2022.2947

Publication Info

Crowley, Matthew J, Phillip E Tarkington, Hayden B Bosworth, Amy S Jeffreys, Cynthia J Coffman, Matthew L Maciejewski, Karen Steinhauser, Valerie A Smith, et al. (2022). Effect of a Comprehensive Telehealth Intervention vs Telemonitoring and Care Coordination in Patients With Persistently Poor Type 2 Diabetes Control: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA internal medicine. 10.1001/jamainternmed.2022.2947 Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/25549.

This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.

Scholars@Duke

Crowley

Matthew Janik Crowley

Associate Professor of Medicine

Diabetes, Hypertension, Health Services Research

Bosworth

Hayden Barry Bosworth

Professor in Population Health Sciences

Dr. Bosworth is a health services researcher and Deputy Director of the Center of Innovation to Accelerate Discovery and Practice Transformation (ADAPT)  at the Durham VA Medical Center. He is also Vice Chair of Education and Professor of Population Health Sciences. He is also a Professor of Medicine, Psychiatry, and Nursing at Duke University Medical Center and Adjunct Professor in Health Policy and Administration at the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research interests comprise three overarching areas of research: 1) clinical research that provides knowledge for improving patients’ treatment adherence and self-management in chronic care; 2) translation research to improve access to quality of care; and 3) eliminate health care disparities. 

Dr. Bosworth is the recipient of an American Heart Association established investigator award, the 2013 VA Undersecretary Award for Outstanding Achievement in Health Services Research (The annual award is the highest honor for VA health services researchers), and a VA Senior Career Scientist Award. In terms of self-management, Dr. Bosworth has expertise developing interventions to improve health behaviors related to hypertension, coronary artery disease, and depression, and has been developing and implementing tailored patient interventions to reduce the burden of other chronic diseases. These trials focus on motivating individuals to initiate health behaviors and sustaining them long term and use members of the healthcare team, particularly pharmacists and nurses. He has been the Principal Investigator of over 30 trials resulting in over 400 peer reviewed publications and four books. This work has been or is being implemented in multiple arenas including Medicaid of North Carolina, private payers, The United Kingdom National Health System Direct, Kaiser Health care system, and the Veterans Affairs.

Areas of Expertise: Health Behavior, Health Services Research, Implementation Science, Health Measurement, and Health Policy

Coffman

Cynthia Jan Coffman

Professor of Biostatistics & Bioinformatics

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