Purpose

While data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) estimate that 36.9% of patients with diabetes have CKD, only approximately 10% of patients are aware of their kidney disease. In its 2020 Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes, the ADA recommends that all patients with type II diabetes (T2DM) undergo annual measurement of urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UACR). The National Kidney Foundation (NKF) has also proposed an update to the requirements for assessment of adults with diabetes including both an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and uACR. The goal of accurately identifying patients with T2DM and CKD is to help providers intervene at an earlier stage of kidney impairment, improve renal outcomes, and reduce associated healthcare costs. Failure to adopt these guideline recommendations has widespread implications, including underestimation of the burden of CKD in the T2DM population, delays in diagnosis of renal impairment, and ultimately, underutilization of therapies that could improve clinical outcomes. This single-center, 400-patient, randomized controlled trial will assess the impact of an EPIC Best Practice Advisory (BPA; alert-based CDS tool) on guideline-directed assessment for CKD using UACR in patients with T2DM who have not had a UACR in the past year.

Conditions

Eligibility

Eligible Ages
Over 18 Years
Eligible Genders
All
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
No

Inclusion Criteria

  • BWH outpatients at least 18 years of age who are evaluated in Primary Care or Brigham Medical Specialties Clinics (Cardiovascular Medicine, Endocrinology, and Diabetology) AND - have a diagnosis of T2DM AND - have not had a UACR measured in the past year

Exclusion Criteria

  • have an established diagnosis of CKD (medical history, problem list, or visit diagnosis entry in the EHR) OR - who are undergoing renal replacement therapy (either hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis) as UACR will be unlikely to result in diagnosis change or therapeutic intervention OR - who have undergone renal transplantation

Study Design

Phase
N/A
Study Type
Interventional
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention Model
Parallel Assignment
Intervention Model Description
1:1 allocation ratio, randomized controlled trial
Primary Purpose
Diagnostic
Masking
Quadruple (Participant, Care Provider, Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)
Masking Description
double-blind

Arm Groups

ArmDescriptionAssigned Intervention
Experimental
Alert
For patients randomly assigned to the BPA intervention group (alert group), an on-screen electronic alert will be issued during the outpatient clinical encounter that notifies the responsible provider that his or her T2DM patient should be evaluated for CKD with UACR assessment. The provider then will be given on-screen options to either order a UACR assessment or follow a link to learn more about CKD assessment in T2DM. Should the alert-recipient elect to omit an order for UACR assessment and decline to follow a link to learn more about CKD assessment in T2DM, the provider will be able to continue on with clinic visit-related EHR documentation but will need to select an acknowledge reason (rationale) for not following the evidence-based clinical practice recommendation highlighted in the alert.
  • Other: Alert-based computerized decision support
    For patients randomly assigned to the BPA intervention group (alert group), an on-screen electronic alert will be issued during the outpatient clinical encounter that notifies the responsible provider that his or her T2DM patient should be evaluated for CKD with UACR assessment. The provider then will be given on-screen options to either order a UACR assessment or follow a link to learn more about CKD assessment in T2DM. Should the alert-recipient elect to omit an order for UACR assessment and decline to follow a link to learn more about CKD assessment in T2DM, the provider will be able to continue on with clinic visit-related EHR documentation but will need to select an acknowledge reason (rationale) for not following the evidence-based clinical practice recommendation highlighted in the alert.
    Other names:
    • EPIC Best Practice Advisory
No Intervention
No Alert
Providers in the "No Alert" group will not receive any on-screen notification

Recruiting Locations

Brigham and Women's Hospital
Boston, Massachusetts 02115
Contact:
Gregory Piazza, MD, MS
617-732-6984
gpiazza@bwh.harvard.edu

More Details

Status
Recruiting
Sponsor
Brigham and Women's Hospital

Study Contact

Gregory Piazza, MD, MS
6177326984
gpiazza@bwh.harvard.edu

Detailed Description

The study is a 400-patient single-center Quality Improvement Initiative in the form of a randomized controlled trial of an EPIC EHR BPA. The allocation ratio will be 1:1 for an EPIC BPA versus no notification with randomization by Attending Physician of Record, using odd or even provider ID number, to minimize cluster-effect. While the study will randomize patients by Attending Physician of Record, the observational unit will be the patient. The study will use a BPA within EPIC that will integrate with the EHR medical history, visit diagnoses, and problem list to identify outpatients with a diagnosis of T2DM and without an established diagnosis of CKD. The BPA will then search the laboratory results section of the EHR for a UACR result within the last year. If the patient with T2DM has not had a UACR result within the past year, he or she will be randomly assigned to the BPA intervention group (alert group) or the control (no alert) group according the Attending Physician of Record's provider ID number. For patients randomly assigned to the BPA intervention group (alert group), an on-screen electronic alert will be issued during the outpatient clinical encounter that notifies the responsible provider that his or her T2DM patient should be evaluated for CKD with UACR. The provider then will be given on-screen options to either order a UACR or follow a link to learn more about CKD assessment in T2DM.

Notice

Study information shown on this site is derived from ClinicalTrials.gov (a public registry operated by the National Institutes of Health). The listing of studies provided is not certain to be all studies for which you might be eligible. Furthermore, study eligibility requirements can be difficult to understand and may change over time, so it is wise to speak with your medical care provider and individual research study teams when making decisions related to participation.