Pharmacist Management of Paxlovid eVisits

Kaiser Permanente

Status: Completed

Conditions: COVID-19; Quality of Care

Treatments: Other: Pharmacist Care; Other: AFM Pool Care

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06076863

RDO KPNC 23-096

Details and patient eligibility

About

The goal of this cluster randomized trial is to compare two modes of management -- pharmacist care vs. pooled adult and family medicine physician care -- for electronically submitted requests (e-visits) for Paxlovid by adults with COVID-19. It will compare quality of care based on counseling for common potential drug-drug interactions and time to prescription, as well as the time and financial costs of care in the two groups.

Full description

Importance. Enhancing the management of messages from patients and providing virtual options for urgent care are top priorities for The Permanente Medical Group (TPMG) and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals/Health Plan (KFH/P).

Objective. To compare pharmacist management of e-visit requests for Paxlovid for COVID-19 with management by adult and family medicine physician pools regarding costs, time, clinical outcomes, and patient and clinician satisfaction.

Design, setting, and participants. This cluster randomized clinical trial will include adults from 17 medical facilities of Kaiser Permanente Northern California who make Paxlovid e-visits on weekdays from October 9 to December 11, 2023.

Intervention. In the intervention group, a regional team of pharmacists will manage Paxlovid e-visits following a standard protocol; in the comparison group, adult and family medicine physicians (AFMs) will manage these visits according to medical center-based protocols.

Main Outcomes and Measures. The primary outcome is whether a patient with one or more common drug-drug interactions received counseling for any drug-drug interaction. Secondary outcomes are the hours from the e-visit request to the prescription among patients who receive one and the clinician time and cost per visit managed.

Potential Results. We will test the hypotheses that Pharmacist Care compared with AFM Pool Care will have higher quality of care and lower costs based on the receipt of counseling for common drug-drug interactions, faster time to prescriptions, and lower clinician time and cost per visit managed.

Potential Conclusions and Relevance. If pharmacist management has better or similar outcomes compared with AFM pool management, this will provide support to continue this practice for Paxlovid e-visits and to evaluate possible expansion of pharmacist management for similar clinical situations.

Enrollment: 2,478 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Patients making Paxlovid e-visits on weekdays from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm during the study period

Exclusion criteria

• None

Trial design

Primary purpose: Health Services Research

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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2,478 participants in 2 patient groups

Pharmacist Care

Experimental group

Description:

Pharmacists on a regional team will manage requests for Paxlovid placed by patients via e-visits using a standard protocol.

Treatment:

Other: Pharmacist Care

Adult and Family Medicine Physician Pool Care

Active Comparator group

Description:

Adult and family medicine physicians serving in pools will manage requests for Paxlovid placed by patients via e-visits using a standard protocol.

Treatment:

Other: AFM Pool Care