Promoting Cholesterol Screening

N/ACompletedNCT01930149

Northwestern University480 enrolled

Overview

Cholesterol screening is an important prerequisite for cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk assessment. Cholesterol screening is recommended by the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). Since reminder systems have been shown to modestly improve the rates of preventive services, including in safety net settings, we will implement patient-directed reminders to health center patients who meet our eligibility criteria. The aim of this study is to determine if a mailed outreach message and facilitated ordering of screening lipid tests increases cholesterol screening test completion within 3 months among federally qualified community health center patients who are eligible for screening compared to usual care.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

SINGLE

Enrollment

480

Conditions

Cardiovascular Diseases Lipid Testing Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease

Mailed patient outreach interventionBEHAVIORAL

This study's intervention is a mailed outreach letter from the health center that encourages cholesterol testing and describes the steps necessary to obtain the test at the patient's care site. Clinic staff will facilitate the ordering of tests for patients who may not have an office visit.

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 35 YearsMax age: 75 Years

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Patient at participating health center * At least 1 visit to clinic in the prior 12 months * No total cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol result recorded in the electronic health record in the past 5 years * No cholesterol screening order placed within the previous 3 months * Men 35-75 years old, or women 45-75 years old who also have one of the following: hypertension, obesity, or current smoking Exclusion Criteria: * Previously diagnosed cardiovascular disease, peripheral arterial disease or diabetes mellitus * Statin on active medication list * Preferred language other than English or Spanish

Locations (3)

North Country Health Care

Flagstaff, Arizona, United States

Near North Health Service Corporation

Chicago, Illinois, United States

Heartland Health Outreach

Chicago, Illinois, United States

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Completion of total cholesterol and HDL cholesterol test or full lipid panel

Primary outcome will be completion of total cholesterol and HDL cholesterol test or a full lipid panel recorded within GE Centricity electronic health record at the patient's clinical site.

Time frame: within 3 months of outreach

Secondary Outcomes

Statin prescription

Secondary outcome is prescription of a statin as assessed by automated electronic queries of electronic health record.