Model Clinic to Increase Preventive Screenings Among Patients With Physical Disabilities: Protocol for a Mixed Methods Intervention Pilot Study

BACKGROUND: People with physical disabilities often experience premature multimorbidity and adverse health events. A tailored primary care approach for this vulnerable population that also accounts for social and functional risk factors could promote healthier aging and more equitable health care. OBJECTIVE: This project will evaluate the implementation of a health program designed for people with physical disabilities. The proposed evaluation result is to generate the first best-practice protocol focused specifically on developing primary care to help reduce preventable causes of morbidity and improve functioning among people with physical disabilities. METHODS: We will design and implement a pilot health program for people with physical disabilities at a primary care clinic within Michigan Medicine. The health program for people with physical disabilities will be an integrated intervention involving a tailored best practice alert designed to prompt family medicine providers to screen and monitor for common, preventable health conditions. The program will also collect social and functional status information to determine the patient’s need for further care coordination and support. Adult participants from this clinic with identified physical disabilities will be targeted for potential enrollment. To create a quasi-experimental setting, a separate departmental clinic will serve as a control site for comparison purposes. A quantitative analysis to estimate the treatment effect of implementing this health program will be conducted using a difference-in-differences approach. Outcomes of interest will include the use of preventative services (eg, hemoglobin A(1c) for diabetes screening), social work assistance, and emergency and hospital services. These data will be extracted from electronic health records. Time-invariant covariates, particularly sociodemographic covariates, will be included in the models. A qualitative analysis of patient and health care provider interviews will also be completed to assess the effect of the health program. Patient Health Questionnaire-9 and Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scores will be assessed to both screen for depression and anxiety as well as explore program impacts related to addressing health and functioning needs related to physical disabilities in a primary care setting. These will be summarized through descriptive analyses. RESULTS: This study was funded in September 2018, data collection started in September 2021, and data collection is expected to be concluded in September 2023. CONCLUSIONS: This study is a mixed methods evaluation of the effectiveness of an integrated health program designed for people with physical disabilities, based on a quasi-experimental comparison between an intervention and a control clinic site. The intervention will be considered successful if it leads to improvements in greater use of screening and monitoring for preventable health conditions, increased social worker referrals to assist with health and functioning needs, and improvements in emergency and hospital-based services. The findings will help inform best practices for people with physical disabilities in a primary care setting. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/50105