Stakeholder impact on the implementation of integrated care: Opportunities to consider for patient-centered outcomes research

Nearly half of Americans live with chronic disease. Many have multiple chronic conditions that often present as a combination of physical and mental health conditions. Aligning stakeholder-driven, patient-centered outcomes research with population health strategies such as innovative ways to deliver care management can reduce the burden of multiple chronic conditions. In addition, successfully creating meaningful, inclusive research requires actively engaging stakeholders throughout the lifecycle of a study. This study integrates stakeholder engagement, using a large health plan in western Pennsylvania, to conduct a randomized controlled trial. Three care management strategies, High-Touch, High-Tech, and Usual Care, are compared for effectiveness among members with multiple chronic conditions. Care strategies are delivered via the Community Team, a multidisciplinary community-based team, offering in-person (High-Touch) and digital (High-Tech) care management in 14 counties across Pennsylvania. Participants are followed for 12 months, with repeated measurements of self-reported health status and activation in care, while tracking administrative measurements of primary and specialty health service utilization. Quality of life, care satisfaction, engagement in care, and service utilization will be compared using generalized mixed models. Additionally, semi-structured interviews are conducted for both participants and care managers over the course of the study to evaluate feasibility. This manuscript presents implementation strategies, while noting that the implementation of patient-centered outcomes research in a real-world setting requires rapid evaluation, redesign of workflow, and tailored approaches for success.