About this trial
Expanded availability of virtual care encounters in Primary Care provides new opportunities to improve Veterans' outcomes by aligning encounter modalities with their needs and preferences. Yet, Veterans and their Primary Care physicians (PCPs) lack personalized information about the benefits and costs of different Primary Care modalities that is needed to maximize the value of Primary Care encounters. To address this problem, in this study the investigators will use surveys and interviews to identify what Veterans and PCPs perceive to be the benefits and optimal uses of different Primary Care encounter modalities. They will then supplement their existing system for communicating encounter costs to Veterans and PCPs with new interactive messaging about benefits and optimal uses of different encounter modalities. Finally, this novel Advancing Decisions about Virtual Service Encounters (ADViSE) intervention will be optimized through user-centered refinement before evaluating its effects on Veteran-centered outcomes, use of virtual care, and intermediate health outcomes in a randomized controlled trial (RCT).
Eligibility criteria
Qualifiers
Veteran inclusion criteria are having an upcoming face-to-face (F2F), telephone, or VA Video Connect (VVC) appointment in the next 8 to 12 weeks
Having at least 3 Primary Care F2F, telephone, or VVC encounters in the previous 12 months
Able to provide informed consent
Willing and able to receive text messages from the VA Patient Engagement, Tracking, and Long-term Support (PETALS) platform
Disqualifiers
Veteran exclusion criteria are a CDW diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment, dementia, or a psychotic disorder
Trial design
Treatments tested in this trial
- Clinician Coaching Sessions
- Personalized text messages to patients