The K entucky D iabetes and O besity
C ollaborative (KDOC)
Kevin Pearce, MD, MPH
UK Department of Family and Community Medicine
Jeff Talbert, PhD
UK Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science
Mark Dignan, PhD, MPH
UK Department of Internal Medicine
David Bolt, MA
Kentucky Primary Care Association
F. Douglas Scutchfield, MD
UK College of Public Health
Supported by NIH grants:
NIDDK # 1RC4DK809866
NCATS # UL1TR000117

The K entucky D iabetes and O besity
C ollaborative (KDOC)
• Kentucky Primary Care Association (KPCA)
• Individual FQHCs
• Kentucky Medicaid
• University of Kentucky
• Academic Health Center
• Center for Clinical and Translational Science
• Center for Public Health Systems and Services Research

Overarching goal:
Activate new collaborations to improve quality and create opportunities for research
UK
Develop
Community
Based
Translational
Research
Network
Payers
QI
Cost-Effectiveness
KPCA
QI
Support IPA
Gain-sharing
ACA Expansion

The K entucky D iabetes and O besity
C ollaborative (KDOC)
Develop a healthcare data repository that will be used to improve the health of Kentuckians via
QI activities and research.
The KDOC data repository will bring together up-todate clinical data from multiple primary care safetynet providers, plus Medicaid claims data, all linked at patient level. Secure web-based portals and special software will facilitate use while maintaining appropriate levels of privacy and security.

The K entucky D iabetes and O besity
C ollaborative (KDOC)
• High prevalence of obesity and diabetes in a large rural and medically-underserved population; much of which relies on “safety-net” providers, such as FQHCs
• Utility of being able to monitor and use clinical and claims data linked at patient level, and across healthcare facilities
• Built-in utility for more broadly improving healthcare

The K entucky D iabetes and O besity
C ollaborative (KDOC)
• Develop a secure data repository
• clinical data from rural PCPs
• Linked Medicaid claims data
• Develop secure, user-friendly data interfaces for providers and researchers
• Assess related training and support needs, and provide the training/ support to KDOC users
• Facilitate research and healthcare QI collaborations

The K entucky D iabetes and O besity
C ollaborative (KDOC)
Project goals (cont’d)
Address gaps in generalizable knowledge about:
• The effective use of HIT for chronic care coordination and related research in rural settings
• Systems-oriented collaborative QI strategies for improving the management of chronic conditions in primary care
• Effectively connecting AHC-based researchers and rural health disparity populations

Participating Federally-Qualified
Community Health Centers
Eight Community Health Centers (FQHCs) serving 39 mostly rural Kentucky counties; diabetes prevalence as high as 17% and obesity prevalence as high as 51%
2 to 15 clinic sites / FQHC with 6 to 31 providers / FQHC
19,900 to 143,000 annual patient visits per FQHC
Approx 124,000 patients served by the 8 FQHCs, total
Five different EMR brands across the 8 FQHCs; time since
EMR implementation: from < 1 year to several years

KDOC 3-Yr Project Approach
1.
Establish leadership, steering and advisory groups
2.
Simultaneously pursue interpersonal and technical aspects of KDOC development
Interpersonal build KDOC-specific collaborative relationships (BAAs, MOUs) establish stakeholder priorities for HIT tools and functions understand stakeholder opportunities and barriers related to collaboration around QI and research
Technical
Understand technical aspects of data storage and sharing capabilities of each EMR system establish HIPAA compliant methods for developing and using the KDOC Data Warehouse explore utility of KHIE for KDOC build or buy user-friendly data interfaces for QI and research

KDOC Project Approach (cont’d)
3. Simultaneously: (a) Obtain IRB approval for data transmission, storage, and general use
(b) design and pilot a DM QI project involving the FQHCs
4. Populate KDOC data repository with clinical data from each FQHC, and with Medicaid claims data for matching time periods; data de-identified but coded for linkage at patient level
5. Simultaneously: (a) Perform pilot clinical QI project
(b) facilitate use of KDOC infrastructure for research
Throughout: plan for sustainability of infrastructure

KDOC Focus Groups
Conducted at 6 FQHC offices in rural Kentucky
Included providers, office staff, IT representatives
45-60 minutes
Tape recorded, transcript analysis

Focus Group Discussion Topics
Perceptions about obesity and diabetes rates in rural
Kentucky
Perceived role of research in prevention and control of diabetes and obesity…probing:
Experience with research
Barriers and facilitators of research with rural FQHCs
What is needed to increase participation in research
Communication and collaboration between providers and researchers
Implementation of Evidence Based Practices in DM mgmt

Focus Group Findings
• There is interest in participating in and promoting research in
FQHCs (and in partnering with UK)
• Research is most likely to be successful when initiated by researchers
• Participating with KDOC can help FQHCs with capturing clinical data, developing reporting, and perhaps QI
• Use of EHR, or similar mechanism, for data collection is preferred – something that can be integrated into the flow of the practice
• FQHCs not hesitant to share data as long as patient privacy protections are in place

More Focus Group Findings
• Mild concern that KDOC will not be able to deliver information needed for HEDIS reporting – concern about responsiveness of
KDOC to changes in guidelines
• FQHC experience with EHRs and government has been mixed
• Ability to better manage practice is a plus
• Concern about monitoring by those outside the practice is a concern
• Employee time for research is a barrier, need outside resources and staffing
• IT assistance is needed for most projects
• Research partnerships are built on trust between patients and clinics – and then researchers

KDOC vision: build QI tools that also serve as a research platform
FQHCs – de-identified data beyond own site—need for regional benchmark and peer comparison
UK-infrastructure for rural translational research network
8 initial FQHCs: using 5 EMR vendors
Kentucky Medicaid as a project partner

Very vendor dependent (new EMR users)
Limited site IT staff (contractors, part time, busy with day job)
Limited site database capacity (required flexible after hours connectivity, multiple small reports)
1)Special KDOC data extracts
2)Core database access
3)Core EMR reporting tool

Complete regulatory documents
Select data extraction process
Load into ETL staging area
ETL process to standardize data models
Load into KDOC data repositoryenable Tableau reporting tools

All sites have MOU and BAA with UK
Sites limited access to their own data, with regional and national benchmarks for most measures
Research use requires additional limits and protections

BAA and MOU required for each site
IRB #10-0493 The Kentucky Diabetes and
Obesity Collaborative (KDOC)
Uses UK EDT third party “honest broker”
Researcher access to de-identified data
IRB #13-0275-F6A, Kentucky Diabetes and
Obesity Collaborative (KDOC)
All users sign DUA, Complete HIPAA training
Data Use Advisory Committee reviews research protocols

Address concerns over use of data
Function to advise on research data used from the collaboration
Composed of providers and administrators representing sites
All research protocols will be reviewed by committee

KDOC Data Repository:
Claims Data Progress and Challenges
Medicaid MCOs established during first project year
Now working with Ky Medicaid QA/QI
Department to goal of having claims data linked to clinical data in repository with proper security

Intent: develop custom reporting tools
Go beyond current reporting platforms
(greater flexibility than ‘canned’ reports)
Adopted Tableau analytic platform
Allows dashboards that are dynamic and interactive---allows visualization of data to generate new questions

Interfacing with EMRs for data transfer into a shared repository cannot yet be standardized.
EMR vendor characteristics and practice-based concerns must be addressed one-by-one
Expert technical assistance is required for practices to share clinical data for QI or research
EMR Vendors should be at the table from the beginning

Benefits for each collaborating practice, payer and research stakeholder cannot all be anticipated; they will fluctuate, but staying focused on benefits and value to each stakeholder is essential e.g. Initial QI focus on UDS reporting, but later expanded to HEDIS measures and MCO gain sharing
Research and QI uses require different restrictions and protections…..development of shared trust among stakeholders across organizations is critical

is a very complex undertaking that takes much longer than you imagine it will has reward potentials that will grow and evolve takes you outside your comfort zone, links you with fascinating new colleagues and opens up new vistas

Next steps
Expand into a much larger co-op that stakeholders can use for
QA/QI
Quality indicator capture and reporting
Gainsharing with payers
Research