Team-Based Connected Health (TCH) to Improve Clinical Outcomes and Access in Atopic Dermatitis

Skin diseases account for 30% of all physician office visits. In the United States, access to dermatologists remains a significant challenge for those in underserved or rural communities. To increase access to specialists and improve patient outcomes, we will evaluate a team-based connected health (TCH) model that enables structured asynchronous online interactions among patients, primary care providers (PCPs), and dermatologists. The goal of TCH is to enable effective management of chronic skin diseases via high-quality and efficient online care between providers and patients. TCH purports to bring direct and expedient specialist care to patients and PCPs in a location-independent and asynchronous manner.

Specifically, TCH offers several ways that patients and providers can communicate online asynchronously to manage skin diseases: (1) PCP-dermatologist, (2) patient-dermatologist, and (3) patient-PCP interactions. With PCP-dermatologist interactions, PCPs can access dermatologists online asynchronously for consultations or to request a dermatologist to assume care of the patient's skin disease. With patient-dermatologist interactions, patients can upload clinical images and history online and obtain asynchronous evaluation and recommendations from dermatologists directly. Finally, PCPs have the option of managing their patients' skin diseases online. Importantly, TCH applies efficient workflow that maximally supports providers and fosters multi-directional, informed communication among patients, PCPs, and dermatologists.

To evaluate the impact of TCH, we use atopic dermatitis (AD) as a disease model. AD is a common, relapsing inflammatory skin disease affecting 32 million individuals in the U.S. AD is characterized by intense itching and red, scaly patches. It incurs significant morbidities and high healthcare costs. To address skin inflammation, itch, and psychosocial consequences, PCPs and dermatologists need to adopt a team-based approach to effectively manage all aspects of AD.

The primary goal of the proposed research is to test whether the online TCH model results in equivalent improvements in disease severity and quality of life, provides better access to specialist care, and is cost-saving as compared to usual in-person care in pediatric and adult patients with AD. Specifically, we will conduct a pragmatic, cluster-randomized controlled equivalency trial and use validated measures to compare AD disease severity, health-related quality of life, and access to care between TCH and in-person care. We will also compare costs of the two healthcare delivery models from a societal perspective by conducting cost- minimization and sensitivity analyses.

This proposal evaluates a significant innovation in specialty-care delivery that will likely result in improved patient outcomes, greater access to specialists, and cost savings. The study findings will be highly impactful and have immense dissemination potential to the management of many other chronic diseases.