A Comprehensive Practice-Friendly Model for Promoting Healthy Behaviors

Unhealthy Diet, Exercise, Smoking, and Alcohol Use

Health Behavior, Prevention, Informatics, Electronic Health Record

Using an electronic health record to link the resources of primary care practices and community programs will help patients to improve their diet and exercise, quit smoking, and moderate their drinking.

We posit that practice systems to promote healthy behaviors must combine five attributes to be effective and sustainable. They must be comprehensive (addressing multiple behaviors and the 5 As), flexible (offering options), generalizable to ordinary practices, practice-friendly (limiting burden), and apply the Chronic Care Model. We will test the effectiveness and implementation of an innovative packaged intervention with these features. Six ACORN-affiliated practices will adopt a brief (3 minute) routine to deliver A1-3 (Ask, Advise, Agree) in the office and to offer patients four options for intensive assistance (Assist \[A4\], Arrange \[A5\]) outside the office. Patients can select 9 months of online, telephone, or group counseling; or usual care. An electronic health record (EHR) will expedite the in-office intervention and referrals. Outcome measures will include health behaviors (derived from 7200 surveys administered pre-intervention and 3 and 9 months post-exposure) and implementation (derived from EHR data, counselee surveys, and patient/staff interviews). We hypothesize that implementing this novel package of interventions will be associated with improved health behaviors (using the Common Measures for physical activity, diet, smoking, and alcohol use). EHR-captured data will measure RE-AIM parameters, including Reach (14 sub-measures), Adoption, and Maintenance. Surveys and qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews with patients and office staff will explore Implementation issues and suggested improvements. We hope to demonstrate that this innovative intervention not only promotes healthy behaviors but is feasible and sustainable in primary care. Accomplishing these goals requires a delicate balancing act--deploying evidence-based strategies that are effective in lifestyle change but limit demands for new staff, training, or time. We strike this balance by harnessing effective technologies and tools and by leveraging resources outside the practice. If our intervention helps patients change unhealthy behaviors and is appealing to ordinary practices, we envision the potential for widespread adoption and substantial population health benefits.

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United States