The Effect of Informative Letters on the Prescription and Receipt of Seroquel

Delivery of Health Care Clinical Trial

Official title:

The Effect of Informative Letters on the Prescription and Receipt of Seroquel

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT02467933
• Other study ID #: JPAL-LETTERS-SEROQUEL
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: April 2015
• Est. completion date: April 2017

Study information

• Verified date: August 2021
• Source: Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

Abusive prescribing exposes patients to unnecessary health risks and results in wasteful public expenditures. This study will evaluate an innovative approach to fighting abusive prescription: sending letters to suspected inappropriate prescribers warning them that they are outliers compared to their peers and have been flagged for review. The study will target high prescribers of Seroquel (Quetiapine), an atypical antipsychotic. Using claims data, the investigators will assess the effect of the letters on prescribing of Seroquel, receipt of Seroquel by patients, substitution behavior by prescribers and patients, and health outcomes of patients.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 5055
• Est. completion date: April 2017
• Est. primary completion date: January 2016
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: N/A and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• General care practitioner
• Outlier with respect to the count of Seroquel prescription drug treatments relative to peer group of prescribers in 2013 and 2014
• Outlier with respect to the count of Seroquel 30-day equivalent prescription drug treatments relative to peer group of prescribers in 2013 and 2014

Exclusion Criteria:

• Deceased

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (U.S.)
• Delivery of Health Care
• Economics
• Fraud
• Health Expenditures

Intervention

Other:
• Placebo letter
The placebo letter describes a new rule in Medicare that requires prescribers to enroll in Medicare
• Initial Informative letter
The intervention is a letter that describes the Seroquel prescribing activity of the individual in comparison to a peer group of similar prescribers. It highlights the fact that the prescriber's activity is highly unlike her peers.
• Followup Informative Letter
The followup informative letter is identical to the initial informative letter except it provides an update on more recent prescribing rather than a description of earlier prescribing.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
n/a

Sponsors (3)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab	Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, General Services Administration (GSA)

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	30-day equivalent prescribing of Seroquel treatments	The prescribing of Seroquel over the 9 months following the initial sending of the letters. Prescribing is defined as the total "days supply" of Seroquel attributed to the prescriber, expressed in "30-day equivalents" i.e. divided by 30.	9 months
Secondary	30-day equivalent prescribing of Seroquel treatments		3 months
Secondary	30-day equivalent prescribing of Seroquel treatments		6 months
Secondary	30-day equivalent prescribing of Seroquel treatments		1 year

External Links

•   American Economic Association Randomized Controlled Trials Registry Entry