SCALE-UP Utah: Community-Academic Partnership to Address COVID-19 Vaccination Rates Among Utah Community Health Centers

SCALE-UP Utah: Community-Academic Partnership to Address COVID-19 Among Utah Community Health Centers

SCALE-UP Utah is a community-academic partnership to address COVID-19 among Utah community health centers. The long-term objective of the project is to increase the reach, acceptance, and uptake of COVID-19 vaccines among Utah's Community Health Center patient population. The study will compare two practical, feasible, scalable interventions to increase COVID-19 vaccine uptake in Utah Community Health Centers:

1. Text Messaging (TM): population health management (PHM) intervention that analyzes EHR data to automatically identify patients eligible for COVID-19 vaccination and uses bi-directional text messaging to help connect patients to a vaccination site;
2. Patient Navigation (PN): PHM intervention to increase vaccination uptake among eligible patients (identified via TM) using patient navigation (e.g., motivating patients, addressing logistics and barriers).

The project will employ a rapid cycle research approach in which interventions are tested on a small scale, using short time frames (e.g., <1 month) and cyclical evaluation cycles.This process involves implementing intervention messages with a small number of clinics or patients, evaluating the outcomes, and either adapting the intervention messages based on findings (and retesting) or disseminating effective approaches to additional clinics or patients. A critical feature of these cycles is the ability to quickly test and refine messages in a limited setting before broader implementation. Throughout the study, intervention messages were updated or adapted in response to evolving public health guidelines, testing procedures, and policy recommendations (e.g., priority populations by age group or geographic area, as advised by the Utah Department of Health and Human Services and relevant federal agencies). However, these updates did not alter the fundamental structure of the intervention arms. Participants were randomized to one of two main conditions-Text Messaging (TM) or Text Messaging plus Patient Navigation (TM+PN)-and all participants within a given arm received interventions aligned with their assigned condition. Adaptations occurred within the content and timing of messages or navigation support, but the core components of the interventions remained consistent across participants within each arm. These adaptations were tracked and incorporated into implementation logs but did not constitute distinct intervention arms or conditions.

The specific aims are to:

1. Implement and evaluate PHM interventions for increasing the uptake of COVID-19 vaccinations among CHC patients across Utah. Our primary outcome, Uptake-Eligible, is defined as the proportion of patients who receive a COVID-19 vaccination out of those who meet eligibility criteria for vaccination. Our study hypothesis is that patients in the TM+PN cohort will have higher rates of uptake-eligible than those in the TM cohort.
2. Examine implementation effectiveness outcomes, as well as characteristics of both clinics and patients that may influence intervention effects and implementation outcomes.

SCALE-UP Utah is a patient-level intervention involving 12 Community Health Centers (39 individual clinics) across Utah. The study is designed to utilize Community Health Center patient records to proactively reach patients for COVID-19 vaccinations. This intervention includes a randomization component between two interventions, text messaging (TM) or text messaging with patient navigation (TM+PN). These two intervention paths are occurring simultaneously within the same clinics.

Text messaging (TM) and text messaging with patient navigation (TM+PN)

Overview:

Participants in the TM condition will receive HIPAA-compliant bidirectional text messages. These texts will include a brief message alerting patients that they are eligible to receive the vaccine and asking participants if they would like to schedule a vaccine. Participants who reply "yes" will receive an additional message with information about how and where to register for the vaccine. This information will vary depending on local availability. Participants who reply "no" will receive a text requesting they contact their local clinic when they decide to receive the vaccine.

Participants in the TM+PN condition will receive the same text message as the participants in the TM condition. Texts will include a brief message alerting patients that they are eligible to receive the vaccine and asking participants if they would like to schedule a vaccine. Participants who reply "yes" will receive the same information about how and where to receive a vaccine however, they will also receive a message alerting them that a Community Health Worker will contact them to assist with this process, in case they need that. At this time the participant has the option to opt-out of this follow up phone call. The patient navigation from the Community Health Worker includes practical advice in addressing barriers to vaccination such as logistics and transportation, as well as fear, skepticism, and hesitancy.

Step One: Primary Data Extraction To identify the cohort for the TM and TM+PN interventions, a subset of EHR data will be manually extracted from the Community Health Centers as text files generated by EHR reports. The first set of EHR reports will contain all patients seen at each of the Community Health Centers in the last 3 years. Subsequent reports will be obtained weekly, including all encounters in the previous week. Data fields will include risk factors such as age, gender, body mass index, encounter diagnoses for medical co-morbidities, patient demographics (e.g., zip code, insurance status, preferred language, race/ethnicity); as well as cellphone number for text messaging and patient navigation.

Step Two: Randomization & Cohort Selection. Once the data are securely housed, all patients will be assigned to either the TM or TM+PN arm of the intervention. This assignment will remain consistent throughout the study. Cohort selection for the text messages will be based on EHR data considering factors such as age, race/ethnicity, language, relevant medical comorbidities, and residence in low-vaccination areas. These selection criteria are consistent with recommendations from Utah Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Step Three: Implementation. SCALE-UP Utah will send HIPPA-compliant bidirectional texts, which is a communication method routinely used by the Community Health Centers, to patients who are eligible for COVID-19 vaccination. Text messages will be designed by the research team and sent using a HIPPA compliant text messaging service. The text messaging service will retrieve the patient cohort from the study database to send the texts to the patients. The text messages will appear to the patients as having originated from their Community Health Center. As part of their general Community Health Center care, patients have agreed to be contacted by their Community Health Center and text message communication is one of those established contact methods. Text messages will be repeated bi-weekly to continuously prompt vaccination update. This process will repeat until the participant indicates that they have either scheduled or received their vaccination. Every text message will include the option to reply STOP to opt-out of receiving text messages at any time.

Inclusion Criteria:

• current patient of a participating community health center
• have a working cellphone,
• have phone number listed in existing electronic medical record at their participating clinic
• speak English or Spanish.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Minors