Evaluation of a Clinical Support Website for the Management of Common Mental Health Conditions in Primary Care on Compliance With Benzodiazepine Prescribing Recommendations

Evaluation of a Clinical Support Website for the Management of Common Mental Health Conditions in Primary Care on Compliance With Benzodiazepine Prescribing Recommendations

This cluster-randomized study aims to evaluate the impact of a web-based clinical support tool on adherence to recommended maximum durations for benzodiazepine prescriptions among new users in primary care. General practitioners (GPs) participating in the study will have access to the website, which provides evidence-based algorithms for the management of common mental health conditions, including anxiety and sleep disorders. Prescription data and patient characteristics will be extracted from the French national health insurance database (DCIR). The primary outcome is the proportion of new benzodiazepine users whose prescriptions comply with recommended duration guidelines. Multilevel logistic regression models will assess the intervention effect, adjusting for patient- and GP-level factors.

Inclusion criteria:

• Being a general practitioner or a specialist in general medicine.
• Practicing in the Occitanie region.
• Working in private practice.
• Being registered under Sector 1 fee agreements.
• Providing informed consent to participate in the study.
• Having computer equipment in the medical office, available during consultation (desktop, laptop, tablet, or smartphone) with internet access.

Exclusion criteria:

- Physicians who have been practicing for less than two years, as they are unlikely to have sufficient retrospective data on prescription reimbursements for their patients.