Impact Evaluation of the Therapeutic Initiative's Type 2 Diabetes in Older Adults Portrait and Therapeutics Letter

Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) is common in older adults (65 years and older). Older adults are more likely to experience negative effects of medications used to treat T2DM, especially low blood sugar. Low blood sugar is dangerous for older adults and can lead to a higher risk of hospitalization. Medications such as insulins or sulfonylureas carry the highest risk of low blood sugar. Available evidence suggests that using insulin or sulfonylureas to treat T2DM to aggressive targets (glycated hemoglobin [A1C] less than 7%) does more harm than good. Therefore, insulin and sulfonylureas are not recommended for older adults with A1C less than 7%. Unfortunately, insulin and sulfonylurea use remains common among older adults living with T2DM.

Audit and feedback is an approach where individual prescribers receive feedback on their own prescribing (and may be compared to a benchmark) with the aim of improving their prescribing. This may be accompanied by education on how and why to improve. The investigators' research group does regular work in this area through the Portrait program, which aims to improve prescribing by providing audit and feedback and education to prescribers in British Columbia (BC), Canada.

This study is a randomized trial testing the effectiveness of personalized prescribing Portraits and Therapeutics Letters on prescribing of sulfonylureas and insulins for older patients with T2DM in the primary care setting in the Canadian province of BC.

6,814 active BC clinicians (family physicians and nurse practitioners) were randomly divided into 2 groups (n =3,407 in each group). At the time the Portraits were generated, there were 515 people registered for Portrait Online, the secure website through which clinicians are able to receive their confidential Portraits (Group 1, n = 259; Group 2, n = 256).

On January 15, 2024 Group 1 clinicians were notified by email that their prescribing Portraits and Therapeutics Letter were available for viewing in their Portrait Online accounts. Nine months later, on October 15, 2024, clinicians in Group 2 received this same notification and access to the same materials. The analysis will assess whether the materials led Group 1 clinicians to change how they prescribe sulfonylureas and insulins to older people with T2DM.

The analysis will include:

• Baseline characteristics of physicians and patients by study group
• Trends in monthly prescribing for all of BC of sulfonylureas and insulins from 1 year prior to release of the materials to the end of the study (January 15, 2023 to January 15, 2025). This will illustrate background trends in prescribing patterns.
• Difference in change from baseline for mean number of patients with A1C < 7% taking a sulfonylurea or insulin between Group 1 and Group 2.
• Proportion of patients with an A1C ≤ 7% who are newly started on a sulfonylurea or insulin by Group 1 prescribers compared to the proportion in the matched control group (Group 2).

Analysis will be conducted using secondary data from administrative databases from the BC Ministry of Health (under an Information Sharing Agreement). The data are patient level and include anonymized information about demographics, health costs, physician billing codes, prescriptions, outpatient records, and hospitalizations. The data do not include personally identifiable patient information.

Inclusion criteria

• Registered with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC or BC College of Nurses and Midwives as a nurse practitioner.
• For physicians: defined as a General Practitioner or Family Physician - Emergency Medicine according to the BC Ministry of Health's Medical Services Plan with a license status of private practice, temporary license, salaried, or post graduate.
• Had ≥100 patients with prescriptions filled at a community pharmacy in 2022.
• Registered for Portrait Online (the program's secure website).

Exclusion criteria

• Not registered with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC or BC College of Nurses and Midwives as a nurse practitioner.
• Physicians who were not classified as a General Practitioner or Family Practice - Emergency Medicine according to the BC Ministry of Health's Medical Services Plan with a license status of private practice, temporary license, salaried, or post graduate.
• Had fewer than 100 patients with prescriptions filled at a community pharmacy in 2022.