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The following is a summary of “Virtual practice facilitation as an implementation strategy for launching opioid safety committees for quality improvement in primary care: feasibility, acceptability, and intervention fidelity,” published in the October 2024 issue of Primary Care by Mogk et al.

Practice facilitation (PF) traditionally involves in-person support to help healthcare practices implement evidence-based changes. Due to COVID-19 lockdowns, many healthcare organizations rapidly transitioned to virtual platforms, yet there is limited data on the effectiveness of virtual PF. 

For a study, researchers evaluated the feasibility, acceptability, and fidelity of virtual PF as an implementation strategy for establishing interdisciplinary opioid safety committees (OSCs) aimed at enhancing opioid safety and care quality for patients on opioid therapy for chronic pain within a primary care setting.

The study was conducted within Kaiser Permanente Washington, a large integrated health system where OSCs were formed in primary care clinics through virtual PF. The OSCs were tasked with monitoring opioid safety, managing patient populations, and performing chart reviews to reduce high-dose opioid prescribing. 

Researchers assessed virtual PF’s feasibility through attendance and retention rates, while acceptability was gauged through interviews with OSC members. Fidelity to the OSC intervention was measured using meeting notes and administrative data, and qualitative methods were used to assess how closely virtual PF adhered to PF’s core functions.

Results demonstrated a successful implementation of virtual PF, with facilitators upholding PF’s core functions throughout the process. OSCs were established in eight clinics, with an average of 17.5 virtual PF meetings conducted over eight months per clinic. The initiative maintained a 75% attendance and 84% retention rate, highlighting high engagement and durability. Interviews indicated that OSC members were highly satisfied with virtual PF, with facilitators effectively assisting teams through technical and operational challenges and helping members build critical skills.

The OSCs were implemented with high fidelity, suggesting that virtual PF is a practical and effective strategy particularly suited for dispersed or remote clinical teams. The findings support the use of virtual PF for future implementations of quality improvement projects, especially when in-person facilitation is not feasible.

Source: bmcprimcare.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12875-024-02632-w