Population-level intervention to promote chlamydia screening. Moving toward implementation of chlamydia hedis 2000...

Background: HEDIS 2000 measure includes chlamydia screening in women which is designed to assess the percentage of sexually active women 15 to 25 years who have received at least one screening test for chlamydia during the reporting year. This study is being undertaken to determine feasibility of implementing a population-level intervention within HMOs to promote chlamydia screening. This abstract presents preliminary findings from the Birmingham project of this multicenter study.Methods: In partnerships with two HMOs, series of outreach methods were used in a stepwise fashion to determine potential barriers and enabling factors for the implementation of chlamydia HEDIS measure in a conservative social environment. Mail outreach was sequentially combined with newspaper, TV, radio advertisements and poster displays. Both qualitative and quantitative impact of the outreach efforts were measured across the timeline. The measures included reporting for chlamydia screening (urine LCR) and infection rate, monitoring chlamydia hotline and staffed phoneline use, and assessment of untoward effects and cost-analysis of the chlamydia outreach campaign.Results: The key findings are: the benefit of chlamydia screening is not understood by general public, letters send by Health Plans to their members are not read by many subscribers, and there are wide gaps between adolescents and their parents, in knowledge, attitudes, beliefs in regard to obtaining information and accessing the screening services (teens prefer hotline, brochure in an envelop addressed to teens, incentives for reporting to the clinic for screening, vs. parents prefer staffed phone consults, "exposed" brochure addressed to parents, and no incentives). A month of sustained and repeat multi-media campaign resulted in 330 hotline calls, 83 phone calls and only 17 subjects being tested (3 were positive) though many more intended to come. Cumulative effects and cost of various outreach efforts are being monitored. Informational chlamydia brochures and free test cards mailed to the homes generated no negative response from the subscribers, contrary to the concerns of the HMOs. Conclusion: To be effective, investment in public education campaign and social marketing strategies must be integrated in population-level intervention for the implementation of the chlamydia HEDIS 2000 measure.