A clinician nudge, alone or combined with a patient nudge, can increase initiation of statin prescribing during primary care visits, according to a study published in JAMA Cardiology. Srinath Adusumalli, MD, MSHP, MBMI, FACC, and colleagues examined statin prescribing for 158 clinicians from 28 primary care practices
(N=4,131 patients) to determine whether nudges to clinicians, patients, or both can increase initiation of statin prescribing. The usual care group received no interventions; the clinician nudge included an active choice prompt in the EHR during the patient visit and monthly feedback on prescribing patterns; the patient nudge included an interactive text message delivered 4 days prior to the visit; and the combined nudge included both clinician and patient nudges. During the pre-intervention period, statins were prescribed to 5.6%, 4.8%, 6.0%, and 4.7% of patients in the usual care, patient nudge, clinician nudge, and combined groups, respectively. During the intervention, statins were prescribed to 7.3%, 8.5%, 13.0%, and 15.5% of patients in the usual care,
patient nudge, clinician nudge, and combined nudge groups, respectively.

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