Publications

BACKGROUND

Preconsultation exchange is an emerging model of specialty care proposed by the American College of Physicians that seeks to answer a clinical question without a formal patient visit to the specialty clinic. This form of specialty care has been little studied. We sought to determine the appropriateness of preconsultation exchange for ambulatory hepatology consultations within our urban health care system.

METHODS

Retrospective study of referrals for ambulatory hepatology consultation in the safety net health care system of San Francisco, Calif from January 2007 through April 2010.

RESULTS

Of the 500 referrals reviewed, 87 were excluded as repeat requests. The most common reasons for referral were hepatitis B (34.9%) and hepatitis C (32.0%). Fifty-six referrals (13.6%) were appropriate for preconsultation exchange, and 190 (46.0%) were inappropriate for preconsultation exchange. One hundred sixty-seven (40.4%) referrals did not include enough information to determine appropriateness for preconsultation exchange. Most of these (83.8%) were made for hepatitis B or hepatitis C, despite the presence of explicit referral guidelines. Midlevel providers were more likely than physicians to provide enough information to determine appropriateness for preconsultation exchange.

CONCLUSION

In our urban health care system, preconsultation exchange appears to be an appropriate form of specialty care for some ambulatory hepatology consultations. Communication between primary care provider and specialist appears to be an important barrier to broader implementation of preconsultation exchange. Optimizing the preconsultation exchange is critical to improve the primary-specialty care interface, and to build a true Patient-Centered Medical Home Neighborhood.

The CCR5 inhibitor maraviroc has been hypothesized to decrease T-cell activation in HIV-infected individuals, but its independent immunologic effects have not been established in a placebo-controlled trial. We randomized 45 HIV-infected subjects with CD4 counts <350 cells per mm(3) and plasma HIV RNA levels <48 copies per mL on antiretroviral therapy (ART) to add maraviroc vs placebo to their regimen for 24 weeks followed by 12 weeks on ART alone. Compared with placebo-treated subjects, maraviroc-treated subjects unexpectedly experienced a greater median increase in % CD38+HLA-DR+ peripheral blood CD8+ T cells at week 24 (+2.2% vs -0.7%, P = .014), and less of a decline in activated CD4+ T cells (P < .001). The % CD38+HLA-DR+ CD4+ and CD8+ T cells increased nearly twofold in rectal tissue (both P < .001), and plasma CC chemokine receptor type 5 (CCR5) ligand (macrophage-inflammatory protein 1β) levels increased 2.4-fold during maraviroc intensification (P < .001). During maraviroc intensification, plasma lipopolysaccharide declined, whereas sCD14 levels and neutrophils tended to increase in blood and rectal tissue. Although the mechanisms explaining these findings remain unclear, CCR5 ligand-mediated activation of T cells, macrophages, and neutrophils via alternative chemokine receptors should be explored. These results may have relevance for trials of maraviroc for HIV preexposure prophylaxis and graft-versus-host disease. This trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as #NCT00735072.