Effect of Patient Navigation With or Without Financial Incentives on Viral Suppression Among Hospitalized Patients With HIV Infection and Substance Use: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Abstract

Importance: Substance use is a major driver of the HIV epidemic and is associated with poor HIV care outcomes. Patient navigation (care coordination with case management) and the use of financial incentives for achieving predetermined outcomes are interventions increasingly promoted to engage patients in substance use disorders treatment and HIV care, but there is little evidence for their efficacy in improving HIV-1 viral suppression rates.

Objective: To assess the effect of a structured patient navigation intervention with or without financial incentives to improve HIV-1 viral suppression rates among patients with elevated HIV-1 viral loads and substance use recruited as hospital inpatients.

Design, setting, and participants: From July 2012 through January 2014, 801 patients with HIV infection and substance use from 11 hospitals across the United States were randomly assigned to receive patient navigation alone (n = 266), patient navigation plus financial incentives (n = 271), or treatment as usual (n = 264). HIV-1 plasma viral load was measured at baseline and at 6 and 12 months.

Interventions: Patient navigation included up to 11 sessions of care coordination with case management and motivational interviewing techniques over 6 months. Financial incentives (up to $1160) were provided for achieving targeted behaviors aimed at reducing substance use, increasing engagement in HIV care, and improving HIV outcomes. Treatment as usual was the standard practice at each hospital for linking hospitalized patients to outpatient HIV care and substance use disorders treatment.

Main outcomes and measures: The primary outcome was HIV viral suppression (≤200 copies/mL) relative to viral nonsuppression or death at the 12-month follow-up.

Results: Of 801 patients randomized, 261 (32.6%) were women (mean [SD] age, 44.6 years [10.0 years]). There were no differences in rates of HIV viral suppression versus nonsuppression or death among the 3 groups at 12 months. Eighty-five of 249 patients (34.1%) in the usual-treatment group experienced treatment success compared with 89 of 249 patients (35.7%) in the navigation-only group for a treatment difference of 1.6% (95% CI, -6.8% to 10.0%; P = .80) and compared with 98 of 254 patients (38.6%) in the navigation-plus-incentives group for a treatment difference of 4.5% (95% CI -4.0% to 12.8%; P = .68). The treatment difference between the navigation-only and the navigation-plus-incentives group was -2.8% (95% CI, -11.3% to 5.6%; P = .68).

Conclusions and relevance: Among hospitalized patients with HIV infection and substance use, patient navigation with or without financial incentives did not have a beneficial effect on HIV viral suppression relative to nonsuppression or death at 12 months vs treatment as usual. These findings do not support these interventions in this setting.

Trial registration: clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT01612169.

Figure. Flow of Patients Through the Project HOPE Trial

CAPI indicates computer-assisted personal interview. ^aConsent was not required for prescreening. ^bInformal tallies showed that refusal, being too ill and discharged before screening were equivalent reasons for not being screened. ^cPhysical functioning criteria included 26 with Karnofsky score < 60; 10 too sick to participate, and 6 cognitive functioning precluded involvement. ^dParticipants in the usual-treatment group received treatment as usual which was not tracked by the study. ^eA patient who died in the 12 month period but was counted as lost to follow-up at 6 months. ^fVirally suppression as treatment success includes participants with viral >200 copies/mL and treatment failure as death. This analysis includes those lost to follow-up for whom medical records of viral load were available.