Prescribing Patterns, PhysicianNCT06998966
Optimizing Proton Pump Inhibitors (PPI) Prescribing With EHR-Based Decision Support
A study testing Algorithmic Defaulting (Indication-Based Default) and Active Physician Choice in people with Prescribing Patterns, Physician and Physician's Practice Patterns, run by University of California, Los Angeles at 1 site in United States.
Trial summary
The proposed study is a quality improvement initiative designed to rigorously evaluate new variations of UCLA Health's proton pump inhibitor (PPI) order panels, building on internal quality improvement efforts to optimize prescribing workflows within the Electronic Health Record (EHR). Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 50 years and older
- Conditions the study is for
- Prescribing Patterns, Physician, Physician's Practice Patterns, Drug Utilization Review
- What is being tested?
- Algorithmic Defaulting (Indication-Based Default) and Active Physician Choice
- Type of treatment
- Pill or oral medicine, Lifestyle or therapy programme
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 372 participants
- Where
- 1 siteUnited States
- Study dates
- Jun 2026to Jun 2027
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- Not yet: the study is under way
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 50 years and older
- All sexes
- No healthy volunteers
- Adult, Older adult
Who may be able to join
- UCLA Health primary care physicians who have a clinical full-time equivalency of at least 25%.
Who cannot join
- Physicians with a clinical full-time equivalency of less than 25%
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country. Contact the study team or a site near you to ask about taking part.
United States1 site, 1 recruiting
- Recruiting
UCLA Health System
Los Angeles, California, 90024
Katelyn Clinical Research Coordinator, 310-267-5250, katenguyen@mednet.ucla.edu
About this study
Official title: Quality Improvement Initiative Leveraging Electronic Healthcare Records to Reduce Inappropriate Proton Pump Inhibitors (PPI) Prescribing at UCLA.
The proposed study is a quality improvement initiative designed to rigorously evaluate new variations of UCLA Health's proton pump inhibitor (PPI) order panels, building on internal quality improvement efforts to optimize prescribing workflows within the Electronic Health Record (EHR). PPIs are notoriously overprescribed, and the study team has identified that the CareConnect default prescription setting of 90 days with three refills (360 pill days) exceed standard guidelines (in most cases, 60 pill days). It is unclear whether this is the most appropriate workflow. Given that deprescribing PPIs carries minimal risk for most patients, this initiative will assess whether modifying defaulted prescription lengths influences prescribing behavior while ensuring physicians retain full decision-making authority.
This evaluation of PPI order panel variations is embedded within UCLA's existing EHR system, ensuring that changes are tested pragmatically within routine workflows. The study aims to determine whether small adjustments to the order panel can better align prescribing patterns with clinical best practices while maintaining physician autonomy.
- Conditions
- Prescribing Patterns, Physician, Physician's Practice Patterns, Drug Utilization Review
- Being tested
- Algorithmic Defaulting (Indication-Based Default), Active Physician Choice
- Keywords
- Proton Pump Inhibitors, Quality Improvement, Healthcare Utilization, Clinical Decision Support, resource utilization
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Algorithmic Defaulting (Indication-Based Default)Behavioural
PPIs are frequently overprescribed, and the CareConnect default prescription setting of 90 days with three refills (360 pill days) exceed standard guidelines (in most cases, 60 pill days). It is unclear whether this is the most appropriate workflow. Given that deprescribing PPIs carries minimal risk for most patients, this initiative will assess whether modifying defaulted prescription lengths influences prescribing behavior while ensuring physicians retain full decision-making authority.
Active Physician ChoiceBehavioural
PPIs are frequently overprescribed, and the CareConnect default prescription setting of 90 days with three refills (360 pill days) exceed standard guidelines (in most cases, 60 pill days). It is unclear whether this is the most appropriate workflow. Given that deprescribing PPIs carries minimal risk for most patients, this initiative will assess whether requiring providers to actively select prescription lengths influences prescribing behavior while ensuring physicians retain full decision-making authority.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Control | No intervention | •Physicians use an unchanged prescribing workflow for Proton Pump Inhibitors (PPI) medications, with no changes to default dosage or duration. |
| Algorithmic Defaulting (Indication-Based Default) | Experimental | The Electronic Health Record (EHR) automatically evaluates whether the patient at hand meets guideline criteria for long-term vs. short-term Proton Pump Inhibitors (PPI) use and it selects a default PPI prescription duration. (Providers can override the defaulted duration if they disagree with the automated assessment.) The order panel displays each PPI option below one of the following duration choices: For short-term PPI, this includes patients with conditions like Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). For long-term PPI, this includes patients with conditions requiring extended therapy (e.g. Barrett's esophagus, chronic NSAID use) Receives: Behavioral: Algorithmic Defaulting (Indication-Based Default) |
| Active Physician Choice | Experimental | •The order panel displays each PPI option below one of the following duration choices: For short-term PPI, this includes patients with conditions like GERD. For long-term PPI, this includes patients with conditions requiring extended therapy (e.g. Barrett's esophagus, chronic NSAID use). The order panel removes the default selection, thus requiring providers to actively select a prescription duration for each patient, given the guideline education presented in the panel. Receives: Behavioral: Active Physician Choice |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Inappropriate Pill Days
The study will take place within the existing UCLA Health Electronic Health Record (EHR) infrastructure. Data will be automatically collected from the EHR, focusing on pill days in excess of guidelines. The trial team will validate an eMeasure of inappropriate prescriptions as the primary outcome.
Measured: 12 months
Secondary outcomes (4)
Prescription Discontinuations
The study will take place within the existing UCLA Health EHR infrastructure. Data will be automatically collected from the EHR, focusing on prescriptions that have been discontinued for 90 days or more.
Measured: 12 months
Prescription Refills
The study will take place within the existing UCLA Health EHR infrastructure. Data will be automatically collected from the EHR, focusing on prescriptions that are refilled.
Measured: 12 months
Overall Average Pill Days
The study will take place within the existing UCLA Health EHR infrastructure. Data will be automatically collected from the EHR, focusing on pill days overall.
Measured: 12 months
GI Bleeding Hospitalization
Balancing measure to ensure reducing PPIs does not lead to harm.
Measured: 12 months
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted31 May 2025
- Study startJun 2026 (estimated)
- Primary completionApr 2027 (estimated)
- Study completionJun 2027 (estimated)
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Other trials for Prescribing Patterns, PhysicianStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- More trials run by University of California, Los AngelesThe sponsor's other registered studies.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Health services research
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- Double blind
- Who is masked
- Care provider, Investigator
- Enrolment
- 372 participants (estimated)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- University of California, Los Angeles
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- National Institute on Aging (NIA)
- Responsible party
- Principal investigator, John N. Mafi, MD, MPH, University of California, Los Angeles
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT06998966
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- IRB-25-0231
- Other IDs
- 1K76AG064392-01A1
- Status last verified
- Apr 2026
- First submitted
- 21 May 2025
- Last updated
- 29 Apr 2026
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- No
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 29 Apr 2026. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Quality Improvement Initiative Leveraging Electronic Healthcare Records to Reduce Inappropriate Proton Pump Inhibitors (PPI) Prescribing at UCLA.
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT06998966
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- IRB-25-0231
- Conditions
- Prescribing Patterns, Physician, Physician's Practice Patterns, Drug Utilization Review
- Keywords
- Proton Pump Inhibitors, Quality Improvement, Healthcare Utilization, Clinical Decision Support, resource utilization
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Recruiting
- Enrolment
- 372 participants (estimated)
- Lead sponsor
- University of California, Los AngelesUniversity, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- National Institute on Aging (NIA)
- Study start
- Jun 2026 (estimated)
- Primary completion
- Apr 2027 (estimated)
- Study completion
- Jun 2027 (estimated)
- First posted
- 31 May 2025 (actual)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
The proposed study is a quality improvement initiative designed to rigorously evaluate new variations of UCLA Health's proton pump inhibitor (PPI) order panels, building on internal quality improvement efforts to optimize prescribing workflows within the Electronic Health Record (EHR). PPIs are notoriously overprescribed, and the study team has identified that the CareConnect default prescription setting of 90 days with three refills (360 pill days) exceed standard guidelines (in most cases, 60 pill days). It is unclear whether this is the most appropriate workflow. Given that deprescribing PPIs carries minimal risk for most patients, this initiative will assess whether modifying defaulted prescription lengths influences prescribing behavior while ensuring physicians retain full decision-making authority.
This evaluation of PPI order panel variations is embedded within UCLA's existing EHR system, ensuring that changes are tested pragmatically within routine workflows. The study aims to determine whether small adjustments to the order panel can better align prescribing patterns with clinical best practices while maintaining physician autonomy.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Health services research
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- Double blind (care provider, investigator)
- Number of arms
- 3
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Control | No intervention | –•Physicians use an unchanged prescribing workflow for Proton Pump Inhibitors (PPI) medications, with no changes to default dosage or duration. |
| Algorithmic Defaulting (Indication-Based Default) | Experimental | Behavioral: Algorithmic Defaulting (Indication-Based Default)The Electronic Health Record (EHR) automatically evaluates whether the patient at hand meets guideline criteria for long-term vs. short-term Proton Pump Inhibitors (PPI) use and it selects a default PPI prescription duration. (Providers can override the defaulted duration if they disagree with the automated assessment.) The order panel displays each PPI option below one of the following duration choices: For short-term PPI, this includes patients with conditions like Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). For long-term PPI, this includes patients with conditions requiring extended therapy (e.g. Barrett's esophagus, chronic NSAID use) |
| Active Physician Choice | Experimental | Behavioral: Active Physician Choice•The order panel displays each PPI option below one of the following duration choices: For short-term PPI, this includes patients with conditions like GERD. For long-term PPI, this includes patients with conditions requiring extended therapy (e.g. Barrett's esophagus, chronic NSAID use). The order panel removes the default selection, thus requiring providers to actively select a prescription duration for each patient, given the guideline education presented in the panel. |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 50 years and older
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Not accepted
- Age groups
- Adult, Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (1 listed)
- UCLA Health primary care physicians who have a clinical full-time equivalency of at least 25%.
Key exclusion criteria (1 listed)
- Physicians with a clinical full-time equivalency of less than 25%
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| Algorithmic Defaulting (Indication-Based Default)PPIs are frequently overprescribed, and the CareConnect default prescription setting of 90 days with three refills (360 pill days) exceed standard guidelines (in most cases, 60 pill days). It is unclear whether this is the most appropriate workflow. Given that deprescribing PPIs carries minimal risk for most patients, this initiative will assess whether modifying defaulted prescription lengths influences prescribing behavior while ensuring physicians retain full decision-making authority. | Behavioural | Algorithmic Defaulting (Indication-Based Default) |
| Active Physician ChoicePPIs are frequently overprescribed, and the CareConnect default prescription setting of 90 days with three refills (360 pill days) exceed standard guidelines (in most cases, 60 pill days). It is unclear whether this is the most appropriate workflow. Given that deprescribing PPIs carries minimal risk for most patients, this initiative will assess whether requiring providers to actively select prescription lengths influences prescribing behavior while ensuring physicians retain full decision-making authority. | Behavioural | Active Physician Choice |
Primary outcome
Inappropriate Pill Days
Time frame: 12 months
The study will take place within the existing UCLA Health Electronic Health Record (EHR) infrastructure. Data will be automatically collected from the EHR, focusing on pill days in excess of guidelines. The trial team will validate an eMeasure of inappropriate prescriptions as the primary outcome.
4 secondary outcomes
Prescription Discontinuations
Time frame: 12 months
Prescription Refills
Time frame: 12 months
Overall Average Pill Days
Time frame: 12 months
GI Bleeding Hospitalization
Time frame: 12 months
Results and safety
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 29 Apr 2026.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: No
Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part.
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Algorithmic Defaulting (Indication-Based Default) and Active Physician Choice in people with Prescribing Patterns, Physician and Physician's Practice Patterns, run by University of California, Los Angeles at 1 site in United States.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 1 inclusion and 1 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: looking for participants now, as of the sponsor's last update on 29 Apr 2026. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 1 site in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
Contact Katelyn Clinical Research Coordinator (310-267-5250, katenguyen@mednet.ucla.edu), or a site near the patient. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Inappropriate Pill Days (time frame: 12 months). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 29 Apr 2026.