NCT05660187

VIRtual Versus UsuAL In-office Care for Multiple Sclerosis (VIRTUAL-MS)

Virtual Versus Usual In-office Care for Multiple Sclerosis: A Randomized Trial (VIRTUAL-MS)

• Status: Active Not Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 120 (actual)
• Sponsor: The Cleveland Clinic · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The current standard of outpatient MS care depends on in-clinic visits, but MS patients face many barriers to accessing this care. These barriers include those resulting from the disease itself, such as physical limitations, driving restrictions and financial limitations, and they are further compounded by an overall shortage of neurologists. Furthermore, MS care has a significant economic impact, with the estimated indirect and direct costs for treating MS in the US estimated to be \> $85.4 billion. Therefore, there is a need to improve access to and reduce cost of MS care, and telehealth is a potential solution. The VIRTUAL-MS study has been designed to evaluate the impact of telehealth care on MS clinical outcomes, costs, and satisfaction compared to in-person care. Additionally, the study aims to evaluate facilitators and barriers to telehealth use to inform widespread implementation.

Detailed description

The VIRTUAL-MS study aims to evaluate the impact of telehealth on MS care. The study will conduct a 24 month randomized controlled clinical trial at two Centers (Cleveland Clinic and University of California San Francisco) and will enroll 60 adult people with MS per Center with a recent diagnosis of MS. Participants will be randomized 1:1 to receive follow-up MS care via scheduled telehealth, or standard in-clinic, visits. All participants will have in-person visits at baseline and 24 months with in-person study visit including clinical assessments, patient reported outcomes, and medical history review. All participants will have clinical visits with their neurology clinician every 6 months (months 6, 12, and 18) via in-person or telehealth per randomized arm. The primary objective of this study is to determine if MS care delivered via telehealth is non-inferior compared to in-clinic MS care as measured by worsening in one of the Multiple Sclerosis Functional Composite (MSFC) components at Month 24. The secondary objectives of this study include the following: * To determine if MS care delivered via telehealth has superior patient satisfaction compared to in-person MS care as measured by baseline to 24 month change in PSQ-18. * To determine if MS care delivered via telehealth is more cost-effective than MS care delivered via in-person visits as measured by total non-medication costs over 24 months. The researchers will also explore other clinical outcomes, treatment adherence, digital outcomes, patient experience, and clinician experience.

Conditions

• Multiple Sclerosis

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Multiple Sclerosis Clinical Care Delivery via telehealth	Intervention includes clinical care delivered via telehealth
OTHER	Multiple Sclerosis Clinical Care Delivery via standard in clinic visits	Intervention includes clinical care delivered via standard in clinic visits

Timeline

• Start date: 2023-03-31
• Primary completion: 2027-12-31
• Completion: 2027-12-31
• First posted: 2022-12-21
• Last updated: 2026-01-28

Locations

2 sites across 1 country: United States