Helping doctors prescribe blood thinners for atrial fibrillation
Official title: SUPPORT-AF IV
Funded at Univ of Massachusetts Med Sch Worcester · NIH-11420052 · Data updated 2026-11-12
A new electronic alert for doctors aims to help people with atrial fibrillation get guideline-recommended blood thinners.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Univ of Massachusetts Med Sch Worcester NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Worcester, United States) |
| Project start | August 1, 2021 |
| Project end | June 30, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $225,422 |
| NIH project number | 3R01HL155343-05S1 |
| Project ID | NIH-11420052 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are people with atrial fibrillation who have elevated stroke risk, are not currently on oral anticoagulants, and receive cardiology care at one of the participating health systems.
✕Less likely to help
People already taking guideline-recommended anticoagulants, those with clear contraindications to anticoagulation, or those cared for outside the participating systems are unlikely to benefit directly from this project.
What this research studies
If you have atrial fibrillation, the project adds a prompt in your doctor's electronic health record when you have high stroke risk and are not on anticoagulation. The alert will be used in cardiology clinics at two health systems and the team will track whether clinicians start more patients on recommended blood thinners. Researchers will study how clinicians respond to the alert using interviews and EHR access logs, then improve the alert based on what they learn. They will also create a toolkit so other hospitals can adopt the alert.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, more people with atrial fibrillation could receive appropriate anticoagulants and have a lower risk of stroke and related disability.
How similar studies have gone: Previous EHR alert and decision-support efforts have shown mixed but often promising improvements in anticoagulant prescribing, and this project builds on those approaches with enhanced alerts and implementation support.
Where this research is happening
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Univ of Massachusetts Med Sch Worcester
Worcester, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Kapoor, Alok — Univ of Massachusetts Med Sch Worcester
- Study coordinator: Kapoor, Alok
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.