OSU-CHS using grant funds to improve care, outcomes of patients with VTE

OSU-CHS using grant funds to improve care, outcomes of patients with VTE

Tuesday, September 9, 2025

Media Contact: Sara Plummer | Senior Communications Coordinator | 918-561-1282 | [email protected]

A team from Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences is hard at work on a grant-funded project to improve the treatment and health care outcomes of patients in rural Oklahoma who are diagnosed with venous thromboembolism, or VTE.

VTE, also called venous thromboembolic disease, refers to blood clots in the legs, like deep leg thrombosis and blood clots in the lungs, called pulmonary embolism.

The American College of Emergency Physicians and the Pfizer/Bristol-Myers Squibb Alliance funded the competitive grant program "Improving the Outpatient Management of Emergency Department Patients with Venous Thromboembolism (VTE) in Rural Areas and Underserved Communities."

Dr. Kelly Rudd, clinical associate professor of medical education, is also the grant's principal investigator at OSU-CHS.

"Oklahoma's rural communities face significant health care disparities, including high rates of VTE and limited access to specialized care," Rudd said. "Rural emergency departments provide essential services to nearly 2 million residents in 66 counties in Oklahoma. These rural emergency departments face unique challenges - remote locations, limited workforce, physician shortages and financial constraints."

Rudd is also working with members of OSU's Virtual Care team, including co-investigator Dr. Bradley Anderson, medical director of Virtual Care and clinical assistant professor of internal medicine.

"Annually, more than 3,000 Oklahomans receive outpatient treatment for VTE. We see it very often. I typically have one or two VTE patients every week," Anderson said. "Lots of things can cause VTE, but the most common causes are a sedentary lifestyle."

This means a person spends most of their day sitting or lying down with minimal physical activity. This can happen for various reasons, including illness, extended travel or trauma, he said. Symptoms of a blood clot can include pain, redness and swelling near the site of the clot. In the case of a pulmonary embolism, it can be chest pain and shortness of breath.

Rudd said of those 3,000 patients discharged to home or self-care after VTE treatment in Oklahoma, more than half were treated in medically underserved areas or communities.

A gap analysis by OSU-CHS revealed that rural emergency departments may lack key tools necessary for high-quality VTE management.

"Many patients also face barriers to accessing outpatient therapy, including anticoagulant medications and follow-up care," she said. "Given these challenges, rural areas may experience higher complication rates and potentially more than 400 preventable VTE-related deaths a year."

Rudd, Anderson and the rest of their grant team are using the almost $200,000 awarded to them to develop education programs, create new technology to support rural medicine providers, and directly help rural emergency departments implement programs to enhance the quality of patient care.

"We are compiling a toolkit of resources that have been created and utilized with the goal of sharing it so those resources can be replicated by others who are experiencing similar challenges," Rudd said.

They are also developing an app that can help guide providers about health care decisions related to patients with VTE, following the most current evidence, data and guidelines.

The team is also working with OSU-CHS' Project ECHO and Office of Educational Development to host virtual, interactive discussions with internationally recognized clinicians on best practices for treating pulmonary embolism as well as create an online VTE University with a self-paced, continuing education program on VTE for health care providers.

OSU-CHS, along with Mount Sinai Health System in New York and Corewell Health in Michigan, were the only institutions awarded this grant funding.

"Oklahoma is a prime example of rural, underserved communities that need just as much help as other areas of the country. We are hard at work to help our own citizens," Anderson said. "At OSU-CHS, as a land-grant university, our mission is to help the communities and citizens of Oklahoma."

And Rudd said collaboration is key to success.

"Health care is a team sport, especially when we're trying to do great things for our patients. This has been an interdisciplinary project, both within our grant team and with rural emergency departments," she said. "This mirrors the mission of OSU-CHS. When health care professionals from different disciplines work together, we can address all aspects of a patient's health - physical, emotional and social. This holistic approach leads to better diagnoses, more comprehensive treatment plans and improved outcomes."