Emergency Service, Hospital
Conditions
Brief summary
The goal of this campaign is to reduce unnecessary visits to a Geisinger emergency department (ED)/encourage patients with high acuity visits to follow up with an appropriate Geisinger provider. In this campaign, patients will be assigned to receive or not receive outreach following ED discharge that is aligned with the goal. Outreach will occur via a text message, as well as information added to the patient's after visit summary, and will includecalls to action to see their Geisinger CMSL PCP either in person or virtually. The study will assess whether ED use differs across patients in different outreach conditions. It will also examine whether patients follow through on the message-specific calls to action in the messages differently across conditions.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALInformation about healthcare resources
Text messages will be sent following discharge from the emergency department; text may also be modified in the (online and/or printed) discharge summary packet.
Sponsors
Geisinger Clinic
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH
Masking
NONE
Masking description
Patients will be aware of their own messages but not of messages sent to other patients or in other arms.
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* \>= 18 years of age * Geisinger ED visit rated as low acuity (L4 or L5) * Discharged from Geisinger ED in past 24 hours
Exclusion criteria
* Cannot be contacted via the communication modality being used in the study (i.e., SMS), due to insufficient/missing contact information in the EHR or because the patient opted out * Admitted to hospital * Already included in intervention in past 365 days
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Return to Geisinger ED | within 120 days following day of discharge | ED visit (yes/no) |
Other
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| PCP visit | within 60 days following day of discharge | PCP appointment attended (yes/no) |
| Telehealth appointment made | within 60 days following day of discharge | Telehealth appointment made (yes/no) |
| Telehealth appointment attended | within 60 days following day of discharge | Telehealth appointment attended (yes/no) |
| PCP appointment made | within 60 days following day of discharge | PCP appointment made (yes/no) |
| Any of the suggested actions taken | within 60 days following day of discharge | PCP called or visited, telehealth appointment attended, or PCP or telehealth appointment made (yes/no) |
| Urgent care visit | within 60 days following day of discharge | Urgent care appointment attended (yes/no) |
| Call made to PCP | within 60 days following day of discharge | Record of patient call to PCP (yes/no) |
Countries
United States
Outcome results
None listed