An interventional study of message and provider in Emergency Treatment and Telephone Hotlines, sponsored by Geisinger Clinic. Completed at 1 site in United States. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2023-07-18.
Sponsored by Geisinger Clinic · Not applicable, Interventional, and Health services research
In the present study, patients will be sent a message shortly after completing a medical procedure that informs or reminds them that they can reach out to Geisinger, and how to do it, if they have any medical issues or concerns. Researchers will assess if such messages make patients more likely to contact Geisinger with post-procedure medical concerns and decrease emergency department utilization.
Decreasing emergency department (ED) over-utilization is a priority for healthcare systems across the country. Patients uncertain about a medical issue routinely end up in the ED when less costly and time-consuming alternatives could have addressed their concern. If patients reach out to healthcare facilities rather than heading directly to the ED, they can often be directed toward resources better suited to their concerns than the ED.
Geisinger is thus working to encourage patients to contact healthcare providers if any concerns arise and patients are uncertain about where to go for care. Patients who have recently had a medical procedure may be particularly valuable to encourage, as they routinely have concerns related to the procedure and discharge can serve as a useful touch-point to remind the patient where they can go for questions or concerns.
In the present study, patients will be sent a patient portal message shortly after completing any Women's Health medical procedure. The message will inform or remind patients how they can reach Geisinger if they have any medical issues or concerns. The purpose of this study is to assess if such messages make patients more likely to contact Geisinger with medical concerns and, in turn, decrease unnecessary ED utilization. This study will A/B test 2 messages, encouraging patients to either call their recent provider directly or to call a tele-nurse hotline, and will assess if these messages perform better than a control group that will not be sent any such message.
Generalized linear models will examine the primary study outcomes as a function of the study arms (between-subjects).
1,691 studies on the registry are indexed under Emergencies; 332 are open to participants now.
This study's enrollment of 11,546 is above the median of 145 across 930 interventional studies indexed under Emergencies.
Browse Emergencies studies →Geisinger Clinic is the lead sponsor of 125 studies on the registry; 21 are open to participants now.
Of its 9 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 7 (78%) have results posted.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Exclusion Criteria:
No intervention control group
This group will receive a patient portal message the morning after completing their procedure. The message will encourage patients to call their recent Women's Health provider (with appropriate phone number listed) if any questions or concerns arise about their healthcare.
Behavioral: message · Behavioral: provider
This group will receive a patient portal message the morning after completing their procedure. The message will encourage patients to call Geisinger's nurse triage hotline (with appropriate phone number listed) if any questions or concerns arise about their healthcare.
Behavioral: message · Behavioral: tele-nurse
patient portal message
nudging calling the patient's provider
nudging calling the tele-nurse
Phone calls
Proportion of patients who call the tele-nurse or their provider within 30 days of their appointment
Time frame: 18 months or as long as it takes to reach N=17,300, whichever occurs first
ED utilization
Proportion of patients who visit the ED within 30 days of their appointment
Time frame: 18 months or as long as it takes to reach N=17,300, whichever occurs first
Phone calls
Proportion of patients who call the tele-nurse or their provider within 30 days of their appointment
Time frame: 12 months
ED utilization
Proportion of patients who visit the ED within 30 days of their appointment
Time frame: 12 months
Phone calls - surgical patients only
Proportion of patients who call the tele-nurse or their provider within 30 days of their appointment
Time frame: 18 months or as long as it takes to reach N=17,300, whichever occurs first
ED utilization - surgical patients only
Proportion of patients who visit the ED within 30 days of their appointment
Time frame: 18 months or as long as it takes to reach N=17,300, whichever occurs first
Phone calls - surgical patients only
Proportion of patients who call the tele-nurse or their provider within 30 days of their appointment
Time frame: 12 months
ED utilization - surgical patients only
Proportion of patients who visit the ED within 30 days of their appointment
Time frame: 12 months
Documents are hosted by the registry — open the source record to download them.
Plan to share: Yes — Data with no personally identifiable information will be made available to other researchers on the Open Science Framework for transparency.
Supporting information: Analytic code
This study is completed, as verified in Jul 2023. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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