Key result
Digital outreach notifications linked to ~9% higher completion of annual preventive visits vs matched controls.
Why the study?
Does an automated outreach system sending e-mail and smartphone notifications improve completion of preventive exams and screenings in patients overdue for preventive services?
Cohort
Does an automated outreach system sending e-mail and smartphone notifications improve completion of preventive exams and screenings in patients overdue for preventive services?
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
An automated outreach system using e-mail and smartphone notifications effectively increases the completion of overdue preventive medical services.
BACKGROUND: Preventive care improves patient health and is cost-effective, yet many patients are not up to date on recommended screenings. OBJECTIVE: Evaluate the effectiveness of an automated system for outreach to patients in need of annual preventive examinations, cervical cancer screening, and diabetes monitoring labs. METHODS: As part of a quality improvement project, we created a population health algorithm and outreach system which was designed to send e-mail and smartphone notifications to patients overdue for preventive services. The study was a cohort study, with a matched control sample. We compared completion of preventive exams and screenings between the 2 groups, in the 4 weeks following the outreach. RESULTS: For annual preventive visits, the intervention group had 9.0% more visits (95%CI: 8.2 to 9.7) than the control group. For cervical cancer screening, the intervention group had 3.2% (95%CI: 2.0% - 4.4%) more visits. Lab action orders for diabetes showed the largest increases. The intervention group had 5.2% (2.5% - 7.9%) more patients get bloodwork and 20.8% (16.9% - 24.6%) get more urine microalbumin tests. CONCLUSIONS: A population health outreach system that used reminders for prevention resulted in patients completing appointments for necessary medical services. Such a system, when deployed more broadly could help close care gaps and improve health for people that are asymptomatic but are due for preventive screenings.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Lesser et al. (2025) conducted a cohort in Overdue for preventive services. Automated e-mail and smartphone notifications vs. Matched control sample was evaluated on Completion of annual preventive visits (9.0% increase, 95% CI 8.2 to 9.7). Automated e-mail and smartphone notifications increased the completion of annual preventive visits by 9.0% (95% CI 8.2-9.7) compared to a matched control group at 4 weeks.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: