%0 Journal Article
%@ 1438-8871
%I JMIR Publications
%V 21
%N 6
%P e14094
%T A Mobile Health Intervention for Prostate Biopsy Patients Reduces Appointment Cancellations: Cohort Study
%A Balakrishnan,Ashwin S
%A Nguyen,Hao G
%A Shinohara,Katsuto
%A Au Yeung,Reuben
%A Carroll,Peter R
%A Odisho,Anobel Y
%+ Department of Urology, University of California San Francisco, 400 Parnassus Ave, San Francisco, CA,, United States, 1 415 476 1611, anobel.odisho@ucsf.edu
%K text messaging
%K appointments and schedules
%K mHealth
%K quality improvement
%K urology
%K prostate neoplasm
%D 2019
%7 2.6.2019
%9 Original Paper
%J J Med Internet Res
%G English
%X Background: Inadequate patient education and preparation for office-based procedures often leads to delayed care, poor patient satisfaction, and increased costs to the health care system. We developed and deployed a mobile health (mHealth) reminder and education program for patients scheduled for transrectal prostate biopsy. Objective: We aimed to evaluate the impact of an mHealth reminder and education program on appointment cancellation rates, communication frequency, and patient satisfaction. Methods: We developed a text message (SMS, short message service)–based program with seven reminders containing links to Web-based content and surveys sent over an 18-day period (14 days before through 3 days after prostate biopsy). Messages contained educational content, reminders, and readiness questionnaires. Demographic information, appointment cancellations or change data, and patient/provider communication events were collected for 6 months before and after launching the intervention. Patient satisfaction was evaluated in the postintervention cohort. Results: The preintervention (n=473) and postintervention (n=359) cohorts were composed of men of similar median age and racial/ethnic distribution living a similar distance from clinic. The postintervention cohort had significantly fewer canceled or rescheduled appointments (33.8% vs 21.2%, P<.001) and fewer same-day cancellations (3.8% vs 0.5%, P<.001). There was a significant increase in preprocedural telephone calls (0.6 vs 0.8 calls per patient, P=.02) in the postintervention cohort, but not a detectable change in postprocedural calls. The mean satisfaction with the program was 4.5 out of 5 (SD 0.9). Conclusions: An mHealth periprocedural outreach program significantly lowered appointment cancellation and rescheduling and was associated with high patient satisfaction scores with a slight increase in preprocedural telephone calls. This led to fewer underused procedure appointments and high patient satisfaction. 
%M 31199294
%R 10.2196/14094
%U https://www.jmir.org/2019/6/e14094/
%U https://doi.org/10.2196/14094
%U http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31199294