TY  - JOUR
AU  - Balakrishnan, Ashwin S
AU  - Nguyen, Hao G
AU  - Shinohara, Katsuto
AU  - Au Yeung, Reuben
AU  - Carroll, Peter R
AU  - Odisho, Anobel Y
PY  - 2019
DA  - 2019/6/2
TI  - A Mobile Health Intervention for Prostate Biopsy Patients Reduces Appointment Cancellations: Cohort Study
JO  - J Med Internet Res
SP  - e14094
VL  - 21
IS  - 6
KW  - text messaging
KW  - appointments and schedules
KW  - mHealth
KW  - quality improvement
KW  - urology
KW  - prostate neoplasm
AB  - 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. 
SN  - 1438-8871
UR  - https://www.jmir.org/2019/6/e14094/
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2196/14094
UR  - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31199294
DO  - 10.2196/14094
ID  - info:doi/10.2196/14094
ER  -