Ignite Creation Date:
2024-05-06 @ 7:46 PM
Last Modification Date:
2024-10-26 @ 3:13 PM
Study NCT ID:
NCT06131723
Status:
ENROLLING_BY_INVITATION
Last Update Posted:
2024-04-30
First Post:
2023-11-08
Brief Title:
UCLA Health Patient Health Tickler Email
Sponsor:
University of California Los Angeles
Organization:
University of California Los Angeles
Study Overview
Official Title:
UCLA Health Patient Health Tickler Email
Status:
ENROLLING_BY_INVITATION
Status Verified Date:
2024-04
Last Known Status:
None
Delayed Posting:
No
If Stopped, Why?:
Not Stopped
Has Expanded Access:
False
If Expanded Access, NCT#:
N/A
Has Expanded Access, NCT# Status:
N/A
Acronym:
None
Brief Summary:
This is a prospective clinical trial evaluating how a behaviorally-informed outreach email notification impacts patient engagement with primary care This trial is being implemented in conjunction with UCLA Healths larger quality improvement initiative the My Action Plan Quality Improvement Initiative in order to improve primary care preventive measure completion rates
The main question it aims to answer is if sending an enhanced email notification ie enhanced tickler email to identified UCLA Health primary care patients increases their engagement with primary care
Participants will be assigned to either a control standard tickler email or treatment enhanced tickler email condition based on whether their birth date ends in an odd or even number Researchers will compare control and treatment groups to see if and how they differ in pre-defined outcome measures
The main question it aims to answer is if sending an enhanced email notification ie enhanced tickler email to identified UCLA Health primary care patients increases their engagement with primary care
Participants will be assigned to either a control standard tickler email or treatment enhanced tickler email condition based on whether their birth date ends in an odd or even number Researchers will compare control and treatment groups to see if and how they differ in pre-defined outcome measures
Detailed Description:
Health maintenance measures have been shown to be critical in early detection secondary prevention and early management of numerous medical conditions--from diabetes to various cancers The standardization of these health maintenance measures has resulted in major improvements in population health Despite the importance of these primary care tests and screenings many patients are overdue for these tests
Given this healthcare gap it is critical to investigate more effective strategies to communicate to patients about health maintenance measures they need to complete This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a behaviorally-informed outreach email message The investigators intend to launch the study as a part of UCLA Healths My Action Plan initiative a UCLA Health primary care outreach quality improvement initiative aimed at encouraging patients to complete their overdue health maintenance measures
Specifically the My Action Plan MAP initiative is an outreach effort targeting primary care patients at UCLA Health who have outstanding clinically indicated primary care preventative care gaps eg overdue colorectal cancer screening outstanding diabetes tests At the beginning of the month following their birth month patients with at least one of these open care gaps receive a MAP Letter in the form of a patient portal message The MAP Letter contains a personalized list of outstanding preventive care items and actionable steps to complete the items When the MAP Letter is received in the patient portal it triggers an email tickler that is sent to patients personal email address to notify them of the patient portal message
At the beginning of each month patients who are due to receive a MAP Letter will be assigned to receive either the current standard email tickler used by UCLA Health control tickler or a behaviorally-informed email tickler enhanced tickler based on whether their birth date ends in an odd or even number The control email will notify them that they have a new message posted in their MyChart patient portal account and prompt them to sign in to read it The behaviorally-informed email will directly notify them that they are due for an important medical exam and prompt them to sign in to their MyChart patient portal account to schedule their recommended appointment this message will be signed by their primary care doctors office In each month emails will go out to all eligible patients in both conditions at the same time
Both email notifications will contain links to the patients MyChart portal account The control tickler will link patients to their MyChart patient portal home page standard procedure for email ticklers whereas the enhanced tickler will link patients directly to the MAP Letter
The investigators plan to run this clinical trial for 12 months
By studying whether patients review the MAP letter and whether or not the engagement translates into completing health maintenance measures the proposed study will provide insightful information on how health systems could optimize electronic patient outreach
Analysis Plan
The investigators will utilize patient-level ordinary least squares OLS estimation with statistical inferences based on model-robust standard errors The primary model term will be an indicator variable for arm assignment
The analysis will control for sex age raceethnicity indicators for screeningstests that patients are due for which are marked on their MAP letter and whether patients have upcoming primary care appointments at the time of MAP outreach Missing covariate values will be handled by including unknown indicators along with mean imputation for quantitative covariates
Exploratory analyses will investigate heterogeneous treatment effects by patients baseline motivation ie the extent to which patients seem to have an intention to get the screeningstests which will be proxied by each patients history of screeningstests Specifically the investigators will calculate among all the screeningstests that are included in the My Action Plan Initiative and that a patient was due for in the past few years prior to the MAP outreach the investigators aim for 10 years but the exact time window is based on data availability what percentage was completed by the patient as far as UCLA Health could tell A higher percentage indicates a higher baseline motivation to complete the screeningstests patients are due for
The investigators will explore whether the difference between conditions is moderated by how frequently patients have seen their PCP in the past few years prior to the MAP outreach the investigators target 3 years but the exact time window is based on data availability
Additionally the investigators will investigate whether the translation of engagement with the MAP Letter to actual appointment scheduling and screeningtest completion defined later in the secondary outcome section depends on whether patients face structural barriers to get screeningstests The investigators will explore proxies including socioeconomic factors at the zipcode level social vulnerability income insurance type and distance from UCLA Health clinics as a proxy for accessibility to healthcare
Given this healthcare gap it is critical to investigate more effective strategies to communicate to patients about health maintenance measures they need to complete This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a behaviorally-informed outreach email message The investigators intend to launch the study as a part of UCLA Healths My Action Plan initiative a UCLA Health primary care outreach quality improvement initiative aimed at encouraging patients to complete their overdue health maintenance measures
Specifically the My Action Plan MAP initiative is an outreach effort targeting primary care patients at UCLA Health who have outstanding clinically indicated primary care preventative care gaps eg overdue colorectal cancer screening outstanding diabetes tests At the beginning of the month following their birth month patients with at least one of these open care gaps receive a MAP Letter in the form of a patient portal message The MAP Letter contains a personalized list of outstanding preventive care items and actionable steps to complete the items When the MAP Letter is received in the patient portal it triggers an email tickler that is sent to patients personal email address to notify them of the patient portal message
At the beginning of each month patients who are due to receive a MAP Letter will be assigned to receive either the current standard email tickler used by UCLA Health control tickler or a behaviorally-informed email tickler enhanced tickler based on whether their birth date ends in an odd or even number The control email will notify them that they have a new message posted in their MyChart patient portal account and prompt them to sign in to read it The behaviorally-informed email will directly notify them that they are due for an important medical exam and prompt them to sign in to their MyChart patient portal account to schedule their recommended appointment this message will be signed by their primary care doctors office In each month emails will go out to all eligible patients in both conditions at the same time
Both email notifications will contain links to the patients MyChart portal account The control tickler will link patients to their MyChart patient portal home page standard procedure for email ticklers whereas the enhanced tickler will link patients directly to the MAP Letter
The investigators plan to run this clinical trial for 12 months
By studying whether patients review the MAP letter and whether or not the engagement translates into completing health maintenance measures the proposed study will provide insightful information on how health systems could optimize electronic patient outreach
Analysis Plan
The investigators will utilize patient-level ordinary least squares OLS estimation with statistical inferences based on model-robust standard errors The primary model term will be an indicator variable for arm assignment
The analysis will control for sex age raceethnicity indicators for screeningstests that patients are due for which are marked on their MAP letter and whether patients have upcoming primary care appointments at the time of MAP outreach Missing covariate values will be handled by including unknown indicators along with mean imputation for quantitative covariates
Exploratory analyses will investigate heterogeneous treatment effects by patients baseline motivation ie the extent to which patients seem to have an intention to get the screeningstests which will be proxied by each patients history of screeningstests Specifically the investigators will calculate among all the screeningstests that are included in the My Action Plan Initiative and that a patient was due for in the past few years prior to the MAP outreach the investigators aim for 10 years but the exact time window is based on data availability what percentage was completed by the patient as far as UCLA Health could tell A higher percentage indicates a higher baseline motivation to complete the screeningstests patients are due for
The investigators will explore whether the difference between conditions is moderated by how frequently patients have seen their PCP in the past few years prior to the MAP outreach the investigators target 3 years but the exact time window is based on data availability
Additionally the investigators will investigate whether the translation of engagement with the MAP Letter to actual appointment scheduling and screeningtest completion defined later in the secondary outcome section depends on whether patients face structural barriers to get screeningstests The investigators will explore proxies including socioeconomic factors at the zipcode level social vulnerability income insurance type and distance from UCLA Health clinics as a proxy for accessibility to healthcare
Study Oversight
Has Oversight DMC:
None
Is a FDA Regulated Drug?:
False
Is a FDA Regulated Device?:
False
Is an Unapproved Device?:
None
Is a PPSD?:
None
Is a US Export?:
None
Is an FDA AA801 Violation?:
None