Automated SMS-Based Appointment Validation Tool

Medic Mobile

Status and phase: Unknown; Early Phase 1

Conditions: Diabetes Mellitus Type 2; Adult-onset Diabetes

Treatments: Other: SMS Reminder Software Tool

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; Industry

Identifiers

NCT01671189

SMMC-MCK-2012

Details and patient eligibility

About

Medic Mobile conceptualized and proposed the creation of an SMS-based appointment validation tool to automate appointment confirmation and rescheduling. Working in parallel with the San Mateo Medical Center (SMMC) electronic medical records (EMR) system, the software tool will automate reminders that request text responses from patients to either confirm or request to reschedule their upcoming appointments. While simple in concept, this tool aims to free up scarce clinical resources which are currently allocated to daily patient phone call reminders. With funding from a Bay Area foundation, the investigators will develop and pilot this open-source software tool in a 12-month randomized-controlled trial, slated to begin in October 2012. The endpoints of the study will aim to demonstrate improvements in both appointment adherence and glycemic control.

Enrollment: 300 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Belong to Willow Clinic or Fair Oaks Clinic under the San Mateo Medical Center
• Have a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes as indicated by ICD-9 code of 249.xx or 250.xx
• Have a most recent hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) level greater than 7%
• Are at least 18 years of age
• Have access to cell phone
• Are literate or live with a friend/family member who is literate and willing to handle associated text messages

Exclusion criteria

• Have a terminal illness and prognosis of less than one year
• Are unable to demonstrate the ability to reply to an SMS and lack an appropriate proxy
• Are pregnant or expect to be pregnant in the next 6-9 months

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

---

300 participants in 2 patient groups

SMS Appointment Reminders

Experimental group

Description:

150 patients will be randomly assigned to the intervention arm of the study and receive text reminders about their upcoming appointments.

Treatment:

Other: SMS Reminder Software Tool

Existing Reminder Protocol

No Intervention group

Description:

150 patients will be randomly assigned to the control arm of the study and will not receive SMS reminders about their upcoming appointments. They will, however, be subject to the clinics' existing reminder protocol (phone call reminders by either clinic personnel or computer machine).