Timely Nudge About Lab Results to Increase myGeisinger Uptake

Geisinger Health

Status: Completed

Conditions: Health Behavior; Telehealth

Treatments: Behavioral: Timely; Behavioral: Foot-in-the-door; Behavioral: Transparency

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04333199

2020-0316

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of the current study is to test whether sending email communications in a timely manner - when patients have laboratory results available to view on the myGeisinger patient portal - increases enrollment in the portal.

Full description

Online patient portals are convenient tools that improve patient access to healthcare services while often reducing burden to both patients and providers. However, many patients have not enrolled in such portals, including Geisinger's patient portal, known as myGeisinger.

The purpose of the current study is to test whether sending myGeisinger enrollment information in a timely manner - when the benefits of enrolling are most readily available - increases enrollment. Specifically, messages will be timely in terms of lab test results having just been made available online, with the added benefit that patients can view their results prior to receiving them via mail. Unenrolled patients who recently had a laboratory procedure ordered and whose results are now ready for sharing will be informed via email that their lab results are available. At the same time, these patients will be reminded that these results can be viewed online through myGeisinger.

The primary outcome measure of interest, myGeisinger enrollment rates, will be compared between the emailed population and a control group that similarly has lab results available but will not be contacted. In addition, two different versions of the email communication will be tested. One will highlight that the patient will have to go through a sign-up process before viewing test results (in the service of transparency). The other will provide a presumed direct link to view those results, via a button that potentially serves as a pre-commitment step to undergo the registration process ("foot in the door" effect). Secondary analyses will assess differences in enrollment rates as well as unsubscribe rates between the email versions. Exploratory analyses will further examine differences in the rates at which patients opened and clicked on enrollment links within the two emails. Statistical analyses will employ generalized linear models with a binary distribution and log-link function.

Enrollment: 5,012 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Geisinger patient for whom a lab was ordered within 30 days prior to email date
• Patient's lab test result released day before email date

Exclusion criteria

• Patient already enrolled in myGeisinger
• Patient has already declined myGeisinger

Trial design

Primary purpose: Health Services Research

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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5,012 participants in 3 patient groups

Control

No Intervention group

Description:

Patients do not receive an email

Timely nudge - view results

Experimental group

Description:

Patients are emailed about myGeisinger when they have a lab result ready to view. The email includes a "View My Lab Results" button, which encourages them to click as a pre-commitment step that then brings them to the myGeisinger sign-up page.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Foot-in-the-door

Behavioral: Timely

Timely nudge - get started

Experimental group

Description:

Patients are emailed about myGeisinger when they have a lab result ready to view. The email includes a "Get Started With myGeisinger" button that is transparent about the next step in the process, before the patient can view test results.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Timely

Behavioral: Transparency