"There's a lot of value here in something that isn't that difficult to do," says William Brinkman, a board-certified pediatrician and director of the Division of General and Community Pediatrics at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.
That's why he and Anne Berset, a clinical research coordinator, are reporting in the Journal of the American medical Association that they've used an automated messaging program embedded in the electronic health record platform to boost the rate of well-child visits and improve clinical outcomes.
Using a platform that could deliver phone and text messages, they saw an almost 50% increase in scheduled well-child visits.
"There was a significant increase in the scheduling and completion of appointments after receiving the standard and tailored message compared with no message, indicating that simple outreach nudges via patient portal may prompt action," the two write.
Brinkman and Berset launched their program during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when access to healthcare services was in flux.
Because of the virus, many healthcare organizations were shifting many in-person services to virtual platforms, and families were postponing or canceling what they considered non-vital healthcare services.
well-child visits, which plunged by at least 20% during the pandemic.
"It became really glaringly obvious
A customized collection of grant news from foundations and the federal government from around the Web.
Caroline Diehl is a serial social entrepreneur in the impact media space. She is Executive Chair and Founder of the UK’s only charitable and co-operatively owned national broadcast television channel Together TV, the leading broadcaster for social change runs a national TV channel in the UK and digital platform which helps people find inspiration to do good in their lives and communities.