Informing Low-acuity Emergency Department Patients of Non-emergent Resources

Emergency Service, Hospital Clinical Trial

Official title:

Informing Low-acuity Emergency Department Patients of Non-emergent Healthcare Resources Following Discharge to Decrease Emergency Department Utilization

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Recruiting

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT06350266
• Other study ID #: 2024-0183
• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: April 25, 2024
• Est. completion date: November 2024

Study information

• Verified date: May 2024
• Source: Geisinger Clinic
• Contact: Amir Goren, PhD
• Phone: 570-214-4395
• Email: agoren[@]geisinger.edu
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

The goal of this campaign is to reduce unnecessary emergency department (ED) visits/encourage patients with low acuity visits to follow up with an appropriate provider and/or to seek care outside of the ED in the future. In this campaign, patients will be assigned to receive or not receive outreach following ED discharge that is aligned with the goal. Outreach will occur via a text message, as well as information added to the patient's after visit summary, and will include one or more calls to action that make patients aware of other Geisinger resources and avenues through which they can seek care outside of the ED. These may include, but are not limited to, walk-in urgent care, virtual urgent care, primary care provider (PCP) appointments, and/or other ways in which to contact Geisinger. The study will assess whether ED use differs across patients in different outreach conditions. It will also examine whether patients followed through on the message-specific calls to action in the messages differently across conditions.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Recruiting
• Enrollment: 5600
• Est. completion date: November 2024
• Est. primary completion date: November 2024
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• >= 18 years of age

• Geisinger ED visit rated as low acuity (L4 or L5)

• Discharged from ED in past 24 hours

Exclusion Criteria:

• Cannot be contacted via the communication modality being used in the study (i.e., SMS), due to insufficient/missing contact information in the EHR or because the patient opted out

• Admitted to hospital

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Emergencies
• Emergency Service, Hospital

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Information about healthcare resources
Text messages will be sent following discharge from the emergency department; text may also be modified in the (online and/or printed) discharge summary packet.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	Geisinger Health System	Danville	Pennsylvania

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Geisinger Clinic

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Other	PCP appointment scheduled	PCP appointment scheduled (yes/no)	within 60 days following day of discharge
Other	PCP visit	PCP appointment attended (yes/no)	within 60 days following day of discharge
Other	Telehealth appointment scheduled	Telehealth appointment scheduled (yes/no)	within 60 days following day of discharge
Other	Telehealth appointment attended	Telehealth appointment attended (yes/no)	within 60 days following day of discharge
Other	Urgent care visit	Urgent care appointment attended (yes/no)	within 60 days following day of discharge
Other	Call made to PCP	Record of patient call to PCP (yes/no)	within 60 days following day of discharge
Other	Any of the suggested actions taken	PCP called or visited, urgent care visited, telehealth appointment attended, or PCP or telehealth appointment scheduled (yes/no)	within 60 days following day of discharge
Primary	Return to ED	ED visit (yes/no)	within 120 days following day of discharge