TelehealthNCT04333199
Timely Nudge About Lab Results to Increase myGeisinger Uptake
A study testing Timely, Transparency and Foot-in-the-door in people with Telehealth and Health Behavior, run by Geisinger Clinic at 1 site in United States.
Trial summary
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. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 years and older
- Conditions the study is for
- Telehealth, Health Behavior
- What is being tested?
- Timely, Transparency and Foot-in-the-door
- Type of treatment
- Lifestyle or therapy programme
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 5,012 participants
- Where
- 1 siteUnited States
- Study dates
- 18 May 2020to 1 Jul 2020
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- Yes, posted in the registrySummary in the doctors' view
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 18 years and older
- All sexes
- No healthy volunteers
- Adult, Older adult
Who may be able to join
- 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
Who cannot join
- Patient already enrolled in myGeisinger
- Patient has already declined myGeisinger
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country.
About this study
Official title: Nudging myGeisinger Enrollment Using Timely Email Messaging Reminding Patients of Lab Results Available
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.
Read the detailed 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.
- Conditions
- Telehealth, Health Behavior
- Being tested
- Timely, Transparency, Foot-in-the-door
- Keywords
- Behavioral Economics, Patient Portal
- Medical subject headings
- Health Behavior
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
TimelyBehavioural
Email
TransparencyBehavioural
Email
Foot-in-the-doorBehavioural
Email
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Control | No intervention | Patients do not receive an email |
| Timely nudge - view results | Experimental | 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. Receives: Behavioral: Timely; Behavioral: Foot-in-the-door |
| Timely nudge - get started | Experimental | 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. Receives: Behavioral: Timely; Behavioral: Transparency |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Enrollment - Timely Email (Combined Email Arms) vs. no Intervention
Patient enrolled in myGeisinger (yes / no)
Measured: 1 week post-intervention
Secondary outcomes (5)
Enrollment - Email Including a "Get Started" Button vs. a "View Results" Button
Patient enrolled in myGeisinger (yes / no)
Measured: 1 week post-intervention
Email Opened - Email Including a "Get Started" Button vs. a "View Results" Button
Email was opened (yes / no)
Measured: 1 week post-intervention
Link Clicked - Email Including a "Get Started" Button vs. a "View Results" Button
Link / button to start the enrollment process was clicked (yes / no)
Measured: 1 week post-intervention
Unsubscribed - Email Including a "Get Started" Button vs. a "View Results" Button
Patient unsubscribed from these email communications (yes / no)
Measured: 1 month post-intervention
Enrollment - Timely Email (Combined Email Arms) vs. no Intervention
Patient enrolled in myGeisinger (yes / no)
Measured: 1 month post-intervention
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted3 Apr 2020
- Study start18 May 2020
- Primary completion8 Jun 2020
- Study completion1 Jul 2020
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Posted resultsParticipant flow, outcome measures and adverse events reported by the sponsor.
- Other trials for TelehealthStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Health services research
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Model description
- Every day within the designated study period, an email will be sent to patients who 1) fulfill inclusion criteria, 2) have been randomized to one of the email conditions (rather than the control group), and 3) have not already been randomized to a study condition on a previous day (i.e. no patient will be emailed for this study twice).
- Masking
- Single blind
- Who is masked
- Participant
- Enrolment
- 5,012 participants (actual)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- Geisinger Clinic
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Responsible party
- Principal investigator, Amir Goren, Geisinger Clinic
- Investigators
- Amir Goren, PhD, Principal investigator, Geisinger Clinic
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT04333199
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- 2020-0316
- Status last verified
- May 2021
- First submitted
- 1 Apr 2020
- Last updated
- 11 Jun 2021
- Results posted
- Yes, on ClinicalTrials.gov
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- Yes: Data with no personally identifiable information will be made available to other researchers on the Open Science Framework for transparency. This will include the essential data and code needed to replicate the analysis that yielded reported findings.
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 11 Jun 2021. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Nudging myGeisinger Enrollment Using Timely Email Messaging Reminding Patients of Lab Results Available
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT04333199
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- 2020-0316
- Conditions
- Telehealth, Health Behavior
- Keywords
- Behavioral Economics, Patient Portal
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Enrolment
- 5,012 participants (actual)
- Lead sponsor
- Geisinger ClinicUniversity, hospital or other
- Study start
- 18 May 2020 (actual)
- Primary completion
- 8 Jun 2020 (actual)
- Study completion
- 1 Jul 2020 (actual)
- First posted
- 3 Apr 2020 (actual)
- Results
- Posted 3 May 2021
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
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.
Detailed 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.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Health services research
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- Single blind (participant)
- Number of arms
- 3
- Model description
- Every day within the designated study period, an email will be sent to patients who 1) fulfill inclusion criteria, 2) have been randomized to one of the email conditions (rather than the control group), and 3) have not already been randomized to a study condition on a previous day (i.e. no patient will be emailed for this study twice).
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Control | No intervention | –Patients do not receive an email |
| Timely nudge - view results | Experimental | Behavioral: Timely, Behavioral: Foot-in-the-doorPatients 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. |
| Timely nudge - get started | Experimental | Behavioral: Timely, Behavioral: TransparencyPatients 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. |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 18 years and older
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Not accepted
- Age groups
- Adult, Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (2 listed)
- 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
Key exclusion criteria (2 listed)
- Patient already enrolled in myGeisinger
- Patient has already declined myGeisinger
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| TimelyEmail | Behavioural | Timely nudge - get started, Timely nudge - view results |
| TransparencyEmail | Behavioural | Timely nudge - get started |
| Foot-in-the-doorEmail | Behavioural | Timely nudge - view results |
Primary outcome
Enrollment - Timely Email (Combined Email Arms) vs. no Intervention
Time frame: 1 week post-intervention
Patient enrolled in myGeisinger (yes / no)
5 secondary outcomes
Enrollment - Email Including a "Get Started" Button vs. a "View Results" Button
Time frame: 1 week post-intervention
Email Opened - Email Including a "Get Started" Button vs. a "View Results" Button
Time frame: 1 week post-intervention
Link Clicked - Email Including a "Get Started" Button vs. a "View Results" Button
Time frame: 1 week post-intervention
Unsubscribed - Email Including a "Get Started" Button vs. a "View Results" Button
Time frame: 1 month post-intervention
Enrollment - Timely Email (Combined Email Arms) vs. no Intervention
Time frame: 1 month post-intervention
Results and safety
Loading the posted results from ClinicalTrials.gov…
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 11 Jun 2021.
- Posted resultsParticipant flow, baseline, all outcome measures and adverse events.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: Yes. Data with no personally identifiable information will be made available to other researchers on the Open Science Framework for transparency. This will include the essential data and code needed to replicate the analysis that yielded reported findings.
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part. This study is not recruiting at the moment.
Amir Goren, PhD principal investigator
Geisinger Clinic
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Timely, Transparency and Foot-in-the-door in people with Telehealth and Health Behavior, run by Geisinger Clinic at 1 site in United States.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 2 inclusion and 2 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 11 Jun 2021. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 1 site in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
Yes. Results are posted in the registry (first posted 3 May 2021). A summary is in the For doctors view, and the full results are on ClinicalTrials.gov.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Enrollment - Timely Email (Combined Email Arms) vs. no Intervention (time frame: 1 week post-intervention). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 11 Jun 2021.