Emergency Service, HospitalNCT06535347
Nudging High-acuity Emergency Department Patients to Schedule a Follow-up Visit
A study testing Information about scheduling a follow-up appointment in people with Emergency Service, Hospital, run by Geisinger Clinic at 1 site in United States.
Trial summary
The goal of this campaign is to reduce unnecessary emergency department (ED) visits by encouraging patients with high acuity visits to follow up with an appropriate primary care provider (PCP) or specialist and therefore obtain appropriate care outside of the ED. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 years and older
- Conditions the study is for
- Emergency Service, Hospital
- What is being tested?
- Information about scheduling a follow-up appointment
- Type of treatment
- Lifestyle or therapy programme
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 6,814 participants
- Where
- 1 siteUnited States
- Study dates
- 9 Aug 2024to 6 Apr 2025
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- None posted in the registry
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
- >= 18 years of age
- ED visit rated as high acuity (level L2 or L3)
- Discharged from ED in past 24 hours
- Attributed to a Geisinger PCP in Community Medicine Service Line
Who cannot join
- Have an appointment scheduled within 7 days following discharge with a primary care provider or specialist
- Institutionalized
- Cannot be contacted via the communication modality being used in the study (i.e., SMS), due to insufficient/missing contact information in the electronic health record or because the patient opted out
- Admitted to hospital
- Eloped from ED
- Left ED without being seen
- Deceased prior to messaging
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country.
United States1 site
Geisinger Health System
Danville, Pennsylvania, 17822
About this study
Official title: Nudging High-acuity Emergency Department Patients to Schedule a Follow-up Visit With a Primary Care Provider or Specialist Following Discharge to Decrease Emergency Department Utilization
The goal of this campaign is to reduce unnecessary emergency department (ED) visits by encouraging patients with high acuity visits to follow up with an appropriate primary care provider (PCP) or specialist and therefore obtain appropriate care outside of the ED. 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 and information added to the patient's after visit summary, and will include a contact number to schedule and hyperlink to allow self-scheduling. The study will assess whether ED use differs across patients in different outreach conditions. It will also examine whether patients followed through on the calls to action in the messages differently across conditions.
Read the detailed description
Enrollment will conclude when either 7500 participants have been enrolled or after 120 days, whichever occurs first.
- Conditions
- Emergency Service, Hospital
- Being tested
- Information about scheduling a follow-up appointment
- Medical subject headings
- Emergencies
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Information about scheduling a follow-up appointmentBehavioural
Also called Text messages, Information
Text message(s) will be sent following discharge from the emergency department, along with an after visit summary.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Control | No intervention | This arm will receive no intervention outside of usual care. |
| Experimental: Schedule Follow-Up Visit - 1 message | Experimental | This arm will receive a text message (at 1 day post-ED discharge) and information added to the patient's after visit summary providing a number and patient portal hyperlink via which to schedule an ED follow-up appointment. Receives: Behavioral: Information about scheduling a follow-up appointment |
| Experimental: Schedule Follow-Up Visit - 2 messages | Experimental | This arm will receive text messages (at 1 day and 8 days post-ED discharge) and information added to the patient's after visit summary providing a number and patient portal hyperlink via which to schedule an ED follow-up appointment. Receives: Behavioral: Information about scheduling a follow-up appointment |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Return to ED
ED visit (yes/no)
Measured: within 120 days following day of discharge
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted2 Aug 2024
- Study start9 Aug 2024
- Primary completion6 Apr 2025
- Study completion6 Apr 2025
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Other trials for Emergency Service, HospitalStudies 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
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Enrolment
- 6,814 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
- NCT06535347
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- 2024-0412
- Status last verified
- Jun 2025
- First submitted
- 8 Jul 2024
- Last updated
- 5 Jun 2025
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 5 Jun 2025. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Nudging High-acuity Emergency Department Patients to Schedule a Follow-up Visit With a Primary Care Provider or Specialist Following Discharge to Decrease Emergency Department Utilization
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT06535347
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- 2024-0412
- Conditions
- Emergency Service, Hospital
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Enrolment
- 6,814 participants (actual)
- Lead sponsor
- Geisinger ClinicUniversity, hospital or other
- Study start
- 9 Aug 2024 (actual)
- Primary completion
- 6 Apr 2025 (actual)
- Study completion
- 6 Apr 2025 (actual)
- First posted
- 2 Aug 2024 (actual)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
The goal of this campaign is to reduce unnecessary emergency department (ED) visits by encouraging patients with high acuity visits to follow up with an appropriate primary care provider (PCP) or specialist and therefore obtain appropriate care outside of the ED. 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 and information added to the patient's after visit summary, and will include a contact number to schedule and hyperlink to allow self-scheduling. The study will assess whether ED use differs across patients in different outreach conditions. It will also examine whether patients followed through on the calls to action in the messages differently across conditions.
Detailed description
Enrollment will conclude when either 7500 participants have been enrolled or after 120 days, whichever occurs first.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Health services research
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- None (open label)
- Number of arms
- 3
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Control | No intervention | –This arm will receive no intervention outside of usual care. |
| Experimental: Schedule Follow-Up Visit - 1 message | Experimental | Behavioral: Information about scheduling a follow-up appointmentThis arm will receive a text message (at 1 day post-ED discharge) and information added to the patient's after visit summary providing a number and patient portal hyperlink via which to schedule an ED follow-up appointment. |
| Experimental: Schedule Follow-Up Visit - 2 messages | Experimental | Behavioral: Information about scheduling a follow-up appointmentThis arm will receive text messages (at 1 day and 8 days post-ED discharge) and information added to the patient's after visit summary providing a number and patient portal hyperlink via which to schedule an ED follow-up appointment. |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 18 years and older
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Not accepted
- Age groups
- Adult, Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (4 listed)
- >= 18 years of age
- ED visit rated as high acuity (level L2 or L3)
- Discharged from ED in past 24 hours
- Attributed to a Geisinger PCP in Community Medicine Service Line
Key exclusion criteria (7 listed)
- Have an appointment scheduled within 7 days following discharge with a primary care provider or specialist
- Institutionalized
- Cannot be contacted via the communication modality being used in the study (i.e., SMS), due to insufficient/missing contact information in the electronic health record or because the patient opted out
- Admitted to hospital
- Eloped from ED
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Information about scheduling a follow-up appointmentAlso: Text messages, InformationText message(s) will be sent following discharge from the emergency department, along with an after visit summary. | Behavioural | Experimental: Schedule Follow-Up Visit - 1 message, Experimental: Schedule Follow-Up Visit - 2 messages |
Primary outcome
Return to ED
Time frame: within 120 days following day of discharge
ED visit (yes/no)
Results and safety
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 5 Jun 2025.
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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 Information about scheduling a follow-up appointment in people with Emergency Service, Hospital, 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 4 inclusion and 7 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 5 Jun 2025. 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?
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
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?
Return to ED (time frame: within 120 days following day of discharge). 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 5 Jun 2025.