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Text message reminders: Consumers want them, you need them

Text message reminders: Consumers want them, you need them

It wasn’t too long ago when medical practices just gave out an appointment card with the date and time of a patient’s next appointment. Some offices still rely on this method. Of course those cards end up in the laundry, at the bottom of a pocketbook, under the seat of car and are often lost forever. Today, many practices offer options to patients including email and text reminders for appointments. What’s changing is that medical practices and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) are now offering patients and members the option to receive text reminders to encourage them to take their prescribed medicines.

Patient compliance with taking prescriptions as intended has long been a problem in healthcare, so the idea that text reminders could improve compliance, and as a result improve patient health in the long term, is the subject of many studies. RxEOB Text Messaging reminders

A recent randomized clinical trial evaluating mobile telephone text message intervention to promote medication adherence in adults with chronic disease was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and revealed these key findings:

Other studies are being conducted and while the authors of this study suggest the subject needs further investigation, it’s clear text messaging could offer many benefits to patients. By adhering to their medication regimens, it’s expected that patients could experience fewer doctor and hospital visits because of better compliance.

Experts estimate taking prescription medicine incorrectly or not at all costs the U.S. $100 billion to $289 billion a year. Because we are increasingly becoming a mobile phone-reliant population, it makes sense that sending text message reminders to patients with chronic diseases or other healthcare conditions will not only help them comply with their medications, but it could reduce patient healthcare costs in the long term.

RxEOB has published  a whitepaper entitled “Personalized Messaging Deliver Better Care Quality and Lower Costs” to help healthcare organizations better understand how personalized messaging to members and patients can be measured to determine if compliance improves and costs are reduced.. The whitepaper can be downloaded free of charge here.

To find out how RxEOB can assist PBMs or your healthcare organization to lower medication adherence costs, please contact us at 888-648-0989 ext. 226, or email us at info@rxeob.com.