2015 APHA Annual Meeting & Expo

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Recorded Annual Meeting Presentations (RAMP) are now available for purchase.
Only $90 for presenters, $140 for registered attendees and $200 for non-attendees.

Online Program

333684
Using Text Messaging to Improve Healthcare Outcomes


Tuesday, November 3, 2015 : 4:50 p.m. - 5:10 p.m.

Alyson Rixner, Mobile Commons, Brooklyn, NY
Audio (mp3) recording Recorded Presentation (mp4)
One of healthcare’s greatest challenges is effective outreach particularly to traditionally underserved and disadvantaged populations. Improved outcomes are the goal of all patient-centered care programs, but achieving those desired outcomes is dependent upon effective outreach. Whether you are looking to reach underserved populations, provide vital health resources, encourage behavior change, or improve medication adherence, text messaging has proven to be the most effective form of communication. For example, studies have demonstrated that 99% of all texts are opened; that the average response time to a text is only 90 seconds; and that households with an annual income under $35K also send more than twice as many texts as households with an annual income over $75K.

In this session we will present and discuss mobile engagement solutions for healthcare, particularly the ways text messaging solutions are designed to help organizations achieve specific outcomes and goals. Participants will learn about mobile messaging platforms that engage populations to healthier behaviors through scheduled and targeted text messaging; alerts and reminders; live SMS chat; and surveys, polls, and quizzes, all managed through a secure and private mobile CRM.

By the end of the session, participants will be able to understand the following: how to use text messaging to help people make healthy living choices, quit smoking, show up for appointments, enroll in health insurance, and much more; how text messaging can lead to improved outcomes for public health campaigns such as the one undertaken by the New York City Department of Health for improved, patient-centric HIV care; and how text messaging can foster desired behaviors as it did for the California Department of Public Health’s campaign to deliver vital health information and get people vaccinated against an unfamiliar strain of influenza (H1N1).

Learning Areas:

Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Communication and informatics
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Protection of the public in relation to communicable diseases including prevention or control

Learning Objectives:
Discuss mobile engagement solutions for healthcare, particularly the ways text messaging solutions are designed to help organizations proactively manage patient health. Describe specific healthy living choices that can be improved through text message programs such as healthy eating, smoking cessation, prenatal and post natal care.

Keyword(s): Accessibility, Communication Technology

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: Mobile Commons works with multiple local, state, and federal clients in the public health arena to use text messaging to improve health outcomes. If this abstract is selected, we will identify a client to present the abstract.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 4421.0: Patient Center Care Part II: A Role for Information Technology