Patient involvement may not lead to a return to face-to-face visits

(HealthDay): Patient engagement strategies appear to produce few return visits when reopened during COVID-19 for patients who canceled face-to-face care during the earlier part of the pandemic, according to a letter from research published online June 30 a JAMA network open.

Anne R. Cappola, MD, of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and colleagues conducted a randomized clinical trial to determine if targeted messaging could improve return to face-to-face visits during 11,120. adult patients who had canceled face-to-face appointments, procedures, or surgical procedures (March 9 to June 7, 2020) and who had not been rescheduled. Patients were not randomly assigned to any letter versus letter (1: 9), custom versus standard letter (1: 1), or electronic versus mail letter (1: 1).

The researchers found that face-to-face return visits in one month were low and did not differ significantly from each other. patients who received or did not receive a letter (5.0 versus 4.1 percent). However, patients receiving any letter had a significantly higher percentage of telemedicine visits and future scheduled visits in one month (telemedicine visits: 1.3 vs. 0.4%; future visits: 14.4 versus 11, 7%). Compared to standard letters, patients receiving the personalized letter scheduled more visits (15.3 versus 13.4%). Patients with household income below the median they were significantly more likely to schedule a visit when they sent a letter by email, compared to when they received an email letter.

“Strategies are needed to improve patient engagement, with attention to message framing and delivery mode, to foster continuity of health care in the COVID-19 era,” the authors write.

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