Informing Low-acuity Emergency Department Patients of Non-emergent Resources

Informing Low-acuity Emergency Department Patients of Non-emergent Healthcare Resources Following Discharge to Decrease Emergency Department Utilization

The goal of this campaign is to reduce unnecessary visits to a Geisinger emergency department (ED)/encourage patients with high acuity visits to follow up with an appropriate Geisinger provider. 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, as well as information added to the patient's after visit summary, and will includecalls to action to see their Geisinger CMSL PCP either in person or virtually. The study will assess whether ED use differs across patients in different outreach conditions. It will also examine whether patients follow through on the message-specific calls to action in the messages differently across conditions.

Inclusion Criteria:

• >= 18 years of age
• Geisinger ED visit rated as low acuity (L4 or L5)
• Discharged from Geisinger ED in past 24 hours

Exclusion Criteria:

• Cannot be contacted via the communication modality being used in the study (i.e., SMS), due to insufficient/missing contact information in the EHR or because the patient opted out
• Admitted to hospital
• Already included in intervention in past 365 days