Healthcare resource utilisation by patients with coronary heart disease receiving a lifestyle-focused text message support program: an analysis from the TEXT ME study
Jay Thakkar A B C , Julie Redfern A C , Ehsan Khan A , Emily Atkins A C , Jeffrey Ha B , Kha Vo C , Aravinda Thiagalingam A B C and Clara K. Chow A B C DA The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
B Westmead Hospital, Westmead, NSW 2145, Australia.
C The George Institute for Global Health, Camperdown, NSW 2050, Australia.
D Corresponding author. Email: clara.chow@sydney.edu.au
Australian Journal of Primary Health 24(3) 256-262 https://doi.org/10.1071/PY17130
Submitted: 24 September 2017 Accepted: 19 February 2018 Published: 23 May 2018
Abstract
The ‘Tobacco, Exercise and Diet Messages’ (TEXT ME) study was a 6-month, single-centre randomised clinical trial (RCT) that found a text message support program improved levels of cardiovascular risk factors in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD). The current analyses examined whether receipt of text messages influenced participants’ engagement with conventional healthcare resources. The TEXT ME study database (N = 710) was linked with routinely collected health department databases. Number of doctor consultations, investigations and cardiac medication prescriptions in the two study groups were compared. The most frequently accessed health service was consultations with a General Practitioner (mean 7.1, s.d. 5.4). The numbers of medical consultations, biochemical tests or cardiac-specific investigations were similar between the study groups. There was at least one prescription registered for statin, ACEI/ARBs and β-blockers in 79, 66 and 50% of patients respectively, with similar refill rates in both the study groups. The study identified TEXT ME text messaging program did not increase use of Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) and Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) captured healthcare services. The observed benefits of TEXT ME reflect direct effects of intervention independent of conventional healthcare resource engagement.
Additional keywords: coronary heart disease, healthcare resource.
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