SMS text messaging having an impact on hospital
performance data
5th April 2005. Cambridge, UK: Government health
departments are still waiting for a return on large investments
in IT infrastructure. However, according to a report to be published
later this week by Cambridge based analysts Wireless Healthcare,
a simple mobile phone based service is already having an impact
on hospital performance data. The report, Mobile and Wireless
Services For Outpatients, draws attention to reduced Did
Not Attend (DNA) rates (missed appointments) in outpatient
clinics that use SMS based appointment reminder systems.
The report notes that revenues from SMS patient reminder services
will grow relatively slowly over the next five years from a low
base and are unlikely to exceed £1 million per annum by
2010. Theoretically, if every patient in the UK were sent a text
message reminding them of their appointment, mobile communications
providers would receive revenues in excess of £20 million
per annum. However, Wireless Healthcare feel it is unlikely that
health providers will migrate more than a small proportion of
patients from paper based systems to the current generation of
mobile services.
The report reveals that SMS patient reminder systems have reduced
some outpatient clinics DNA rates by up to 30%. The
patients most likely to forget, or not bother, to turn up for
appointments fall within the 16 to 35 age group, notes Peter
Kruger, Senior Analyst with Wireless Healthcare, who goes on to
point out, by a lucky coincidence people in this age group
are heavy users of mobile phones and text messaging. This is one
reason why text message based reminder systems have been successful
from day one. However, Wireless Healthcare warns that this
early success could result in diminishing returns as reminder
services are expanded.
In the report Wireless Healthcare points out that SMS patient
reminder services provide mobile communications vendors with an
ideal entry point into the healthcare IT market. Wireless Healthcare
sees vendors who become established in the market leveraging their
position by adding services, such as patient support and medication
reminder and compliance monitoring, to their existing messaging
platform. The report sees evidence that this is already happening
in the field of mental healthcare where outpatient clinics and
social services are under political pressure to ensure that patients
keep appointments and comply with medication regimes. The report
also sees a number of established IT vendors adding patient reminders
to the list of outsourced services they offer hospitals.
Another wireless technology that is being used by outpatient
clinics is patient paging. Wireless Healthcares report concludes
that sales of these systems, which currently use proprietary networking
technology, could come under pressure as restrictions on the use
of mobile phones in hospitals are lifted. Then text-messaging
vendors will start providing systems that alert patients who are
waiting within the outpatient clinic itself. Wireless Healthcare
notes that the ease with which patient paging can be deployed,
and its relatively low cost, have been instrumental in the rapid
growth in sales of systems to outpatient clinics. While patient
paging is currently marketed as a technology that improves the
patients experience of the outpatient care process, it could,
according to the report, when integrated with Patient Administration
Systems (PAS), also be used to increase a hospitals workflow
efficiency.
The report Mobile and Wireless Services For Outpatients
is available from www.wirelesshealthcare.co.uk