New mobile technology improves care for the underserved
Crystal Lake, Ill. - The Family Health Partnership Clinic announced the launch of CareMessage, a project utilizing mobile phone text and voice messaging outreach to promote patient engagement and improve self-care for medically underserved patients in McHenry County.
The platform allows medical professionals to connect with participating patients via text messages, both in Spanish or English. CareMessage enables them to send appointment reminders, give personalized information about health concerns, and offer tips, such as checking blood glucose levels. Patients can also reply to messages to cancel or reschedule an appointment, or to notify the clinic of medicine use.
"We are excited to offer this service to our patients," said Suzanne Hoban, executive director of Family Health Partnership Clinic. "Text messaging has tremendous potential in health care. A simple text message reminder can reduce clinic no-show rates and help patients take medications as prescribed, resulting in an improvement in health outcomes."
The project was funded by a $49,900 grant from Telligen Community Initiative, the private charitable foundation of Telligen Inc.
"We support helping to make health care accessible to everyone," said Matt McGarvey, executive director of Telligen Community Initiative. "This project has the potential to create real change in the health outcomes of the most vulnerable populations with the use of simple technology."
Cell phones and text messaging have emerged as potentially powerful low-cost tools to reach underserved populations and actively engage them in their care.
Since 1996, Family Health Partnership Clinic, a Crystal Lake-based charitable agency, has provided health care access to those who could not otherwise afford it. More than 3,000 patients a year are served by the clinic.
About Family Health Partnership Clinic
The Family Health Partnership Clinic strives to improve the health of the McHenry County community and reduce the negative impact of poor access to care by providing a broad spectrum of high-quality health care services to the underserved, regardless of the ability to pay. For more information, please visit www.hpclinic.org.