how text messaging for health can be considered a part of the larger strategy of mobile health

mHealth platforms are giving health systems and public health programs newer and better ways to reach large populations. 

Deliver better healthcare through effective use of secure mobile messaging

Healthcare providers are finding out that smartphones and mobile health messaging platforms are changing how they administer population health programs.

The attraction is simple: smartphones, nowadays, are ubiquitous. With roughly 96 percent of the world now using a smartphone, an mHealth messaging program can reach almost everyone in a defined population. And with texting and e-mail overtaking phone calls as the most popular means of communicating, providers can create personalized, content-rich, even interactive messages that drive engagement.

Examples of mHealth-based population health programs are numerous. They include text-message programs targeting public health concerns, such as smoking (Text2Quit), maternal/infant health (Text4Baby), weight loss, physical activity and anxiety/depression. Other programs remind people to schedule wellness visits for their children or flu shots. Then there are those programs targeted at chronic populations with HIV, diabetes, or asthma.

More complex programs include interactive platforms and target post-discharge patients, those in need of follow-up care (such as physical rehabilitation) or chronic care populations requiring care in between office visits. These platforms often include questionnaires that when answered offer links to care management information or trigger alerts that prompt follow-ups from the care team.

At the top of the pyramid are care coordination programs that draw data from the electronic health record to develop personalized messages that direct the patient to specific resources, handle prescriptions or send data back to the provider for follow-up care. These programs are usually developed and launched by healthcare providers looking to improve care management for patients at home, including those recently discharged and so-called “frequent flyers” — patients with multiple chronic conditions who need daily or near-daily interventions to manage their health and keep them out of the hospital.

Why SMS Programs Work

Text messaging programs have been around since at least 2002, according to a systematic review of available literature by Hall et al. published in the March 2015 edition of the Annual Review of Public Health.

These programs have grown to replace older methods of population health, which include phone calls (often handled by a call center), mailings and social awareness campaigns that rely on advertising, be it TV, radio, billboards or, more recently, social media platforms (e.g., Facebook).

With the smartphone in nearly everyone’s hands nowadays, providers are turning to short-message service (SMS), or text messaging, followed by multimedia messaging services (MMS) and mobile-messaging apps.

The analysis by Hall and colleagues of more than a decade of published material found that text messaging platforms hold “enormous potential” for healthcare as a “novel, high-reach, highly accessible, and relatively low-cost communication strategy,” delivering measurable improvement on health outcomes and, on occasion, health behaviors.

Of the newer MMS platform, the study’s authors expect this to become a more popular strategy as more and more consumers shift to smartphones with better messaging capabilities — in other words, better phones with more toys. And with the addition of new services such Facebook Messenger, Kik, WhatsApp, SnapChat and Instagram, providers can add content-driven features like searchable tags and hashtags.

mHealth interventions have many advantages over older methods. Among the benefits:

• Reach large populations at a low cost
• Able to sent at any time, and as frequently as needed
• Offer real-time contact and feedback
• Represent an acceptable – oftentimes preferable – means of communicating
• Overcome barriers of physical or social isolation
• Able to be personalized
• Support interactivity, with corresponding messages based on previous responses.
• Provide times to remind, support or provide “touches” around healthcare appointments.

Perhaps most importantly, these programs engage more easily with consumers, wherever and whenever they want. They make the consumer feel more comfortable.

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