UC Irvine

Objective

To determine whether Bedsider text message and e-mail reminders increase family planning contraceptive continuation and appointment rates.

Material and methods

We trained staff at three high-volume Family Planning, Access, Care, and Treatment (Family PACT) clinics to enroll women through a special portal to receive text message or e-mail reminders for contraceptive refills and clinic appointments. Women were matched by contraceptive method, time frame of index visit, age group, and language preference to Family PACT clients at comparison sites that did not use the Bedsider program. Family PACT claims data was used to assess the contraceptive coverage of Bedsider and comparison women over 12 months. We assessed differences in contraceptive coverage between the two groups using McNemar's test of matched comparisons. Clinic records from one clinic were available to assess impact on kept appointment rates.

Results

Of the 488 women enrolled, 370 had a claim for a hormonal method (oral contraceptive, patch, ring, contraceptive injection) in the Family PACT database. Matching resulted in 365 matched pairs. The median length of enrollment in the reminder system was 115 days (16 weeks). A greater percentage of Bedsider women returned on time for contraceptive injections than women in the comparison group. However, McNemar's test showed no differences in contraceptive coverage between the intervention and comparison groups. Kept appointment rates showed a statistically significant increase after the intervention at the clinic providing data.

Conclusion

Contraceptive injection users showed a positive impact from receiving reminders, but overall there was no impact of the Bedsider reminders on return on time for contraceptive refills and injections. We were able to measure a significant increase in kept appointment rates at one clinic using the Bedsider text message and e-mail reminder system.