TOPLINE:
A study involving more than 260,000 patients found that neither text messages nor reminders in patient portals significantly increased rates of influenza vaccination.
METHODOLOGY:
- The study was conducted from September 2022 to April 2023 in the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) health system, involving 262,085 patients across 79 primary care practices.
- Patients were randomly assigned to one of three groups: A control group that received usual care, a group that received reminders through the patient portal, and a group that received reminders via text message.
- The primary outcome was the influenza vaccination rate by April 30, 2023, including vaccinations from pharmacies and other sources.
TAKEAWAY:
- Neither intervention significantly improved influenza vaccination rates, which remained around 47% for all the groups.
IN PRACTICE:
“Health systems should consider the potential opportunity costs of sending reminders for influenza vaccination and may decide on other, more intensive interventions, such as improving access to vaccinations (eg, Saturday or after-hour clinics) or communication training for clinicians to address vaccine hesitancy,” the authors of the study wrote.
SOURCE:
The study was led by Peter G. Szilagyi, MD, MPH, with the Department of Pediatrics at UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital, University of California, Los Angeles. It was published online in JAMA Internal Medicine.
LIMITATIONS:
The study was confined to a single health system and did not assess patients’ reasons for not getting vaccinated.
DISCLOSURES:
The study was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health. Coauthors disclosed financial ties to pharmacy and pharmaceutical companies and the Pediatric Infectious Disease Society.
This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.
A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.