UCLA Health Patient Health Tickler Email

NCT06131723 | Enrolling By Invitation

• 1 other identifier: AWVinitial
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 81,000
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This is a prospective clinical trial evaluating how a behaviorally-informed outreach email notification impacts patient engagement with primary care. This trial is being implemented in conjunction with UCLA Health's larger quality improvement initiative (the My Action Plan Quality Improvement Initiative) in order to improve primary care preventive measure completion rates. The main question it aims to answer is if sending an enhanced email notification (i.e., enhanced tickler email) to identified UCLA Health primary care patients increases their engagement with primary care. Participants will be assigned to either a control (standard tickler email) or treatment (enhanced tickler email) condition, based on whether their birth date ends in an odd or even number. Researchers will compare control and treatment groups to see if and how they differ in pre-defined outcome measures.

Conditions

Health Maintenance

Keywords

primary care; digital outreach

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• MAP Letter opened

  Percentage of participants across the different arms who open their My Action Plan Letter on the MyChart patient portal

  From email notification outreach until 9 a.m. the next day before an automatic text reminder is sent to every participant, and 7 days after getting the outreach email notification

Secondary Outcomes (4)

• Signing in to their MyChart patient portal

  From email notification outreach until 9 a.m. the next day before an automatic text reminder is sent to every participant, and 7 days after getting the outreach email notification

• Visiting the appointment scheduling page

  From email notification outreach until 9 a.m. the next day before an automatic text reminder is sent to every participant, and 7 days after getting the outreach email notification

• Taking action for at least one overdue screening/test

  From email notification outreach until 9 a.m. the next day before an automatic text reminder is sent to every participant, and 7 days after getting the outreach email notification

• Completing at least one screening/test

  6 months after getting the outreach email notification

Study Arms (2)

Arm 1: Standard tickler email

NO INTERVENTION

Eligible, assigned participants will receive the current standard email notification (i.e., "control tickler") from UCLA Health, informing patients that they have received a new message in their MyChart patient portal account, and containing links to their portal account.

Arm 2: Enhanced tickler email

EXPERIMENTAL

Eligible, assigned participants will receive a behaviorally informed email notification (i.e., "enhanced tickler"), coming from their PCP's office, informing patients that they are due for an important medical exam, and containing a direct link to the MAP Letter on their patient portal account.

Behavioral: Behaviorally informed tickler email

Interventions

Behaviorally informed tickler email BEHAVIORAL

The email notification from patients' PCP office will inform patients that a new review of their records shows they are due for an important medical exam. This intervention harnesses behavioral principles related to importance (medical exam described as important), personalization (records described as belonging to participants), urgency (participants are asked to sign in and make the recommended appointment as soon as possible), timeliness (participants are told that there has been a new review of their records), source effects and accountability (participants are told that a message from their PCP's office is waiting for their response). To make it easier for patients to find and review the MAP letter, the email also contains a link that directs patients to the MAP letter on their patient portal.

Arm 2: Enhanced tickler email

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Empaneled to UCLA Health DOM Primary Care
• Has at least one overdue health maintenance measure that the My Action Plan initiative focuses on
• Has an active MyChart status

You may not qualify if:

• Under the age of 18
• Deceased
• In hospice
• Has opted out of electronic communication (bulk messages, email, and/or text)
• For the final analysis, the investigators will further exclude patients who have scheduled appointments for all screenings/tests or completed all screenings/tests prior to the date when they are supposed to receive the email notification, as well as patients who use proxies (e.g., family members who receive the email tickler on their behalf) given that all proxies are assigned to receive a standard tickler email.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of California, Los Angeles: lead

Study Sites (1)

UCLA Health Department of Medicine, Quality Office

Los Angeles, California, 90095, United States

Location

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: DOUBLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT, CARE PROVIDER
• Purpose: HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Clinical Instructor of Medicine

Model Details: Parallel-arm control trial

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: November 8, 2023
• First Posted: November 14, 2023
• Study Start: November 8, 2023
• Primary Completion: May 31, 2025
• Study Completion: November 30, 2025
• Last Updated: July 2, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-06

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (1)