Arrival Time Implementation

NCT07314697 | Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: OTA_arrival_time
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 300,000
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This is a prospective clinical trial evaluating how behaviorally informed message framing can improve patient on-time arrival for outpatient visits. This trial is being implemented in conjunction with UCLA Health's broader operational quality improvement (QI) efforts to enhance clinic flow and patient experience. The main question it aims to answer is how displaying an explicit arrival time (set to 15 minutes before the scheduled appointment) affects when patients arrive for their appointments, compared to a control condition where only the appointment time is displayed and patients are encouraged to arrive 15 min before the appointment (without an explicit arrival time).

Conditions

Primary Care

Keywords

quality improvement

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Difference between patient's arrival time and scheduled appointment time

  The number of minutes between the patient's check-in time and the scheduled appointment time. A positive (negative) value indicates that the patient arrived before (after) the scheduled appointment time.Winsorization at the 0.5th and 99.5th percentiles will be applied.

  1 day, day of appointment

Secondary Outcomes (2)

• On-time arrival

  1 day, day of appointment

• Early arrival

  1 day, day of appointment

Study Arms (2)

Arm 1: Appointment time

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Patients will receive appointment communications via the MyChart patient portal and Hello World text notifications that display their appointment time.

Behavioral: Control appointment communications

Arm 2: Arrival time

EXPERIMENTAL

Patients will receive appointment communications via the MyChart patient portal and Hello World text notifications that display their expected arrival time, set to 15 minutes before their scheduled appointment time.

Behavioral: Behaviorally informed appointment communications

Interventions

Behaviorally informed appointment communications BEHAVIORAL

In the MyChart patient portal homepage, the appointment widget will show "Arrive by \[Arrival Time\]," replacing the standard "Starts at \[Appointment Time\]" display. The appointment details page will show appointment time, along with a reminder to "Arrive by \[Arrival Time\]." The Hello World text notifications will tell patients: "Your visit is scheduled for \[Date\]. Arrive by \[Arrival Time\]."

Arm 2: Arrival time

Control appointment communications BEHAVIORAL

In the MyChart patient portal homepage, the appointment widget will show "Starts at \[Appointment Time\]." The appointment details page will display appointment time, along with the instructions to arrive 15 minutes before the appointment. The Hello World text notifications will tell patients : "Your visit is scheduled for \[Date\] at \[Appointment Time\]. Please arrive 15 minutes before your appointment time."

Arm 1: Appointment time

Eligibility Criteria

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

You may qualify if:

• In-person outpatient appointments with clinicians at UCLA Health that fall into the study period
• Appointments scheduled for the department specialties of Primary Care, Pediatrics, or Internal Medicine, Med Peds
• Has an active MyChart status
• Opted in to receive SMS communications from UCLA Health
• Appointments classified as the following visit types:
• Return
• Well adult (physical)
• Well child return
• New
• Well adult new (physical)
• Well child (new)

You may not qualify if:

• Appointments at clinics that are not scheduled through the Patient Access Organization

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of California, Los Angeles: lead

Study Sites (1)

UCLA Health Department of Medicine, Quality Office

Los Angeles, California, 90095, United States

RECRUITING

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: Assistant Professor

Model Details: The investigators will use cluster randomization. Randomization will be assigned by clinic.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: November 16, 2025
• First Posted: January 2, 2026
• Study Start: January 5, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): July 1, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): July 1, 2026
• Last Updated: February 10, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-02

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (1)