Amid the administration’s push for innovation in health information technology, the Associated Press’ Lauran Neergaard takes a broad look at the use of text messages to “nag” patients into following healthy behaviors on a daily basis.
It’s deceptively low-tech compared with electronic medical records and advanced devices, but the humble text message has shown impressive success rates thus far. Neergard says that, while novelty may be part of their power, personalized nagging texts appear to have a future beyond simple reminders to wear sunscreen on a sunny day.
For the record, those reminders increased sunscreen use by 40 percent in a six-week study.
Neergard’s story, taken as a whole, really drives home the realization that a simple health implementation of a mature technology is only now gaining traction in the health sphere is a testament to the formidable obstacles to HIT innovation.
