Clinical trial · Interventional
Use of Telehealth In-home Messaging to Improve GI (Gastrointestinal) Endoscopy Completion Rates
Use of Telehealth In-Home Messaging to Improve GI Endoscopy Completion Rates
- Source
- ClinicalTrials.gov
- Retrieved
- Sep 8, 2026
- Layer
- normalized (units and labels harmonized; values unchanged)
- Run
- ING-CLINICALTRIALS-20260908-000001
Summary
Brief summary (as posted)
Low endoscopy completion rates are a major problem in the VA, causing delay or failure to receive essential care, increased clinic wait times, lost capacity, increased costs, thus limiting endoscopic screening for colorectal cancer. This study tests whether an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) messaging system is equally effective in promoting the completion of flexible sigmoidoscopy and colonoscopy as usual clinical care practices that include phone calls from nurses to patients prior to preparation and procedures. Previous studies have examined the role of scheduling facilitation or patient adherence on endoscopy completion and the use of IVR technology to enhance patient adherence in other medical contexts. This is the first study, however, to evaluate the use of IVR for endoscopy completion and the first to compare it to the effectiveness of phone calls from nurses prior to an endoscopy appointment.
Conditions
Conditions (1)
Free-text conditions as registered, with the CancerIndex entity they were reconciled to and the match type.
| Condition (as posted) | Mapped entity | Match | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colorectal Cancer | Malignant Colorectal Neoplasm | CURATED_BROADER | 0.80 |
Interventions
Interventions (1)
| Intervention | Type | Mapped drug | Match |
|---|---|---|---|
| Use of Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system to improve adherence to GI appointments and prep procedures | Behavioral | — | UNRESOLVED |
Design
Arms and outcomes
Arms (3)
- type
- EXPERIMENTAL
- label
- Usual Care with nurse phone call
- description
- Usual Care--Nurses telephoned patients 7 days prior to appointment to remind patients about scheduled GI appointment and to answer any questions.
- interventionNames
- Behavioral: Use of Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system to improve adherence to GI appointments and prep procedures
- type
- EXPERIMENTAL
- label
- interactive voice response 3 days prior
- description
- Interactive voice response system was used to remind patients 3 days before a scheduled appointment and to educate them about preparation procedures for the appointment (IVR3)
- interventionNames
- Behavioral: Use of Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system to improve adherence to GI appointments and prep procedures
- type
- EXPERIMENTAL
Eligibility
Eligibility (as posted)
- Sex
- All
Show eligibility criteria text
Inclusion Criteria: All patients with either flexible sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy appointments scheduled greater than 7 days before their appointment in the GI endoscopy clinic from August 20, 2007 through October 31, 2008. Exclusion Criteria: Patients were not considered eligible for inclusion in the study if, based on a medical record review prior to randomization, they had unreliable means of receiving the intervention or the intervention would have provided inappropriate or inaccurate information. These patients included those who lived in a nursing or group home or homeless shelter; had no listed telephone number; scheduled the appointment less than 8 days in advance; or, had Type 1 diabetes, dementia or Alzheimer's or multiple GI procedures on the same day (such as those with both upper and lower GI procedures). All patients excluded from the study were assigned to usual care.
References
Publications (1)
- RESULTGriffin JM, Hulbert EM, Vernon SW, Nelson D, Hagel EM, Nugent S, Baines Simon A, Bangerter A, van Ryn M. Improving endoscopy completion: effectiveness of an interactive voice response system. Am J Manag Care. 2011 Mar;17(3):199-208. PMID 21504256