Harvard Medical School, mPulse Mobile Partners to Improve Medicaid Chronic Care

A new mHealth agreement between Harvard Medical School and mPulse Mobile targets to study the impacts of two-way text messaging on the self-care habits of Medicaid beneficiaries.

Through two distinctive programs, researchers from the Department of Health Care Policy at Harvard will evaluate how text messaging can help newly enrolled Medicaid members with a requirement to enroll in a supplemental chronic care management program.

The first program involves the utilization of interactive text messages that prompt members to sign up for GCHP’s asthma disease management program. This is to see if mHealth intervention has a positive impact at initial point-of-enrollment in Medicaid.

A second program will particularly analyze if tailored text dialogues can affect primary care provider selection, utilization of preventive care services and screenings, and incidence of chronic illness.

Both text messaging programs are funded and supported by the California Health Care Foundation Innovation Fund, and will be available to Medicaid members under the Gold Coast Health Plan (GCHP).

Chronic diseases are immensely problematic, as they comprise 86% of US healthcare charges. An mHealth approach to chronic disease management at this scale could assist other agencies build similar strategies that deliver chronic care to huge populations.

Harvard Medical School researchers consider that the mPulse Mobile technology can assist with much needed improvements in how providers and other stakeholders engage with Medicaid members and their chronic disease management.

“There is a huge requirement for innovation in care delivery and how we can engage patients outside of just the office visit,” stated program researcher and associate professor of healthcare policy and medicine, Harvard Medical School, Ateev Mehrotra, MD, MPH.

“I have spent much of my career studying the capability of different interventions to drive advancements in population health management, and I am excited about the possibility for mPulse Mobile to engage people in their health using tailored and interactive text messaging to make better outcomes and lower charges.”

The companies see language as an obstacle for several newly enrolled beneficiaries to get proper screening and diagnoses for chronic conditions. An analysis of tailored text messaging aims to determine how language hurdles affect a member’s capability to actively seek out chronic care.

“We give members targeted strategies for assisting manage chronic conditions, working with them to acquire their best possible health,” claimed Nancy R. Wharfield, MD, associate chief medical officer, Gold Coast Health Plan.

The partnership depicts an opportunity to advance care delivery across other populations that struggle with access to care.

“Harvard’s interest in studying the efficacy of these programs further validates the requirement for innovative mobile solutions that reach members and drive engagement, specifically with underserved populations,” stated Chris Nicholson, CEO, mPulse Mobile.

“We are thrilled to work with Harvard and our customer Gold Coast Health Plan on this research and sustain proving text messaging’s positive effect on health outcomes.”