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A Smartphone Application to Reduce Time-to-Notification of Sexually Transmitted Infections
Adam Carl Cohen1, Frederick Zimmerman1, Michael Prelip1
1Adam Carl Cohen is with the Public Health Division, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Los Angeles, CA. Frederick Zimmerman is with the Department of Health Policy and Management, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Fielding School of Public Health. Michael Prelip and Deborah Glik are with the Department of Community Health Sciences, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.
Objectives:
To measure whether the implementation of Healthvana-an online patient engagement platform and smartphone application-reduced the number of days between sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing, notification, and treatment at AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) Wellness Centers.
Methods:
We analyzed the retrospective data for 917 male clients who tested positive and received treatment for chlamydia, gonorrhea, or syphilis between January 1, 2014, and December 31, 2015. We included 8 AHF Wellness Centers from California and Florida in the study. We used regression models to evaluate the relationship between Healthvana implementation (pre-Healthvana vs post-Healthvana) and the number of days between the STI test, notification, and treatment.
Results:
Following Healthvana implementation at the AHF Wellness Centers, the mean number of days decreased between the STI test and notification, from 8 to 6 days. The mean number of days between the overall STI test and treatment decreased from 12 to 10 days. Regression models found the reduction in the number of days from STI test to notification to be statistically significant.
Conclusions:
Smartphone applications like Healthvana are promising technologies to ensure clients are successfully and immediately notified of their STI test results.