E-mail reminders improve completion rates of patient-reported outcome measures

Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) have become increasingly important in assessing clinical outcomes. However, acquisition of data at routine time intervals can be challenging. The ability of e-mail reminders to save follow-up intervals when office visits are missed is unknown.

A retrospective review of a consecutive series of 186 shoulder surgical patients who underwent surgery between October 2, 2012, and July 2, 2013, was conducted. Simple Shoulder Test and 12-Item Short Form Health Survey scores were completed at preoperative visits using office-based tablet surveys. Patients were observed for completeness of PROMs at expected routine follow-up of 1 year and 2 years. When office visits were missed, e-mail reminders with links to online surveys were sent to patients without further incentives. Improvement in data acquisition achieved using e-mail reminders when patient follow-up was missed was assessed. The influence of the procedure performed was further analyzed to determine whether patients treated with different surgical procedures would be more compliant with PROM completion.

Use of e-mail reminders significantly increased the number of patients for whom complete follow-up data were obtained. Compared with tablet surveys completed during office visits alone, the addition of e-mail reminders increased the collection of complete PROM data (both 1- and 2-year follow-up) by 25.8% (P < .001). Similar findings were observed for total shoulder arthroplasty and arthroscopic rotator cuff repair patients (increased by 25.7% and 34.4%, respectively; P < .001).

E-mail reminders serve as a mechanism to increase the completeness of follow-up data in the absence of in-office patient evaluation.