Text to Detect: helping Australians better identify and manage cardiovascular disease

The Heart Foundation has partnered with Healthily to deliver another innovative program utilising recall SMS technology to support the targeted identification and management of cardiovascular disease.

Known as Text to Detect, this is the largest quality improvement program of its kind in Australian primary care.

As part of the pilot, practices identified patients eligible for cardiovascular risk assessment and recalled them into the practice via a personalised SMS message using Healthily’s GoShare Plus software. The pilot was run as a randomised control trial and received ethics approval from the RACGP National Research and Evaluation Ethics Committee (NREEC).

Over 42,000 eligible Australians received a personalised recall message for a Heart Health Check as part of the pilot and although impact analysis is still underway, anecdotal feedback from practices has been very positive.

The next phase of the program

Taking the learnings from the pilot program, the Heart Foundation have partnered again with Healthily to offer another 200 practices with an opportunity to participate in Phase 2 of the program. Text to Detect supports targeted identification and management of CVD via an innovative SMS recall system.

New features for Phase 2:

• New eligibility criteria so we are targeting a different patient population
• Trialing new automated ‘Nudge SMS’ as prompt/reminder (in addition to first SMS recall)
• New semi-automated report, reducing burden on practice staff

A full study protocol has been submitted and ethics approved by the RACGP NREEC on 19 May 2022. General practice enrolment to the program is currently underway, with a particular focus on enrolling practices from areas disproportionately impacted by CVD. Once enrolled, practices will receive free of charge, access to SMS credits bundle and GoShare licenses. We will consider additional expressions of interest received before 30 June 2022 for practices who meet the eligibility criteria.

The next phase of the program is being supported by the Commonwealth Department of Health, as part of the Public Health and Chronic Disease program.

Please visit the program webpage to find out more about the Text to Detect — National Heart Health Check Recall Program and to express interest.

Supporting partners include:

• AAPM — Australian Association of Practice Management
• APNA — Supporting nurses in primary health care
• PenCS — Patient to population health infomatics
• Primary Health Networks (PHNs): Adelaide, Brisbane North, Central and Eastern Sydney, Central Queensland Wide Bay, Sunshine Coast, Country South Australia, Hunter New England and Central Coast, Northern Sydney, Western Sydney, Western Victoria, Perth North, Perth South, Country WA and Tasmania.