Implementation and Impact of Postdischarge Support of Cardiovascular Patients Using Text Messages The HeartHealth Program.

Background: The HeartHealth program is a text message support program for cardiovascular patients in Western Sydney, Australia. It comprised regular semipersonalized text messages providing cardiovascular disease information, advice, and support over a 6-month period.

Objectives: This study aimed to examine the impact of the HeartHealth program on health care service utilization.

Methods: This is an observational study that compared hospitalization rates in patients who enrolled in the HeartHealth program to patients who did not. Patients ≥18 years old who attended cardiology clinics or were discharged from the cardiology unit at Westmead Hospital between April 2020 and April 2022 were invited to participate in HeartHealth. The primary outcome was the incidence rate of all-cause health care utilization events in the 6 months postdischarge. All analyses were adjusted for demographic and comorbidity variables.

Results: 11,542 patients were included in the analysis (intervention: 4,324, control: 7,218), with a mean age of 58.8 ± 17.0 years, and 60.7% (7,003/11,535) were male. HeartHealth participants had lower rates of health care service events compared to control participants (number of events per patient: 0.43 intervention vs 0.52 control; adjusted rate ratio [RR]: 0.91 [95% CI: 0.83-0.99]; P = 0.033). There was a greater reduction in health care utilization events in older (>65 years old) compared to younger patients (RR: 0.82; 95% CI: 0.72-0.93 vs RR: 0.98; 95% CI: 0.87-1.10, respectively; interaction P = 0.043). HeartHealth participants reported that the program improved diet, physical activity levels, and medication compliance.

Conclusions: This analysis demonstrates the potential of text message-based postdischarge support for cardiovascular disease patients to decrease their need for health care service utilization for all medical causes.