Harvard Medical School is trying to find out if a text message dialogue is an effective way to improve health outcomes for Medicaid patients.

The medical school recently announced that it will conduct two studies about two-way SMS communication in healthcare with California-based Gold Coast Health Plan Medicaid members and mobile health technology provider mPulse Mobile.

The first program will focus on increasing program enrollment in the Gold Coast’s asthma disease management program and increase engagement for these patients. The second program will focus on getting new and existing Gold Coast Plan members to select a primary care provider, and sign up for a preventative care service and screening.

Harvard wanted to look at the effectiveness of two-way text messaging because the industry needs innovation in managing and delivering care outside of visiting a doctor’s office, says Dr. Ateev Mehrotra, program researcher and associate professor of healthcare policy and medicine at Harvard Medical School.

“One-way notification-based text messages have been evaluated, but two-way, interactive text message dialogues that are tailored to individuals have not,” Mehrotra says. “This is a new and innovative capability to evaluate.”

The medical school selected the Medicaid population because of the challenges these patients face, Mehrotra says. “There is a great need to improve access to care for our Medicaid population to improve health outcomes and lower healthcare costs,” he says.

Gold Coast Health Plan wanted to look at a population with a chronic condition, like asthma, because management is often unsatisfactory, which leads to inadequate treatment and adherence to treatment, Gold Coast says. An example dialogue for an asthma patient is a text message asking her to check the air quality in her neighborhood to help her decide if she should be exercising outside, Mehrotra says.

Harvard will evaluate the effectiveness of the program based on claims data of patients in those programs compared with a control group, he says.The study will take between six months to a year, and Mehrotra is unsure when Harvard will release the results.

MPulse Mobile’s text message program is automated and does not require doctors to send any messages. Gold Coast Health Plan has used a text message program since early 2016.

The California Health Care Foundation will provide the funding for both studies, although Mehrotra declines to disclose the cost.