PrepQ automates the phone calls and text messages a practice would make before and after a procedure. That approach has been tested in randomized trials. Here is what the published research shows, including where it disagrees.
A meta analysis of seven randomized controlled trials covering 5,889 patients found that reinforced education delivered by text message raised the rate of adequate bowel preparation from 75.7 percent to 81.7 percent. Four of those trials also found a significant reduction in patients failing to attend their scheduled colonoscopy.
International Journal of Colorectal Disease, 2022. PubMed 35192000
A separate meta analysis of nine randomized controlled trials covering 3,836 patients found that telephone instruction significantly improved the rate of adequate bowel preparation. In subgroup analysis, calls placed within one week of the procedure improved preparation quality, while calls placed earlier than one week did not.
PLOS ONE, 2023. PubMed 37992042
Two of our design decisions come straight out of those findings. PrepQ runs voice and text on the same line, because both channels have randomized support and patients do not all respond the same way. And outreach is scheduled close to the procedure rather than at booking, because timing appears to be part of what makes the intervention work at all.
A systematic review and meta analysis of 19 randomized and non randomized studies covering 10,536 patients found that perioperative telemedicine was associated with significant reductions in readmission rates and emergency department visits after abdominal surgery, with no difference in complication rates between the telehealth and conventional care groups.
JAMA Network Open, 2024. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.8555
The literature is not uniformly positive, and a practice deciding whether to spend money on this should hear that from the vendor rather than find it later.
A randomized clinical trial of 753 patients at an academic endoscopy center compared automated text message reminders and instructions against usual care in the week before colonoscopy, and found no significant difference in appointment attendance or bowel preparation quality. Trials of text message programs aimed at reducing hospital readmissions after discharge have also produced mixed results, with one of the largest showing no significant reduction.
The pattern across the research is that content, timing, and the ability to actually answer a patient question appear to matter more than the presence of automated messaging by itself. Sending more messages is not the intervention. Answering the question the patient has, in their own language, at the moment they ask it, is closer to the thing that works.
That is the part PrepQ was built for.
PrepQ has not published outcomes data of its own. We are collecting it now with our first practices, measuring inbound call volume, day of procedure cancellations, and preparation completion.
When that data exists it will be posted on this page, whether or not it is flattering. Until then, nothing on this page is a claim about what PrepQ will do for your practice.