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Month in Review January 2021

Each month, we round up news stories and publications about work happening at the Acceleration Lab, Center for Digital Health, Nudge Unit, and Way to Health. Want to stay in the know? Subscribe to have the Month in Review sent directly to your inbox.

Top Stories

Social media as a means of understanding public health messaging

Raina Merchant, Eugenia South, and Nicole Lurie share four strategies to advance public health messaging amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In the piece, the experts advise deploying countermeasures for misinformation, surveillance of digital data to inform messaging, partnering with trusted messengers, and promoting equity through messaging.

Public Health Messaging in an Era of Social Media

Default opt-out of cardiac rehabilitation increases referrals

Cardiac rehabilitation can be life-saving but is historically underused across the country. Researchers from the Nudge Unit have devised a way to fix that. In a new study, the team demonstrated that making doctors opt-out from prescribing cardiac rehabilitation instead of opting in increased referrals by roughly 70 percent.

Referral Rates for Cardiac Rehabilitation Among Eligible Inpatients After Implementation of a Default Opt-Out Decision Pathway in the Electronic Medical Record

Cardiac Rehabilitation is Underused Across the Country. One Simple Change Could Fix That.

Health system boosts cardiac rehab rates, improves patient care, with new referral process

Default Opt-Out of Cardiac Rehabilitation Increases Referrals

Default interventions spurred rise in cardiac rehabilitation referrals

Using design and innovation principles to reduce avoidable emergency department visits

In Healthcare: The Journal of Delivery Science and Innovation, our team members describe a 3-year journey to apply innovation principles to 1. Understand drivers of avoidable emergency department use 2. Develop a telemedicine-based solution, and 3. operationalize the service. Today, PennMedicineOnDemand (PMOD), is available to over 60,000 Penn Medicine employees and their family members. PMOD facilitates an average of more than 2,500 visits per month and has played a central role in Penn Medicine's COVID-response efforts.

Using design and innovation principles to reduce avoidable emergency department visits among employees of a large academic medical center

A preview of what's in store for the Nudge Unit in 2021

It's a new year, and the Penn Medicine Nudge Unit has a lot in store for 2021. In a new blog post, Mitesh Patel previews studies the team will be releasing results from soon, including the largest-ever communication research study aimed at increasing flu vaccinations. The team hopes the results of the study will be well-timed to assist with encouraging COVID-19 vaccinations.

What's Ahead in 2021

Events

2021 Nudges in Health Care Symposium

Save the date for the Nudges in Health Care Symposium on May 20, 2021. The symposium will be virtual, and registration is free. Complete the form below to be notified when registration opens.

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Awards

Raina Merchant named on list of inspiring Black scientists

Raina Merchant was named one of "1,000 Inspiring Black Scientists in America." The list recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to science and demonstrated a commitment to serving diverse student populations.