Behavioral Health Initial Intake Outreach

Before beginning any therapy, patients must complete an intake appointment, involvinginitial assessments and a determination of whether 1:1 or group therapy is appropriatefor the patient. However, many patients are unaware that a group therapy recommendation(vs. 1:1 therapy) is a potential outcome of the intake appointment, and/or are unaware ofthe benefits of group therapy.We will test whether messages informing patients about the benefits of group therapy sentahead of the routine intake calls can increase the uptake of group therapy, helpingpatients get care sooner. Patients will be randomized to the message group or theno‐message control group (i.e., current standard of care).Patients in the message group will be sent messages soon after their intake appointmentis scheduled. The messages will describe the goal of the visit ("Your upcoming visit is aone‐time appointment to plan what's next for your care.") and emphasize the benefits ofgroup therapy (e.g., "Groups usually start sooner than individual sessions and offerplenty of days and times to fit your schedule."), with a link to a flyer with moregroup‐therapy details. The same information will be added to the patient instructions forthe visit for those in the message group.Messages will be sent via the MyChart patient portal for those with an existing MyChartaccount. Those who do not have MyChart but can be sent a text message will get a textmessage with a link to activate their MyChart account to view the patient instructions.Patients will be enrolled for one year, with about 6200 expected in this time frame.