Integrated Telemedicine Program Evaluation (ITP)

June 18, 2026 updated by: Amir Goren, Geisinger Clinic

An Integrated, Virtual and On-Demand Solution to Avoid ED Utilization

This project will evaluate a virtual, on-demand telemedicine program for High emergency department (ED) utilizers with comorbid physical health conditions and behavioral health correlates. Researchers will randomize patients to have either full access to the full intervention (treatment group) or to receive only standard care (control group). Analyses will be intent-to-treat. The primary outcome is the number of ED visits 120 days after the first Best Practice Alert (BPA) firing.

The research team plans to enroll 3200 patients in this study. However, randomization may end due to system constraints on December 31, 2025 before reaching that target. This sample provides 80% power to detect a 35% relative reduction in ED utilization using a two-tailed test with an alpha of .15, assuming 40% compliance with the program.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

1484

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Pennsylvania
      • Danville, Pennsylvania, United States, 17822
        • Geisinger Clinic

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Patient presents to the ED and meets the following criteria:

Inclusion Criteria:

  • 18+ years old
  • 4+ Geisinger ED visits in the last 6 months
  • Geisinger Health Plan (GHP) insurance member
  • Has a Geisinger PCP
  • Patient is being seen at one of the following facilities: Geisinger Lewistown Hospital, Geisinger Medical Center, Geisinger Bloomsburg Hospital, Geisinger Jersey Shore Hospital, Geisinger Community Medical Hospital, Geisinger Wyoming Valley, Geisinger Medical Center Muncy, Geisinger Shamokin Ach Hospital, Geisinger South Wilkes Barre

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patient being seen in departments determined ineligible by the study team
  • Patient is diagnosed with alcohol and substance-related disorders
  • Patient is going to receive inpatient care
  • Patient is coded in the ED as Level 1 (i.e., seeking life-saving measures)
  • Patient has an Intellectual Disability or Traumatic Brain Injury
  • Patient is actively seeing a BH provider

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Integrated Telemedicine Program
Patients will be invited to participate in the integrated telemedicine program through text, email, and/or phone calls.
Behavioral: Integrated Telemedicine Program
The integrated telemedicine program is short-term bridge support provided by a virtually accessible team, including a behavioral health provider (Health Psychologist or Licensed Clinical Social Worker [LCSW]) and Community Health Worker (CHW). Once stabilized, members transition from bridge support to ongoing care with a Geisinger Health System Primary Care Provider and Behavioral Health Provider.
No Intervention: Control
Patients will receive only standard care and will receive no invitation to participate in the integrated telemedicine program.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Emergency Department Visits
Time Frame: within 120 days of the initial BPA firing
Number of emergency department visits
within 120 days of the initial BPA firing

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Health-related quality of life (HRQoL)
Time Frame: Within 120 days of randomization
HRQoL will be measured via the RAND Short Form 36 (36-item questionnaire) administered each BH visit. A high score indicates a better health state or functioning. The lowest and highest possible scores are 0 and 100 respectively.
Within 120 days of randomization

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Geisinger Clinic

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

June 18, 2025

Primary Completion (Actual)

April 30, 2026

Study Completion (Actual)

April 30, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 18, 2025

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 25, 2025

First Posted (Actual)

June 29, 2025

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

June 23, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 18, 2026

Last Verified

June 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2024-0554

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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