Highlights:

• The text-message based program demonstrated the high engagement and accessibility for which Epharmix, now CareSignal, is known: over 80% of patients engaged with more than half of all messages.
• The Deviceless RPM program enabled patients to report opioid usage, pain, refill requests and disposal behaviors to their clinician.
• At the conclusion of the program, only 3.2% of patients requested an opioid refill after their initial prescription.
• Patient-reported satisfaction with the level of communication and the messaging program experience was extremely positive; 96% of patients in the program reported high satisfaction with the level of communication with their provider and with their experience using the program.

Background: Practices of opioid prescribing vary widely across general surgery providers. The goal of this study was to use a text-based platform to assess postdischarge opioid utilization.

Methods: A prospective, cohort study enrolled adult patients undergoing operations across the following 3 general surgery sections: minimally invasive surgery, colorectal, and surgical oncology. Using Epharmix, an electronic text-based platform, short message service text messages were sent to enrolled patients on postdischarge days 1 to 7, 14, 2, and 28 inquiring about the number of opioid pills taken since discharge and pain medication refills.

Conclusion: A text-based platform can track reliably patients' opioid usage postdischarge. Such platforms may facilitate the development of data-driven, standardized practices of opioid prescribing matched to patients' anticipated opioid usage postdischarge.

Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.