Dr. Robert Cronin has been awarded a $3.5 million grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute for a multi-center clinical trial to evaluate a new approach for supporting adults with sickle cell disease (SCD) using a mobile health (mHealth) app. The app provides patient-friendly versions of evidence-based guidelines, aiming to empower patients to better understand and manage their condition.
While national guidelines for SCD exist, many patients are not aware of them or find them difficult to access and use. The prior work from Dr. Cronin’s team shows that patients want guidelines that are clear, actionable, and available through technology.
The mHealth app is designed to bridge critical gaps in sickle cell disease (SCD) care by making evidence-based guidelines easily accessible, understandable, and actionable for adults with SCD, a population that faces significant health disparities and barriers to guideline adherence. The app incorporates patient-centered features such as reminders, decision support tools, and interactive educational content, empowering users to engage in their care and improve adherence to recommended practices. By leveraging frameworks like Wagner’s Chronic Care Model and the Health Belief Model, the app directly addresses knowledge gaps and supports self-management, which are shown to reduce acute healthcare utilization. This approach is especially effective for SCD, where improved patient activation and knowledge can lead to better outcomes and help address longstanding gaps in care.
The significance for patient care is substantial: in a preliminary study, adults with SCD who used the mHealth app had a 44% relative risk reduction in emergency room visits and hospitalizations compared to those who received standard care. This means patients were able to manage their health more effectively, potentially reducing complications and improving quality of life.
The new clinical trial will compare outcomes for patients using the app versus those receiving standard care, focusing on hospitalizations, emergency room visits, and patient-reported outcomes. The study will also gather feedback from both patients and providers to identify what helps or hinders the use of these tools in practice.
The study will also assess the feasibility of implementing this approach in real-world clinical settings and its cost-effectiveness. If successful, this approach could become a model for improving care and reducing care gaps in SCD and other chronic conditions.