Nudging Patients to Increase Shingles Vaccination

In the proposed pilot, we will apply what we learned about nudging flu vaccination to increase shingles vaccination. We will run a randomized controlled trial to evaluate several different shingles vaccination nudges. Nudge messages may 1) include educational information, 2) state that the patient is at high risk for shingles, 3) state that a shingles vaccine is “waiting” at Geisinger and/or 4) include numeric information about shingles risks described in a simplified way to increase understanding. We may also vary the number of messages that patients are sent as a way to manipulate and assess the boundaries of reminder effectiveness and “nudge fatigue.” Adult Geisinger patients ages 50+ with a Geisinger primary care provider and/or a Geisinger primary care appointment scheduled, who have not yet received a Shingrix shot, will be evenly randomized to an intervention arm or a control arm. We expect to enroll at least 30,000 patients in the study. Our primary outcome will be Shingrix vaccination on the patient’s appointment date or within 4 weeks of the intervention.