One system, which included email and telephone reminders to students visiting the University of Buffalo's student health center in New York, managed to boost re-testing rates for chlamydia and gonorrhea from 17 percent to 86 percent in just one semester.
Chlamydia accounted for most of the infections detected. Here, retesting rates jumped from 16 percent to 89 percent.
Another study used pop-up screens on electronic medical records to remind providers that a patient needed to be re-tested. The system was conceived after researchers noted low re-testing rates, even among women who visited a health care provider one to six months after their initial treatment. In this case, testing for gonorrhea and chlamydia increased from 70 percent to 86 percent.
More information
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on chlamydia.
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