M2-PASS: SMS-based mobile patient support and responding to challenges of transitional care

At the Fox Chase Cancer Center (FCCC), a research facility and hospital in Philadelphia, PA USA, after patients are treated and are discharged, clinicians monitor them for a period of time to ensure patients follow therapeutic procedures, adhere to their medication schedules and are making the right steps towards recovery. With a large volume of patients, it is difficult for staff to manage medication schedules, symptom assessments and follow up with their numerous patients in a timely manner. With this collaboration between software engineers and clinical researchers, we present Mobile Medication Patient Symptom Support (M
²
-PASS), an automated system to intelligently manage a large number of patients by assessing and tracking their symptoms, notifying them with relevant patient-specific instructions on medication and recovery strategies. SMS is used as the communication channel with the patients, ensuring the widest reach to include patients of various backgrounds and levels of technology proficiency. Many patients are elderly and have only basic means of keeping in touch with the medical examiners. This system accomplishes both a user friendly, personal experience for both the patient, and the clinician administrators while maintaining scalability for large practices and providing them with valuable data for assessment of their patient discharge methodology.