Comprehensive Analysis to Uncover Determinants of Patient Appointment Compliance in Ophthalmology at the Kresge Eye...

Appointment compliance (AC) has a significant impact on patient care; however, determinants of AC in Ophthalmology and its subspecialties remains elusive.

We performed a five-year retrospective analysis across Kresge Eye Institute (KEI) and its affiliated Michigan locations. A total of 597,364 appointments across >13 subspecialties were included. AC was the primary outcome of interest. Compliant (CO) and non-compliant (NC) groups were compared to the following variables: patient characteristics (gender, race, age, insurance), appointment rank (relative to patient history), scheduling location, month, and ophthalmic specialty, in regard to arrival and no-show.

Among all appointments, 59.77% were associated with a female patient and 79.16% of the total number of appointments depicted patient compliance. AC differed concerning specialty, with retina representing the highest compliance across all appointments. Among 200+ insurance providers, Medicare was most frequently used and represented the highest share of CO appointments. African Americans were the primary ethnicity served by KEI and had the highest number of NC appointments.

Our study demonstrates the impact of patient demographics, appointment characteristics, and ophthalmic subspecialty on AC. A better understanding of these determinants could allow for an increased CO for Ophthalmology practices.