Medication Abortion Follow-Up Rates in a Rural Population Before and After Introduction of a Remote Follow-Up Option

Medication abortion (MAB) follow-up historically involves visiting a health care facility for ultrasonography or laboratory testing. In rural states such as New Mexico, many patients travel hours for MAB, making two visits burdensome. Studies demonstrate feasibility, safety, and patient preference for remote follow-up. We evaluated whether MAB follow-up by telephone had noninferior loss-to-follow-up (LTFU) rates compared with ultrasonography or laboratory follow-up in a rural population. This was a retrospective chart review of University of New Mexico MAB LTFU rates after changing to telephone follow-up (home group, n = 136). Patients were propensity-matched in a 1:2 ratio to a historical cohort (health care group, n = 272) to eliminate significant differences. We defined LTFU as no contact within 50 days. We evaluated complications requiring intervention, possible ongoing pregnancy, completion of the home follow-up protocol (7- and 30-day calls, high-sensitivity urine pregnancy test [UPT]), follow-up by intended method (home or health care), and number of call attempts. LTFU rates for the home group (n = 23, 17%) were noninferior to the health care group (n = 60, 22%, p = 0.24). Rates of complications requiring intervention (p = 0.83) and possible ongoing pregnancy (p = 0.72) among the home group were similar to the health care group. Ninety-seven (71%) home group patients completed the initial call, 79 (58%) completed the UPT, and 86 (69%) completed the 30-day call. Ninety-five (70%) home group patients followed up by intended method, comparable with the health care group (n = 199, 73%, p = 0.56). Staff made a median of 3 (interquartile range: 2-4) calls per home group patient. Remote MAB LTFU rates were noninferior to in-person LTFU rates.