Improving pediatric appointment keeping with reminders and reduced response requirement.

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Pediatric Health
• Behavioral Science

Background:

• Appointment no-shows are a significant problem in hospital ambulatory pediatric clinics.
• Inefficient appointment keeping impacts patient care and resource allocation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of appointment reminders and reduced response requirements for improving appointment keeping.
• To assess the impact of mailed and telephoned reminders coupled with a parking pass on clinic attendance.

Main Methods:

• A multiple baseline analysis was conducted over one fiscal year, analyzing 5,261 appointments.
• The intervention included mailed and telephoned reminders and a parking pass to reduce barriers to attendance.
• Data were analyzed using an interrupted time-series analysis.

Main Results:

• The intervention significantly increased the percentage of appointments kept.
• The intervention significantly decreased the percentage of appointments broken.
• Social validation, consumer satisfaction, and cost-effectiveness measures supported the intervention's success.

Conclusions:

• Combining appointment reminders with reduced response requirements is an effective strategy for improving appointment keeping in pediatric ambulatory care.
• This intervention offers a practical and cost-effective solution to enhance healthcare access and efficiency.
• The findings support the broader implementation of such strategies in similar clinical settings.