Do Families Keep Appointments with Pediatric Specialists?

Thirty percent of referrals from two community health centers weren't completed.

Integrated healthcare systems make it easier to refer patients to specialists and find out if referrals are completed. Investigators reviewed referral and electronic health records for 577 children from two health centers in underserved communities in Massachusetts to determine rates of completed specialty referrals (pediatric specialty visit attendance within 60 days or on the appointed day if the visit was scheduled >2 months after referral).

Only 70% of patients referred were subsequently seen by specialists. Factors independently associated with incomplete referral included age older than 5 years (odds ratio, 1.72), no chronic health condition (OR, 1.38), public insurance (OR, 1.82), surgical specialty referral (OR, 1.97), low-volume spe…

Reviewing Author

Howard Bauchner, MD

Disclosures

Grant / research supportHuman Resources and Services Administration; NIH; NIH-NHLBI; USDA; GlaxoSmithKline

Editorial boardsArchives of Disease in Childhood (Editor-in-Chief)

Howard Bauchner, MD

Disclosures

Grant / research supportHuman Resources and Services Administration; NIH; NIH-NHLBI; USDA; GlaxoSmithKline

Editorial boardsArchives of Disease in Childhood (Editor-in-Chief)