Early Outreach After Missed Appointments Improves Return to Care Rates

Contacting HIV-infected persons within 8 days of a missed appointment doubled the return to care rate in a retrospective study of 108,000 patients in Kenya.

Loss to care continues to be a major obstacle to achieving improved clinical outcomes and decreased HIV transmission risk within a defined jurisdiction. To evaluate factors associated with improved return to care rates after a missed appointment, investigators have conducted a retrospective study involving 108,221 HIV-positive persons seen between 2001 and 2011 within a care system comprising 19 clinics in Kenya.

Patients missing appointments were contacted by trained staff and received counseling that encouraged return to care. Among the 34,522 (32%) who missed an appointment and were considered lost to clinic, 44.4% had a documented gap in care, 8.0% were deceased, and 2.4% transferred to another clinic. Of the remaining 45.2%, most (56.2%…

Reviewing Author

Keith Henry, MD

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardViiV Advisory Board

Editorial BoardsJAIDS: Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes

Keith Henry, MD

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardViiV Advisory Board

Editorial BoardsJAIDS: Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes

Early Outreach After Missed Appointments Improves Return to Care Rates

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Reviewing Author