When chronic disease patients let their care lapse and fail to show for clinic appointments, it may behoove clinics to reach out and encourage a return to care.
In the case of HIV patients in eastern Africa, reaching out within eight days of a missed clinic appointment is associated with a twice-greater likelihood of a return to care, according to a retrospective study by Peter Rebeiro, Ph.D., and colleagues.
The longer the delay in reaching out to no-shows, the less likely a return to care becomes, the study shows.
The team used data from 34,522 no-show patients, adjusting their analysis for a variety of patient factors. The study appears in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes.
"The re-engagement of individuals lost to care is an essential and understudied stage in the HIV continuum of care," the authors wrote. "Our observations […] have the potential to inform both the possible benefit and optimal timing of such interventions."
More information: Peter F. Rebeiro et al. Observational Study of the Effect of Patient Outreach on Return to Care, JAIDS Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes (2017). DOI: 10.1097/QAI.0000000000001474
Journal information: Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes
Provided by Vanderbilt University
