title: Does making newborn follow-up appointments from the hospital improve compliance?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To test a system of arranging the first newborn follow-up appointments made from the hospital prior to discharge.
  
  
  METHODS
  Prospective randomized study of 328 term healthy newborns divided into control and intervention groups. As there were multiple practices, we checked for clustering in the two groups and then compared them for patient compliance with the first newborn appointment. We also compared the control and intervention groups for compliance with regard to insurance status.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was difference between the control and intervention group in timeliness for the first appointment (control, 84.9%, intervention group, 94.2%, p=0.0062). There was also improvement in privately insured patients (control 89.1%, intervention 96.5%, p=0.0263), as well as in Medicaid+noninsured patients (control 64.7%, intervention 90.2%, p=0.0245).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We conclude that arranging for follow-up appointments from the hospital is a worthwhile inexpensive intervention that could significantly improve patient compliance with the first newborn visit.
authors.affiliation: Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, Kalamazoo Center for Medical Studies, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA.
authors.forename: Arthur N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Feinberg
authors.forename: Daniel G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: McAllister
authors.forename: Suvankar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Majumdar
mesh_terms: D000359:Aftercare / Q000379:methods; D001071:Appointments and Schedules; D005260:Female; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000379:methods; D010349:Patient Compliance / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010351:Patient Discharge; D011336:Probability; D011446:Prospective Studies; D017010:Reminder Systems; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014481:United States