title: Ethnic differences in appointment-keeping and implications for the patient-centered medical home--findings from the Diabetes Study of Northern California (DISTANCE).
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine ethnic differences in appointment-keeping in a managed care setting.
  
  
  METHODS
  Kaiser Permanente Diabetes Study of Northern California (DISTANCE), 2005-2007, n = 12,957.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cohort study. Poor appointment-keeping (PAK) was defined as missing >1/3 of planned, primary care appointments. Poisson regression models were used to estimate ethnic-specific relative risks of PAK (adjusting for demographic, socio-economic, health status, and facility effects).
  
  
  METHODS
  Administrative/electronic health records and survey responses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Poor appointment-keeping rates differed >2-fold across ethnicities: Latinos (12 percent), African Americans (10 percent), Filipinos (7 percent), Caucasians (6 percent), and Asians (5 percent), but also varied by medical center. Receiving >50 percent of outpatient care via same-day appointments was associated with a 4-fold greater PAK rate. PAK was associated with 20, 30, and 40 percent increased risk of elevated HbA1c (>7 percent), low-density lipoprotein (>100 mm/dl), and systolic blood pressure (>130 mmHg), respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Latinos and African Americans were at highest risk of missing planned primary care appointments. PAK was associated with a greater reliance on same-day visits and substantively poorer clinical outcomes. These results have important implications for public health and health plan policy, as primary care rapidly expands toward open access to care supported by the patient-centered medical home model.
authors.affiliation: Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente, 2000 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94612, USA. melissa.parker@kp.org
authors.forename: Melissa M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Parker
authors.forename: Howard H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Moffet
authors.forename: Dean
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Schillinger
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Adler
authors.forename: Alicia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fernandez
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ciechanowski
authors.forename: Andrew J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Karter
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001071:Appointments and Schedules; D002140:California; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010349:Patient Compliance / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018802:Patient-Centered Care; D016012:Poisson Distribution; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012306:Risk; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
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