title: Methods to reduce outpatient non-attendance.
abstract: Non-attendance reduces clinic and provider productivity and efficiency, compromises access and increases cost of health care. This systematic review of the English language literature (November 1999-November 2009) compares telephone, mail, text/short message service, electronic mail and open-access scheduling to determine which is best at reducing outpatient non-attendance and providing net financial benefit. Telephone, mail and text/short message service interventions all improved attendance modestly but at varying costs. Text messaging was the most cost-effective of the 3, but its applicability may be limited. Few data are available regarding electronic mail reminders, whereas open-access scheduling is an area of active research.
authors.affiliation: Medical Service, Montgomery Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Jackson, Mississippi 39216, USA.
authors.forename: Nancy D
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Stubbs
authors.forename: Stephen A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Geraci
authors.forename: Priscilla L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Stephenson
authors.forename: Dianne B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: Suzanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sanders
mesh_terms: D001071:Appointments and Schedules; D006801:Humans; D010349:Patient Compliance; D015397:Program Evaluation; D017010:Reminder Systems / Q000191:economics