PATIENT-SPECIFIC REMINDER LETTERS AND PEDIATRIC WELL-CHILD-CARE SHOW RATES

The objective of this study was to determine whether patient-specific letters, which describe the content of an upcoming well-child appointm ent, improve the show rate of well-child appointments better than post card reminders. In this prospective clinical trial conducted at a pedi atric continuity clinic in a teaching hospital, 288 newborns were rand omized to a letter, postcard, or control group. For every well-child a ppointment, families were sent either a letter pertaining to the parti cular well-child appointment or a postcard; the control group received no reminders. There were no differences in demographics among the gro ups. The show rates between the letter and postcard groups were not di fferent, but were significantly higher than the show rate for the cont rol group (75.0%, 73.7%, and 67.5%, respectively; P<.05). A cost compa rison between the use of postcards versus not using postcards revealed a benefit in the former. We concluded postcard reminders are effectiv e in improving show rates for well-child-care visits, and that patient -specific letters have no additional benefit above that of postcard re minders.