Missed Appointments and Poor Glycemic Control: An Opportunity to Identify High-Risk Diabetic Patients

Objective. When patients miss scheduled medical appointments, continuity and effectiveness of healthcare delivery is reduced, appropriate monitoring of health status lapses, and the cost of health services increases. We evaluated the relationship between missed appointments and glycemic control (glycosylated hemoglobin or$HbA_{1c}$) in a large, managed care population of diabetic patients. Research Design and Methods: Missed appointment rate was related cross-sectionally to glycemic control among 84,040 members of the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Diabetes Registry during 2000. Adjusted least-square mean estimates of$HbA_{1c}$were derived by level of appointment keeping (none missed, 1-30% missed, and >30% missed appointments for the calendar year) stratified by diabetes therapy. Results: Twelve percent of the subjects missed more than 30% of scheduled appointments during 2000. Greater rates of missed appointments were associated with significantly poorer glycemic control after adjusting for demographic factors (age, sex), clinical status, and health care utilization. The adjusted mean$HbA_{1c}$among members who missed >30% of scheduled appointments was 0.70 to 0.79 points higher (P