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Appointment-keeping behavior of Medicaid-enrolled pediatric dental patients in eastern Iowa
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Appointment-keeping behavior of Medicaid-enrolled pediatric dental patients in eastern Iowa

P Iben, M J Kanellis and J Warren
Pediatric dentistry, Vol.22(4), pp.325-329
07/01/2000
PMID: 10969442

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Abstract

PURPOSEThe purpose of this prospective study was to assess the appointment-keeping behavior of Medicaid-enrolled pediatric dental patients in three Eastern Iowa practices.METHODSDuring the month of October 1998, a tally was kept of all patient appointments at a private pediatric dental office, a public health dental clinic, and a university-based pediatric dentistry clinic. Patients were categorized as either Medicaid or non-Medicaid. Appointment behavior categories were defined as: On time; Failure; Late-notice Cancellation (less than 24 hours notice); and Tardy (greater than 10 minutes). The data was entered in SPSS and analyzed using the chi square statistic. Statistical significance was P < 0.05.RESULTSA total of 1,406 appointments were recorded for all three sites. Overall, patients on Iowa Medicaid had higher appointment failure, late-notice cancellation, and tardiness rates than non-Medicaid patients at all three clinics. However, these differences were only statistically significant for the private office and the university-based clinic. Failed appointment rates for Medicaid patients were much higher at the private office (38%) than at the other two sites.CONCLUSIONConsistent with anecdotal reports from dentists, Medicaid patients had higher rates of broken appointments than did non-Medicaid patients, particularly in a private practice setting.
 Dentistry

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