Association of Use of Electronic Appointment Reminders With Waiting Times in the Veterans Affairs Health System

Abstract

IMPORTANCE Electronic appointment reminder systems are increasingly used across health systems. However, their association with patients' waiting times for their appointments, a measure of timely access to care, has yet to be assessed. OBJECTIVETo assess the associations between the introduction of an electronic appointment reminder system and the number of days patients had to wait from appointment booking to appointment completion in patients in the Veterans Affairs Health System. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Cohort study of patients who completed appointmentsfrom January 1, 2018, to October 13, 2018, inclusive in all 130 Veterans Affairs (VA) health centers in the US. The study population comprised a census of all patients who received care at any VA health center during the period of the study for outpatient, procedural, rehabilitation, or radiology services.