The effect of fines on hospital outpatient non-attendance with respect to attendance and efficiency as well as horizontal inequality. Not Applicable
Conditions
Interventions
All appointments will be made in accordance with usual practice except for two facts. First, the appointment letter will inform the individual (both intervention and control arms) about the trial. It
Sponsors
DEFACTUM – Public Health & Health Services Research
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Inclusion criteria
Inclusion criteria: Inclusion criteria as of 28/06/2016: 1. Consecutive appointments for individuals scheduled for diagnostics, treatment or follow up in the outpatient clinic 2. Appointments for individuals who are booked via an appointment letter sent between 01/05/2015 and 01/12/2015 Original inclusion criteria: 1. Consecutive appointments for individuals scheduled for diagnostics, treatment or follow up in the outpatient clinic 2. Appointments for individuals who are booked via an appointment letter sent between 01/05/2015 and 30/04/2016
Exclusion criteria
Exclusion criteria: Exclusion criteria as of 28/06/2016: 1. As a user may have more than one appointment, only the first appointment during the period was considered 2. Appointments for individuals who are booked without an appointment letter, e.g. via telephone or face-to-face 3. Appointments for individuals receiving physiotherapy or occupational therapy in the outpatient clinic (typically in a group-based setup also without appointment letters) 4. Appointments for individuals with residence in Greenland (requiring an overseas flight) Original exclusion criteria: 1. Appointments for individuals who are booked without an appointment letter, e.g. via telephone or face-to-face 2. Appointments for individuals receiving physiotherapy or occupational therapy in the outpatient clinic (typically in a group-based setup also without appointment letters) 3. Appointments for individuals with residence in Greenland (requiring an overseas flight)
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Proportion of appointments who are attended: All types of appointments are registered in the clinic by the secretariat on a daily basis. All parameters except for sociodemographics are automatically extracted from the electronic patient journal system into a trial registry administrative registered in electronic trial registries. Sociodemographics are extracted from various, individual-level national registries administered by Statistics Denmark. | — |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| 1. Proportions of appointments cancelled by the department 2. Proportion of appointments cancelled by the individual 3. Case-mix of individuals in terms of sociodemographics such as age, sex, income, education, distance to hospital, travel time and waiting times and in terms of health problem characteristics such as anatomy, type of appointment and treatment costs will be used as a secondary outcome All types of appointments are registered in the clinic by the secretariat on a daily basis. All parameters except for sociodemographics are automatically extracted from the electronic patient journal system into a trial registry administrative registered in electronic trial registries. Sociodemographics are extracted from various, individual-level national registries administered by Statistics Denmark. | — |
Countries
Denmark
Outcome results
None listed