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BACKGROUND: In Haiti, patient's adherence to treatment and compliance with medical appointments are very challenging due to different local factors. We aimed to assess the effectiveness of a reminder system implemented in health facilities in Haiti in a context of socio-political crisis. METHODS: We used appointment data from patients aged 15 years and older between January 2021 and November 2023 from four healthcare centers in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area. We performed descriptive analysis, crossing covariates with appointment attendance. We performed Pearson's Chi-squared test, and multivariate regression analysis using a mixed-effect logistic regression model in order to explore the association between sending reminders and appointment attendance, with and without adjustment for other patient-level covariates. RESULTS: A total of 14 108 appointments were registered on the reminder systems, with 2 479 (17.6%) attendances. Among those to whom reminders were sent, the number of attendances was 167 (17.4%) for email recipients only, 199 (36.7%) for SMS recipients only, and 19 (42.2%) for both SMS and email recipients - versus 2 094 (16.7%) for non-reminders. After adjusting on all other covariates, we found that patients to whom a reminder was sent via email (aOR: 1.45; CI: 1.08, 1.94), SMS (aOR: 2.95; CI: 2.41, 3.60), and both SMS and email (aOR: 2.86, CI: 1.37, 5.96) were more likely to show up on their appointment day compared to those who did not receive any reminder. Other socio-demographic factors such as being 50 years and older (aOR: 1.31; CI: 1.10, 1.56) compared to under 30 years, living as couple (aOR: 1.23; CI: 1.10, 1.37), and not having children (aOR: 1.21; CI: 1.07, 1.37) were significantly associated with appointment attendance. CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggests that patient reminder systems may be used to reduce non-attendance in Haiti, even in a context of socio-political crisis.

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OBJECTIVE: To analyze HIV Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) prescription and return for follow-up appointments. METHODS: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study using data on people who sought PEP in emergency care units (UPAs) and specialized medical services in Salvador, BA, Brazil, between January-December/2018. RESULTS: Of the 1,525 people who sought PEP at UPAs, 1,273 (83.5%) met PEP eligibility criteria, while 252 (16.5%) did not; of the eligible group, 1,166 (91.6%) had antiretrovirals prescribed, while 107 (8.4%) eligible people did not; of the total number of people with PEP prescriptions, only 226 (19.4%) returned for the first follow-up appointment, 115 (9.9%) for the second, and 33 (2.8%) for the third in order to complete the protocol. CONCLUSION: We found a significant proportion of eligible users who did not have PEP prescribed at UPAs and a significant loss of return for specialized service follow-up appointments.

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BACKGROUND: Most patients who sustain a traumatic injury require outpatient follow-up. A common barrier to outpatient postadmission care is patient failure to follow-up. One of the most significant factors resulting in failure to follow-up is age more than 35 years. Recent work has shown that follow-up telephone calls reduce readmission rates. Our aim was to decrease no-show appointments by 10% in 12 months. STUDY DESIGN: The electronic medical records at our level I and II trauma centers were queried for all outpatient appointments for trauma between July 1, 2020, and June 9, 2021, and whether the patient attended their follow-up appointment. Patients with visits scheduled after August 1, 2021, received 24- and 48-hour previsit reminder calls. Patients with visits scheduled between July 1, 2020, and August 1, 2021, did not receive previsit calls. Both groups were compared using multivariable direct logistic regression models. RESULTS: A total of 1,822 follow-up opportunities were included in the study. During the pre-implementation phase, there was a no-show rate of 30.9% (329 of 1,064 visits). Postintervention, a 12.2% reduction in overall no-show rate occurred. A statistically significant 11.2% decrease (p < 0.001) was seen in elderly patients. Multivariate analysis showed standardized calls resulted in significantly decreased odds of failing to keep an appointment (adjusted odds ratio = 0.610, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Reminder calls led to a 12.2% reduction in no-show rate and were an independent predictor of a patient's likelihood of attending their appointment. Other predictors of attendance included insurance status and abdominal injury.

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The Chilean public health system serves 74% of the country's population, and 19% of medical appointments are missed on average because of no-shows. The national goal is 15%, which coincides with the average no-show rate reported in the private healthcare system. Our case study, Doctor Luis Calvo Mackenna Hospital, is a public high-complexity pediatric hospital and teaching center in Santiago, Chile. Historically, it has had high no-show rates, up to 29% in certain medical specialties. Using machine learning algorithms to predict no-shows of pediatric patients in terms of demographic, social, and historical variables. To propose and evaluate metrics to assess these models, accounting for the cost-effective impact of possible intervention strategies to reduce no-shows. We analyze the relationship between a no-show and demographic, social, and historical variables, between 2015 and 2018, through the following traditional machine learning algorithms: Random Forest, Logistic Regression, Support Vector Machines, AdaBoost and algorithms to alleviate the problem of class imbalance, such as RUS Boost, Balanced Random Forest, Balanced Bagging and Easy Ensemble. These class imbalances arise from the relatively low number of no-shows to the total number of appointments. Instead of the default thresholds used by each method, we computed alternative ones via the minimization of a weighted average of type I and II errors based on cost-effectiveness criteria. 20.4% of the 395,963 appointments considered presented no-shows, with ophthalmology showing the highest rate among specialties at 29.1%. Patients in the most deprived socioeconomic group according to their insurance type and commune of residence and those in their second infancy had the highest no-show rate. The history of non-attendance is strongly related to future no-shows. An 8-week experimental design measured a decrease in no-shows of 10.3 percentage points when using our reminder strategy compared to a control group. Among the variables analyzed, those related to patients' historical behavior, the reservation delay from the creation of the appointment, and variables that can be associated with the most disadvantaged socioeconomic group, are the most relevant to predict a no-show. Moreover, the introduction of new cost-effective metrics significantly impacts the validity of our prediction models. Using a prototype to call patients with the highest risk of no-shows resulted in a noticeable decrease in the overall no-show rate.

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Objetivos: Descrever o perfil das solicitações de vaga para tratamento do câncer de boca e analisar o tempo entre a solicitação e o agendamento. Métodos. Pesquisa com dados secundários do Sistema Estadual de Regulação do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, entre setembro de 2015 e junho de 2018. Incluiu-se as solicitações para "Oncologia Ambulatório de 1ª vez- Cirurgia de Cabeça e Pescoço" classificadas como câncer de boca e excluiu-se as com status "cancelada". Resultados. Foram exportados 5802 registros, sendo 1663 elegíveis. A idade média foi de 61 anos, com um desvio padrão de 12,3 anos. O tempo médio de espera foi de 19 dias com um desvio padrão de 16,6 dias. 19% dos agravos referiram-se as "Neoplasia maligna de outras partes e partes não especificadas da língua". Conclusão. O perfil dos pacientes corrobora o encontrado na literatura e o tempo de espera para o atendimento é considerado aceitável.

Objectives: To describe the profile of vacancy requests for treatment of oral cancer and to analyze the time between the request and the schedule. Methods. Research with secondary data from the State Regulation System of the State of Rio de Janeiro, between September 2015 and June 2018. Included were requests for "First-time Ambulatory Oncology - Head and Neck Surgery" classified as oral cancer and those with "canceled" status were excluded. Results. 5,802 records were exported, of which 1663 were eligible. The average age was 61 years, with a standard deviation of 12.3 years. The average waiting time was 19 days with a standard deviation of 16.6 days. 19% of the complaints referred to "Malignant neoplasm from other parts and unspecified parts of the tongue". Conclusion. The profile of patients corroborates that found in the literature and the waiting time for care is considered acceptable.

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INTRODUCTION: Nonattendance is a critical problem that affects health care worldwide. Our aim was to build and validate predictive models of nonattendance in all outpatients appointments, general practitioners, and clinical and surgical specialties. METHODS: A cohort study of adult patients, who had scheduled outpatient appointments for General Practitioners, Clinical and Surgical specialties, was conducted between January 2015 and December 2016, at the Italian Hospital of Buenos Aires. We evaluated potential predictors grouped in baseline patient characteristics, characteristics of the appointment scheduling process, patient history, characteristics of the appointment, and comorbidities. Patients were divided between those who attended their appointments, and those who did not. We generated predictive models for nonattendance for all appointments and the three subgroups. RESULTS: Of 2,526,549 appointments included, 703,449 were missed (27.8%). The predictive model for all appointments contains 30 variables, with an area under the ROC (AUROC) curve of 0.71, calibration-in-the-large (CITL) of 0.046, and calibration slope of 1.03 in the validation cohort. For General Practitioners the model has 28 variables (AUROC of 0.72, CITL of 0.053, and calibration slope of 1.01). For clinical subspecialties, the model has 23 variables (AUROC of 0.71, CITL of 0.039, and calibration slope of 1), and for surgical specialties, the model has 22 variables (AUROC of 0.70, CITL of 0.023, and calibration slope of 1.01). CONCLUSION: We build robust predictive models of nonattendance with adequate precision and calibration for each of the subgroups.

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BACKGROUND: While the majority of patients with Alzheimer's disease resides in low and middle-income countries, little is known of their preparedness for emerging disease-modifying treatments. We analyze the preparedness of Brazil, one of the most populous middle-income countries, from a capacity and institutional preparedness perspective. METHODS: Desk research and 12 interviews for background and capacity data. Markov model to estimate wait times for access to treatment. FINDINGS: Brazil has no national dementia strategy or established pathway for evaluation of cognitive concerns, and dementia is typically diagnosed late if at all. While members of private health plans have ready access to elective specialty care, wait times in the public sector are long. Assuming potentially treatment-eligible patients are referred from primary to specialty care based on a brief cognitive exam and a blood test for the Alzheimer's pathology, available capacity will not be sufficient to match the projected demand. The biggest obstacle is availability of dementia specialist visits, and the effect of population growth and ageing means that the wait list for specialist appointment will continue to grow from around 400,000 in 2022 to over 2.2 million in 2040. We do not project substantial wait times for confirmatory biomarker testing and treatment delivery but note that this is a consequence of patients waiting for their specialist appointments. These queues will result in estimated persistent wait times for treatment of around two years on average with substantial differences between the public and private sectors, as capacity growth is insufficient to keep up with increasing demand. DISCUSSION: Our findings suggest that Brazil is ill-prepared to provide timely access to an Alzheimer's treatment with predicted wait times of about two years, largely because of a limited number of dementia specialists.

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Introdução: O acesso na Atenção Primária está relacionado à qualidade do cuidado prestado e deve suprir as demandas. Existem três modelos descritos de organização da agenda (tradicional, carve-out e acesso avançado). Este estudo tem por objetivo levantar estratégias efetivas de agendamento de consultas na Atenção Primária com desfechos positivos de acesso. Metodologia: Elaborou-se uma Síntese de Evidências para Políticas e, em seguida, foi realizado um diálogo deliberativo, buscando discutir aspectos relacionados à implementação das estratégias. Resultados: Foram identificadas diversas estratégias efetivas, agrupadas por similaridade de temas em seis opções: 1) Ampliação da oferta de consultas do dia; 2) Monitoramento por equipes multidisciplinares; 3) Aumento da capacidade; 4) Pacotes de intervenção; 5) Intervenções prévias ao agendamento da consulta; 6) Regulação entre os níveis de atenção. Discussão: Essas opções podem ser implementadas de forma parcial ou completa, associadas ou não. Faz-se necessário observar barreiras e facilitadores para a implementação de cada uma delas em relação à quatro níveis: usuários do serviço, profissionais, organização dos serviços e sistemas de saúde. Conclusão: A síntese oferece o embasamento teórico, mas apresenta limitações, e os resultados precisam ser considerados com cautela para a realidade brasileira.

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A atenção primária em saúde tem como incumbência o acolhimento à demanda espontânea para que seja feito isso com uso de métodos clínicos existentes em várias literaturas como é o caso da estratégia da Classificação de Risco que é adotada em serviços de urgência e tem se mostrado eficaz na gestão de filas, também quando aplicada no setor primário. O Sistema Único de Saúde tem a função orgânica de buscar o uso racional dos recursos disponíveis e do acesso à rede de atenção. Uma das formas se dá por meio da organização das agendas que tenta acomodar a procura por atendimento e a oferta de serviços. Desse modo, por sua estruturação buscar atender a gestão do fluxo de usuários, se faz necessário conhecer o problema apresentado por quem está demandando por acolhimento para prevenir agravamento de quadros e a perca da oportunidade para atuação. Objetivo: Analisar o processo de implementação da estratégia Classificação de Risco em uma Unidade Básica de Saúde da Estratégia Saúde da Família do município de Franco da Rocha com foco no acolhimento e ênfase no agendamento de consulta. Método: Estudo exploratório e descritivo, com abordagem qualitativa, pesquisa participante com intervenção e avaliação de implementação. As etapas incluíram: levantamento bibliográfico, entrevistas com informantes-chave, conhecimento do perfil de algumas demandas espontâneas ou diretas e Grupo Focal com a participação dos profissionais de saúde e foram respeitados os preceitos éticos estabelecidos pelas resoluções do CNS 466/2012 e 510/2016. A análise qualitativa de dados foi feita por análise de conteúdo temático. Os dados da descrição do processo de acolhimento foram analisados a partir do disposto no quadro Conceitual Consolidado para Pesquisa de Implementação (CFIR), o agendamento acerca da tríade proposto por Donabedian com aspectos de estrutura, processo e resultados, e a avaliação após a implementação construído com apoio nos indicadores de implementação dos estudos de Bastos de Paula (2017) e Peters, Tran e Adam (2014). Resultado: A exploração e descrição de contexto permitiu identificar que, o número de Equipe de Saúde da Família por habitante, a localização da unidade no território e a disponibilidade de medicamento causam maior impacto para a qualidade do serviço. Na instalação da gestão da demanda por meio do Acolhimento com Classificação de Risco, favoreceu melhor resposta frente às queixas apresentadas pelos usuários. Na implementação, é preciso fazer reuniões sistemáticas como espaço para o planejamento da sustentabilidade das estratégias de serem adotadas bem seu como monitoramento e avaliação e prováveis alterações. Considerações Finais: À organização de tarefas e responsabilidades no ambiente em estudo adotando-se a Classificação de Risco, se bem pactuadas dentro e entre indivíduos e equipes, resulta em um clima favorável ao desempenho das atividades dos profissionais bem como torna o processo de trabalho com maturidade suficiente para o bom desenvolvimento de vínculo em relação ao tamanho de uma organização e seus usuários e suas demandas.

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Introdução: O acesso na atenção primária está relacionado à qualidade do cuidado prestado e deve suprir as demandas. Existem três modelos descritos de organização da agenda (tradicional, carve-out e acesso avançado). Este estudo tem por objetivo levantar estratégias efetivas de agendamento de consultas na atenção primária que sejam efetivas para o acesso. Metodologia: Elaborou-se uma Síntese de Evidências para Políticas. A pergunta de pesquisa foi construída com base no acrônimo PCC: P (população) = usuários, profissionais e gestores da UBS; C (conceito) = intervenções efetivas para o agendamento de consultas; C (contexto) = atenção primária à saúde. A busca foi realizada em dez bases de dados da literatura científica e em uma base de literatura cinzenta. Os estudos passaram pelas etapas de triagem, elegibilidade e extração. Em seguida, foi realizado um Diálogo Deliberativo com a participação de atores sociais, buscando discutir aspectos relacionados à implementação das estratégias. Resultados: Foram identificadas diversas estratégias efetivas, agrupadas por similaridade de temas em seis opções: 1) Ampliação da oferta de consultas do dia; 2) Monitoramento por equipes multidisciplinares; 3) Aumento da capacidade; 4) Pacotes de intervenção; 5) Intervenções prévias ao agendamento da consulta; 6) Regulação entre os níveis de atenção. As considerações sobre implementação e equidade resultaram de estudos nacionais em nova busca e a partir dos resultados do diálogo de políticas Discussão: Essas opções podem ser implementadas de forma parcial ou completa, associadas ou não. Faz-se necessário observar barreiras e facilitadores para a implementação de cada uma delas em relação à quatro níveis: usuários do serviço, profissionais, organização dos serviços e sistemas de saúde. A participação de atores-chave e a valorização das evidências locais são aspectos importantes para a implementação de qualquer opção escolhida pelos gestores. Conclusão: A síntese oferece o embasamento teórico, mas apresenta limitações e os resultados precisam ser considerados com cautela para a realidade brasileira.

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A dissertação aborda a implementação da estratégia de Classificação de Risco na atenção primária à saúde, destacando seu papel na gestão de filas e no agendamento de consultas em uma Unidade Básica de Saúde de Franco da Rocha.

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A primeira edição da Política Nacional de Atenção Básica (PNAB), em 2006, normatiza o nível primário de assistência no Brasil como Atenção Básica (AB) e tem como seu primeiro fundamento "possibilitar o acesso universal e contínuo a serviços de saúde de qualidade e resolutivos, caracterizados como a porta de entrada preferencial". Esse marco consolida o "acesso" como um dos princípios da AB, aqui denominado "acessibilidade".

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PURPOSE: The objective of this study was to compare complication, readmission, mortality, and cancellation rates between patients who had either an in-person or telemedicine preoperative cardiac clearance visit before spine surgery. METHODS: A retrospective review was conducted on patients who underwent a spine procedure at a single tertiary academic center from February 1, 2020, to June 30, 2021. Cancellations, inpatient complications, 90-day readmissions, and inpatient and 90-day mortality rates were compared between in-person and telemedicine cardiac clearance visits. Secondary analysis included multiple logistic regression to determine independent predictors of case cancellations and complications. Alpha was set at P < 0.05. RESULTS: A total of 1,331 consecutive patients were included, with 775 patients (58.2%) having an in-person cardiac clearance visit and 556 (41.8%) having telemedicine clearance. Overall, the telemedicine cohort did not have more cancellations, complications, or readmissions. Regardless of the type of clearance, patients with a history of cardiac disease had more inpatient complications (15.8% versus 6.9%, P < 0.001) and higher 90-day mortality rates (2.3% versus 0.4%, P = 0.005). Subgroup analysis of patients with a history of cardiac disease showed that patients who had telemedicine visits had more cancellations (4.6% versus 10.9%, P = 0.036) and higher 90-day mortality rates (1.4% versus 4.4%, P = 0.045). On regression analysis, telemedicine visits were not independent predictors of preoperative cancellation rates (P = 0.173) but did predict greater preoperative cancellations among patients with cardiac history (odds ratio 2.73, P = 0.036). DISCUSSION: Patients with cardiac disease who undergo preoperative telemedicine visits have greater preoperative surgical cancellation rates and postoperative 90-day mortality rates. Although preoperative telemedicine visits may be appropriate for most patients, a history of cardiac disease should be a contraindication.

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The aim of this study was to describe the occurrence of dental emergency and its association with individual factors and primary health care services. A follow-up study was conducted with data extracted from an exploratory study about the classification of dental care needs over time according to a care framework. There were included 1831 patients of five services. The outcome was the occurrence of dental emergency analyzed according to sex, age, skin color, service and maximum waiting time for dental care. A multivariate analysis with Poisson regression was used to estimate weighted prevalence ratio (PR) with 95% Confidence Intervals (CI) and survival analysis was conducted. The prevalence of dental emergency was 12.6%, varying according to age (13-19: PRa =1.79 (95%CI: 1.0-3.21); 20-65:PRa = 2.71 (95%CI: 1.73-4.26); Over 65: PRa = 2.51 (95%CI: 1.41-4.46)) and Primary Health Care service (FHS 2: PRa = 2.20 (95%CI: 1.37-3.53),FHS 3: PRa = 1.43 (95%CI: 0.90-2.27); FHS 4: PRa = 3.25 (95%CI: 2.15-4.92),FHS 5: PRa = 2.49 (95%CI: 1.56-3.97)) For 231 cases classified as emergency, the failure rate was 7.4%. For 214 cases of emergency, the non-continuity after appointment rate was 53.7%. The incidence of dental emergency was 8.3% and recurrence was 7.2%. Considering all 262 emergency cases attended, the resolution rate was 93.5% and most cases (n = 252, 96.1%) received care within one day. The results point to high effectiveness in emergency dental care within Primary Health Care services. There are indications of the need for improvements in retention and continuity of care.

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AIM: To identify the individual and contextual factors associated with the absence of Brazilians at a scheduled appointment in Dental Specialties Centers (DSC). METHODS: This cross-sectional design uses the National Program for Improving Access and Quality of Dental Specialties Centers database, 2018. The outcome was the users' lack of at least one of the scheduled appointments. Contextual and individual independent variables were used, considering Andersen's behavioural model. The analyses were performed with the R Core Team and SAS (Studio 3.8, Institute Inc, North Carolina, U.S, 2019) programs. RESULTS: Of the 10,391 patients interviewed, 27.7% missed at least one of the consultations. In the adjusted multivariate model, the interpretation based on the effect size and 95% CI showed that the behaviour individual predisposing factors such as age ≤ 42 years (OR = 1.10; 95%CI:1.01-1.21), individual need factors such as participation in the "Bolsa Família" program (OR = 1,14; 95%CI:1.02-1.27), not being covered by the Family Health Strategy (OR = 1.15; 95% CI:1.02-1.30), and users of periodontics services (OR = 1.22;95%CI:1.05-1.40) were associated with absences. The behavioural factor associated with the outcome was that the DSC facilities were not in good condition (OR = 1.18; 95%CI:1.03-1.34). DSC located in the capital (OR = 1.12; 95% CI: 0.92-1.48) were 12% more likely to have dental absences than those in the interior region. CONCLUSION: There are individual and contextual barriers associated with patients not attending specialised public dental consultations. DSC should offer adequate hours to patients, especially young adults and vulnerable people.

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The global burden of cervical cancer remains a concern and higher early mortality rates are associated with poverty and limited health education. However, screening programs continue to face implementation challenges, especially in developing country contexts. In this study, we use a mixed-methods approach to understand the reasons for no-show behaviour for cervical cancer screening appointments among hard-to-reach low-income women in Bogotá, Colombia. In the quantitative phase, individual attendance probabilities are predicted using administrative records from an outreach program (N = 23384) using both LASSO regression and Random Forest methods. In the qualitative phase, semi-structured interviews are analysed to understand patient perspectives (N = 60). Both inductive and deductive coding are used to identify first-order categories and content analysis is facilitated using the Framework method. Quantitative analysis shows that younger patients and those living in zones of poverty are more likely to miss their appointments. Likewise, appointments scheduled on Saturdays, during the school vacation periods or with lead times longer than 10 days have higher no-show risk. Qualitative data shows that patients find it hard to navigate the service delivery process, face barriers accessing the health system and hold negative beliefs about cervical cytology.

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BACKGROUND: Patients' no-shows negatively impact healthcare systems, leading to resources' underutilisation, efficiency loss, and cost increase. Predicting no-shows is key to developing strategies that counteract their effects. In this paper, we propose a model to predict the no-show of ambulatory patients to exam appointments of computed tomography at the Radiology department of a large Brazilian public hospital. METHODS: We carried out a retrospective study on 8382 appointments to computed tomography (CT) exams between January and December 2017. Penalised logistic regression and multivariate logistic regression were used to model the influence of 15 candidate variables on patients' no-shows. The predictive capabilities of the models were evaluated by analysing the Area Under the Curve (AUC) of the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC). RESULTS: The no-show rate in computerised tomography exams appointments was 6.65%. The two models performed similarly in terms of AUC. The penalised logistic regression model was selected using the parsimony criterion, with 8 of the 15 variables analysed appearing as significant. One of the variables included in the model (number of exams scheduled in the previous year) had not been previously reported in the related literature. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings may be used to guide the development of strategies to reduce the no-show of patients to exam appointments.

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INTRODUCTION: Studies have shown mixed findings regarding the impact of immigration policy changes on immigrants' utilization of primary care. METHODS: We used a difference-in-differences analysis to compare changes in missed primary care appointments over time across two groups: patients who received care in Spanish, Portuguese, or Haitian Creole, and non-Hispanic, white patients who received care in English. RESULTS: After adjustment for age, sex, race, insurance, hospital system, and presence of chronic conditions, immigration policy changes were associated with an absolute increase in the missed appointment prevalence of 0.74 percentage points (95% confidence interval: 0.34, 1.15) among Spanish, Portuguese and Haitian-Creole speakers. We estimated that missed appointments due to immigration policy changes resulted in lost revenue of over $185,000. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that immigration policy changes were associated with a significant increase in missed appointments among patients who receive medical care in languages other than English.

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An earthquake in 2018 resulted in irreparable damage to the Port of Spain General Hospital, Trinidad and Tobago, and severely affected orthopaedic services. This study investigates the rate and reasons for cancellation on the day of surgery of orthopaedic cases during the post-earthquake period. We prospectively collected data on all cases scheduled to undergo surgery during the study period. Information was gathered on patient demographics, the number and reasons for cancellation. Data were analysed using Analyse-it for Microsoft Excel 5.40 (Analyse-it Software Ltd). Our results show that 43 patients were cancelled, resulting in a 44.3% cancellation rate. Patients who had their surgery cancelled were older, with a higher American Society of Anesthesiologists class compared with patients whose surgery was not cancelled. Hospital-related factors were found to be responsible for the majority of cancellations. Placed in context, our findings suggest that limited operating time due to the earthquake-induced hospital damage was the principal reason for the high rate of surgery cancellations.

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Background: In the movement for global health equity, increased research and funding have not yet addressed a shortage of evidence on effectively implementing context-specific interventions; one unmet need is facilitating access to specialty care within the public health sector in Mexico. Compañeros en Salud has been piloting a novel program, called Right to Healthcare (RTHC), to increase access to specialty care for the rural poor in Chiapas, Mexico. The RTHC program incorporates social work, patient navigation, referrals, direct economic support, and accompaniment for patients. Objectives: This study evaluates the effectiveness of the RTHC program. Primary outcomes analyzed included acceptance of any referral and attendance of any appointment. Secondary outcomes included acceptance of the first referral and rate of appointment attendance for patients with an accepted referral. Methods: Using referral process data for the years 2014 to 2019 from a public tertiary care hospital in Chiapas, 91 RTHC patients were matched using 2:1 optimal pair matching with a control cohort balancing covariates of patient age, sex, specialty referred to, level of referring hospital, and municipality. Findings: RTHC patients were more likely to have had an accepted referral (OR 17.42, 95% CI 3.68 to 414.16) and to have attended an appointment (OR 5.49, 95% CI 2.93 to 11.60) compared to the matched control group. RTHC patients were also more likely to have had their first referral accepted (OR 2.78, 95% CI 1.29 to 6.73). Among patients with an accepted referral, RTHC patients were more likely to have attended an appointment (OR 3.86, 95% CI 1.90 to 8.57). Conclusions: The results demonstrate that the RTHC model is successful in increasing access to specialty care by both increasing referral acceptance and appointment attendance.

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