A preliminary study on the timeliness of ambulatory care utilization following medical self-care interventions.

A sub-sample, from a large prospective study examining the effects on utilization from the introduction of medical self-care materials, was followed to determine the timeliness of that utilization. Judgments on early, on time, or late visits, by patients, providers, and algorithms showed agreement for experimentals (n = 203) but not controls (n = 56). Comparisons on the rates of judged early, on time, and late visits differed between groups (by the physician and algorithm comparison), and further differed when comparing late only visits (by the algorithm comparison). The experimentals demonstrated a trend to delay care seeking though no adverse effect on health was identified when comparing subsequent illness days and hospitalizations. Medical self-care can reduce utilization and improve patients' ability to judge visit timeliness. Apparent trends to increase late visits may be an artifact of conservative judgments rendered by medical opinion.