Patient-specific reminder letters and pediatric well-child-care show rates.

The objective of this study was to determine whether patient-specific letters, which describe the content of an upcoming well-child appointment, improve the show rate of well-child appointments better than postcard reminders. In this prospective clinical trial conducted at a pediatric continuity clinic in a teaching hospital, 288 newborns were randomized to a letter, postcard, or control group. For every well-child appointment, families were sent either a letter pertaining to the particular well-child appointment or a postcard; the control group received no reminders. There were no differences in demographics among the groups. The show rates between the letter and postcard groups were not different, but were significantly higher than the show rate for the control group (75.0%, 73.7%, and 67.5%, respectively; P < .05). A cost comparison between the use of postcards versus not using postcards revealed a benefit in the former. We concluded postcard reminders are effective in improving show rates for well-child-care visits, and that patient-specific letters have no additional benefit above that of postcard reminders.