• Rebecca Luckett, Nancy Pena, Allison Vitonis, Marilyn R Bernstein, and Sarah Feldman.
• 1 Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Brigham and Women's Hospital , Boston, Massachusetts.
• J Womens Health (Larchmt). 2015 Jul 1; 24 (7): 608-15.

BackgroundPatient navigators have been used successfully to guide vulnerable patients through barriers to cancer care and reduce disparities in cancer outcomes. This study evaluated the effect of a patient navigator program on no-show rates at a tertiary care referral colposcopy center and explored factors associated with missed appointments.MethodsNo-show rates prior and subsequent to implementation of the intervention were compared by chi-square test. We compared patient demographic, lifestyle, and diagnostic characteristics between patients who had ever and never missed appointments. We described patient-reported barriers to care.ResultsOf 4,199 women evaluated in our clinic from January 2006 to December 2013, 2,441 (58%) had at least one missed appointment. African American, Hispanic, and publicly insured women tended to miss appointments more frequently than did white and privately insured women (p<0.0001). Patients who missed appointments tended to have more abnormal cytology (p<0.0001), cervical pathology (p=0.007), and vulvar pathology (p=0.001). No-show rates declined from 49.7% to 29.5% after implementation of the patient navigator program (p<0.0001). We found that 45% of patient no-shows were anticipated or a result of patient misunderstanding and could be mediated with targeted education by the patient navigator.ConclusionsPatient navigator programs at referral centers reduce no-show rates, thus improving patient follow-up, which may reduce disparities in cervical cancer screening and treatment.

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