A recent study, published in the Journal of the American College of Radiology, revealed an increasing number of patients are taking the initiative to schedule their own screening mammograms through online portals. Notably, this trend is most prominent among younger patients.
The American College of Radiology advises annual screening mammograms for women at average risk, beginning at the age of 40. Importantly, patients do not need referrals from healthcare providers to access these screenings, making them an ideal candidate for self-scheduling.
Self-scheduling empowers patients to book appointments at their convenience. This added level of convenience has the potential to enhance patient satisfaction, proving especially useful for those with demanding schedules.
This study covered 250,369 screening mammograms which were performed in 74,860 unique patients from 2015 to 2022. Of these, 36, 200 (14.5%) were self-scheduled via the online portal. Self-scheduling increased each year rising from 3.7% in 2015 to 36.9% in 2022.
Younger individuals, specifically those under 50, showed a 5.4 higher likelihood to self-schedule compared to patients aged 70 and older.
In summary, younger age, non-Black race, English-speaking proficiency, and residing in a non-disadvantaged zip code emerged as significant predictors of self-scheduling in the analyses.
Another noteworthy discovery from the study was the notably low cancellation and no-show rates, highlighting the effectiveness of self-scheduling. Interestingly, patients who chose telephone scheduling were more prone to cancel or miss their appointments.
Further research is required to gain more insight into the factors affecting the cancellation/no-show rates.
Overall, the study’s results suggest that the utilisation of self-scheduling for screening mammography through an online patient portal gained popularity, rising from 3.7% to 36.9%.
Source: Journal of the American College of Radiology
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