Failure to complete subspecialty referrals decreases access to subspecialty care and may endanger patient safety. We conducted a retrospective analysis of new patient referrals made to the 14 most common referral departments at Boston Children's Hospital from January 1 to December 31, 2017. The sample included 2031 patient referrals. The mean wait time between referral and appointment date was 39.6 days. In all, 87% of referrals were scheduled and 84% of scheduled appointments attended, thus 73% of the original referrals were completed. In multivariate analysis, younger age, medical complexity, being a non-English speaker, and referral to a surgical subspecialty were associated with a higher likelihood of referral completion. Black and Hispanic/Latino race/ethnicity, living in a Census tract with Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) ≥ 90th percentile, and longer wait times were associated with a lower likelihood of appointment attendance. Future interventions should consider both health care system factors such as appointment wait times and community-level barriers to referral completion.
Keywords: appointment; primary care; referral; subspecialty care.