Incarceration and emergency department visit frequency as predictors for missing day of cataract surgery at County hospital.

Background: Understanding the factors associated with patient no-shows is essential for healthcare providers to develop strategies to optimize patient care, as these can delay care and increase cost. This retrospective study aimed to identify factors associated with higher likelihood of patients missing their scheduled cataract surgery appointments at a county hospital.

Methods: A retrospective chart review was performed using data collected from the surgery schedule and electronic medical record on patients aged 18-100 years scheduled for cataract surgery at Eskenazi Hospital between January 1, 2022, and December 31, 2022. Logistic regression was used to compare factors of age, race, ethnicity, primary spoken and written language, insurance status, best-corrected visual acuity and number of admissions to the emergency department of the same hospital in the preceding year to attendance of cataract surgery on scheduled date.

Results: This study found that in the studied population (n = 242), being incarcerated was a statistically significant predictor of missing the scheduled cataract surgery appointment (OR 6.14, 95% CI 1.14-33.16, p = 0.035). In addition, having at least one emergency department visit in the prior year (OR 6.50, CI 1.83-23.1, p = 0.004) was found to be significant, with a greater difference in patients who had at least three emergency department visits in the prior year (OR 13.2, CI 3.21-52.6, p < 0.001). Other studied factors were not found to be statistically significant predictors of missing the surgery appointment, although having best-corrected vision of count fingers or worse neared statistical significance of predicting missing cataract surgery appointment. These findings may potentially direct targeted intervention strategies to improve access to cataract care.