One of Ten Miss Doctors
Appointments
Sunday's edition of the
daily Spanish language
La Nación reports that
one of ten Caja
Costarricense de Seguro
Social (CCSS) patients
miss their doctor's
appointment because they
just forget. And
absenteeism increases
when missing medical
appointments with
specialists, like a
cardiologist or
orthopedist.
The missed appointments
with specialists is
almost 16%, according to
information by the CCSS.
The CCSS says that
between January and
August of this year was
9.4% of the appointments
with general
practitioners and 15.9%
with specialists.
The major cause of the
missed appointments is
lack of interest by the
patient who simply
doesn't show up for not
controlling their
appointments.
The CCSS also recognizes
that the problem lies in
that the majority of
appointments are months
away, anywhere from
three to six months, and
people tend to forget
appointments and feeling
better and not requiring
medical attention.
Rosa Climent, medical
director of the CCSS, in
the cases of
specialists, once the
appointment is missed it
is lost. Patients are
not waiting in line to
fill in a missed
appointment. In the case
of general medicine,
however, there are
always lines and a
patient to fill in the
missed slot.
When it comes to general
medicine, Climent, added
that the missed
appointment rate drops
as other patients take
the time slot and
reduces the CCSS costs
due to missed
appointments.
According to the
Departamento de
Estadística de la Caja (CCSS
statistics department)
16 million consultations
are recorded each year,
the majority for general
medicine (6.7 million),
2.5 million with
specialists; and 4.6
million are handled at
the emergency rooms.
The cost of a
consultation varies at
different hospitals. For
instance, the average
cost of a consultation
at the México and
Calderón Guardia
hospitals was ¢24.000
colones lat year, while
the cost at the San Juan
de Dio, ¢27.946 colones
and the Solón Núñez, de
Hatillo, clinic ¢11.500
colones.
The problem of missed
appointments is
worrisome for the CCSS
and has developed a plan
in the metropolitan (San
José) area clinics they
have installed call
centres to make
appointments and to call
patients with a
reminder. |
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