We thank the author for the interest in and comments on our article “Using Self-Scheduling to Improve Screening Mammography Completion Rates” [1].
We agree with the author’s comments regarding the limitation in the generalizability of our study and the potential effect of the assumption of parallel preintervention trends in completion rates between future self-schedulers and traditionally scheduled patients.
However, our diverse catchment area—with high proportions of Hispanic (20%) and Asian (17%) populations—and the concordant results from Waddell et al [2], who used a similar methodology in a different health system and at different time points and included a high number of Black patients, suggest some validity to our findings.
Furthermore, based on Figure 1 of the study, we observed a notable increase in screening mammography completion rates postimplementation, without any other known concurrent initiatives in our health system that could confound the effect. That said, we do agree that a multicenter randomized controlled trial would be a superior study design to assess causality.
We also agree with the author’s regarding the presence of digital divide and lower use of portals among racial or ethnic minorities and rural communities, which may impact efficacy of self-scheduling initiative in such populations. We believe that institutional efforts to increasing patients’ portal use and digital literacy would be beneficial to these communities.
Given the retrospective nature of our study, we focused on objective measurable outcomes such as screening mammography completion. Other studies have reported the ease of obtaining an appointment at the desired time as a significant predictor of patient satisfaction in scheduling radiology appointments [3]. This finding indicates that efficient scheduling processes, including self-scheduling, can positively impact patient perceptions, and future qualitative studies can further assess patients’ perceptions about such initiatives.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number P30CA062203. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. Funding was provided by the University of California Irvine.
Footnotes
Gelareh Sadigh, MD, receives honorarium from the Journal of the American College of Radiology in her role as Associate Editor. Gelareh Sadigh, MD, and Ali Rashidi, MD, serve as paid consultants to Covera Health. The other authors state that they have no conflict of interest related to the material discussed in this article. All authors are employees.
Contributor Information
Ali Rashidi, Department of Imaging Sciences, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia.
Gillean Cortes, Department of Radiological Sciences, University of California Irvine, Irvine, California.
Wen-Pin Chen, Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California Irvine, Irvine, California.
Ziogas Argyrios, Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California Irvine, Irvine, California; Department of Medicine, Genetic Epidemiology Research Institute, University of California Irvine, Irvine, California.
Irene Tsai, Chief and Medical Director of Breast Imaging, Department of Radiological Sciences, University of California Irvine, Irvine, California.
Gelareh Sadigh, Director of Health Services and Comparative Outcome Research and Associate Chair for Faculty Development, Department of Radiological Sciences, University of California Irvine, Irvine, California; Associate Editor for Journal of American College of Radiology; University of California Irvine, Department of Radiological Sciences, 101 The City Dr S, Orange, CA 92868.
REFERENCES
- 1.Cortes G, Chen WP, Aryagus Z, Rashidi A, Tsai I, Sadigh G. Using self-scheduling to improve screening mammography completion rates. J Am Coll Radiol 2025;22:307–14. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 2.Waddell KJ, Goel K, Park SH, et al. Association of electronic self-scheduling and screening mammogram completion. Am J Prev Med 2024;66:399–407. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 3.Ajam AA, Berkheimer C, Xing B, Umerani A, Rasheed S, Nguyen XV. Topics most predictive of favorable overall assessment in outpatient radiology. PLoS One 2023;18:e0285288. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]