Incarcerated Patients Complete Recommended Follow-Up Imaging Less Than One in Ten Times

Only 8.6% of radiology follow-up recommendations were completed as outpatient within the adherence window among incarcerated patients seen in the emergency department or inpatient setting; any follow-up occurred in 33.3%.

• Retrospective single-center study included 243 eligible radiology reports from 164 incarcerated patients seen in the emergency department or inpatient setting (2017-2024).
• Among 140 recommendations with interpretable follow-up intervals, only 12 (8.6%) were completed as outpatient within the adherence window; 81 of 243 (33.3%) had any documented follow-up at the same institution.
• Incidental follow-up during later emergency visits or readmissions accounted for 27 reports (11.1%), and 25 (10.3%) were completed during the index encounter.

Automated summary

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