Switching strategies
Of 270 patients and after excluding patients who attended the appointment (n=74) and patients who declined participation (n=12), 184 patients remained to be contacted and were switched to the other strategy. Because of the time gap until the switch was performed, 5 (2.7%) patients deceased and 18 (9.8%) received HCV treatment by other means while the study was paused. Finally, 161 (87.5%) patients were included (77% male, 51.4±12.9 y), 82 (51%) in the phone call strategy, and 79 (49%) in the mail letter strategy.Overall, 44 (53.7%) in the phone call strategy and 62 patients (78.5%) in the mail letter strategy group were successfully contacted (In the ITT analysis (n=161), there were no significant differences between the proportion of patients who showed up for the appointment in the phone call strategy compared with the mail letter strategy group (22% vs. 11.4%, Regarding efficiency, in the ITT analysis, 8.2 phone calls and 8.8 letters were needed to link to care with the hepatologist (RR: 1.1, 95% CI, 0.7–1.5, When all the patients reengaged were considered (n=431) in the analysis after the first reengagement and switch path, similar results were obtained. The phone call strategy was not different to mail letter strategy for patients to show up for the appointment in the ITT analysis (24,9% vs. 21,8%, 