Colorado WIC Program Policies and Procedures Section 8: Certification, Eligibility and Coordination Revised: 01/01/2022

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Missed Appointments

Policy: Local agencies shall attempt to contact each pregnant woman who misses her first WIC appointment to reschedule the appointment. If the pregnant woman is enrolled in the WIC Text/Voicemail Messaging Program, a missed appointment text will be sent automatically. Staff do not need to make an additional contact. However, staff are required to contact pregnant woman who opt out of the WIC Texting Program and miss their first WIC appointment.

Local agencies may choose to enforce a Missed Appointment Policy. Once developed, the local agency must apply their missed appointment policy equally to all participants. This includes informing all participants of their missed appointment policy at Certification during the Initial Explanation of WIC.

Although local agencies are required to make reasonable efforts to provide nutrition education to each participant, individuals cannot be denied supplemental foods for failure to attend an educational activity or for lack of willingness, readiness, or ability to participate in the activity.

Regulations: 7 CFR 246.7

Procedures/Additional Guidance: Colorado WIC uses an automated messaging system to send appointment reminder text messages or phone calls, and to notify all applicants and participants of missed appointments. If the participant/applicant agrees to receive phone calls or text messages, staff must check the “Allow Calls” and “Allow Texts” boxes in the Contact/Address panel.

Agencies may also elect to notify participants when an appointment is missed by printing and mailing the Notice of Missed Appointment, accessed from the Scheduler screen by right-clicking a WIC appointment that was in the past and then selecting Notice of Missed Appointment.

Documenting missed appointments  When a participant misses a scheduled appointment, staff must manually mark the appointment as “No Show” in Compass.

Contacting Participants Who Miss Appointments Contacting the participant to learn why appointments are missed can help identify and reduce barriers to keeping appointments. Options to reduce barriers include: a. Determine if the participant is eligible for an exemption from physical presence requirement due to a disability, medical condition, or an infant or child with working caregivers whose working status presents a barrier to bringing the child to the clinic. Refer to Physical Presence Requirement policy for additional information. b. Offer nutrition education at a follow-up appointment via wichealth.org, telephone or video call (if eligible). Upon completion of the nutrition education, issue food benefits remotely.