Identifying patient, community and program specific barriers to free specialty care utilization by uninsured patients in East Baltimore.
J Health Care Poor Underserved
; 24(2): 688-96, 2013 May.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-23728036
ABSTRACT
Uninsured individuals face multiple barriers to accessing specialty care. The Access Partnership (TAP) offers free specialty care and care coordination to qualified uninsured patients at an urban academic medical center for a small program entry fee (waived for financial hardship). In the program's first year, 104 eligible patients (31%) did not enroll. To understand why, we investigated demographic, referral, personal, and program-specific factors. After adjusting for age, gender, and ZIP code, diagnostic and therapeutic referrals were more likely to be completed than ancillary referrals (OR=8.56, p=.001; OR 3.53, p=.03). There was no difference between pain related and ancillary referrals (OR=2.80, p=.139). Eighteen patients were surveyed and reported program and patient-specific barriers. While removing costs is necessary to improve access to specialty care for underserved patients, it is insufficient. Improving communication from program coordinators and enrollment strategies may help to improve utilization of free care programs by the uninsured.
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Derivación y Consulta
/
Aceptación de la Atención de Salud
/
Pacientes no Asegurados
/
Centros Médicos Académicos
/
Accesibilidad a los Servicios de Salud
Tipo de estudio:
Prognostic_studies
Aspecto:
Determinantes_sociais_saude
/
Equity_inequality
/
Implementation_research
Límite:
Adolescent
/
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
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Male
/
Middle aged
País/Región como asunto:
America do norte
Idioma:
En
Revista:
J Health Care Poor Underserved
Asunto de la revista:
SERVICOS DE SAUDE
Año:
2013
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Estados Unidos