Socioeconomic Status Impacts Access to Orthopaedic Specialty Care.

ABSTRACT

¼ Financial, personal, and structural barriers affect access to all aspects of orthopaedic specialty care. ¼ Disparities in access to care are present across all subspecialties of orthopaedic surgery in the United States. ¼ Improving timely access to care in orthopaedic surgery is crucial for both health equity and optimizing patient outcomes. ¼ Options for improving orthopaedic access include increasing Medicaid/Medicare payments to physicians, providing secondary resources to assist patients with limited finances, and reducing language barriers in both clinical care and patient education.