Primary Care Accessibility Effects on Health Care Utilization Among Urban Children.
Acad Pediatr
; 20(6): 871-878, 2020 08.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-32492576
OBJECTIVE: Evidence suggests that spatial accessibility to primary care is a contributing factor to appropriate health care utilization, with limited primary care access resulting in avoidable hospitalizations and emergency department visits which are burdensome on individuals and our health care system. Limited research, however, has examined the effects on children. METHODS: We evaluated associations of spatial accessibility to primary care on health care utilization among a sample of 16,709 children aged 0 to 3 years in Philadelphia who were primarily non-White and publicly insured. Log-Poisson models with generalized estimating equations were used to estimate incidence rate ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI), while accounting for 3 levels of clustering (within individual, within primary care practice, within neighborhood). RESULTS: In age-adjusted models, the lowest level of spatial accessibility was associated with 7% fewer primary care visits (RR 0.93, 95% CI 0.91, 0.95), 15% more emergency department visits (RR 1.15, 95% CI 1.09, 1.22), and 18% more avoidable hospitalizations (RR 1.18, 95% CI 1.01, 1.37). After adjustment for individual- (race/ethnicity, sex, number of chronic conditions, insurance status) and neighborhood-level (racial composition and proportion of housing units with no vehicle), spatial accessibility was not significantly associated with rate of health care utilization. CONCLUSIONS: Individual-level predisposing factors, such as age, race, and need, attenuate the association between accessibility to primary care and use of primary care, emergency department visits, and avoidable hospitalization. Given the possibility of modifying access to primary care unlike immutable individual factors, a focus on spatial accessibility to primary care may promote appropriate health care utilization.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Atenção Primária à Saúde
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Aceitação pelo Paciente de Cuidados de Saúde
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Acessibilidade aos Serviços de Saúde
Tipo de estudo:
Observational_studies
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Prognostic_studies
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Risk_factors_studies
Aspecto:
Determinantes_sociais_saude
/
Implementation_research
Limite:
Child, preschool
/
Female
/
Humans
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Infant
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Male
/
Newborn
País/Região como assunto:
America do norte
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Acad Pediatr
Ano de publicação:
2020
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de publicação:
Estados Unidos