Discussion: Disparities in Access to Care

There are many factors that affect the health of a community, one of which is access to comprehensive, affordable healthcare. Health care access and quality is one of the objectives in the Healthy People 2030 initiative. According to Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (n.d.), “About 1 in 10 people in the United States don’t have health insurance. People without insurance are less likely to have a primary care provider, and they may not be able to afford the health care services and medications they need” (para. 2).

As noted in the weekly introduction, the high cost of healthcare is a barrier to its access; therefore, a key objective of healthcare reform efforts has been to expand access to affordable care to more people through policy, especially to the uninsured. Unfortunately, though, there are still disparities in access to care based on “race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, age, sex, disability status, sexual orientation, gender identity, and residential location” (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality [AHRQ], 2018, para. 1).

In this Discussion, you will find a peer-reviewed journal article that focuses on disparities in access to care. You will share the article with your colleagues and then suggest a policy that could be implemented to reduce the disparity within the population discussed in the article. During your search for an article, keep in mind that access to care is not just access to a hospital or doctor: It means access to any type of healthcare.

References
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (2016, May). 2015 National healthcare quality and disparities report and 5th anniversary update on the national quality strategy: Access and disparities in access to health care. https://www.ahrq.gov/research/findings/nhqrdr/nhqd…

Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (n.d). Healthy People 2030 health care access and quality. Department of Health and Human Services. https://health.gov/healthypeople/objectives-and-da…

To prepare for this Discussion:

•  Consider all elements of access to care, such as cost, insurance coverage, timeliness of care, proximity of services, adequate transportation, fair and equal treatment, ratio of providers to patients, etc. 

By Day 4

Post a comprehensive response to the following:

• In your own words, what was the purpose/aim(s) of the study/article?
• Describe the population or group of people described in the article.
• Explain why a disparity in access to care exists within the population.
• Describe any negative health outcomes that resulted from the disparity in access to care. If none were discussed in the article, then describe potential negative health outcomes that you think might occur due to a lack of access.
• Suggest a healthcare policy that might reduce the disparity in access to care. The policy can be in the workplace, in the school setting, in the community, or at a state for federal level. Explain why you think this policy would improve access to care.