Access to Needed Medical Care among Children under 18 Years of Age with Special Health Care Needs, 2002. Statistical Brief Number 75

摘要

The quality of the health care received by children in America is an issue of public policy concern for several reasons. First, the quality of the health care delivery system is critical for maintaining the health and well-being of children. In addition, all children may not be receiving care equally. Following subgroups of children over time can provide information about whether greater equity has been achieved or whether serious gaps remain. Because the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) was mandated to measure health care quality for a National Healthcare Quality Report starting in 2003, a variety of health status measures (including the children with special health care needs screener questionnaire) and quality of care measures were added to the Household Component of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS-HC) in 2000. This Statistical Brief examines the quality of health care for children with and without special health care needs (SHCN) as it pertains to getting needed care in 2002. The estimates provided in the brief reflect getting needed care as it is defined and reported by the parent or knowledgeable adult respondent to the 2002 MEPS-HC. The following quality measures are examined for each child in the family: (1) whether or not the child had an illness, injury, or condition that needed care right away from a clinic, emergency room or doctors office, and how timely those needs were met; (2) whether or not the child went to a doctors office or clinic; needed care, tests, or treatment; and the extent of the problem in receiving the needed care, tests, or treatment; and (3) whether or not the child needed to see a specialist and the extent of the problem in getting a referral to a specialist. Only differences that are statistically significant at the 0.05 level are discussed in the text.