Increasing uninsured rates and health care costs inspire increasing concerns about access to care. For activists and policy makers who want to understand and improve access, there is no single access measure broadly available that shows how their area - state, county, or town - measures up, either in an absolute sense or in comparison with other areas. Good access measures, developed in the research literature, are often only obtainable through additional research, which can be prohibitively costly and not timely enough to support community and policy activity. Fortunately, the literature has also documented certain population and economic characteristics, for which data are more readily obtainable, that are associated with primary measures of access. This paper will introduce these associated characteristics as "risk factors" for access to health coverage and health care. It will examine the variation across states of these risk factors and suggest how this information might be used at a state or sub-state level to identify opportunities to improve access. It will also provide examples of how local health activists use risk factor information to advance their work. Risk factors constructed from secondary data can bring basic, objective information to a policy discussion where there would otherwise be none. This lack of information is particularly the case in sub-state areas. For this reason, access risk factors are a useful tool in local policy making and community activity.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, participants will be able to: 1. Identify 11 statistical "risk factors" that are associated with health care access 2. Describe a method for evaluating the risk of insufficient access to health care at the state or sub-state level, using data that are relatively easy to obtain. 3. Discuss the use of these risk factors in public policy and advocacy efforts
Keywords: Access to Care, Data/Surveillance
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.