Parent Satisfaction with Provider Communication by Child's Health Insurance Status: An Analysis of the 2007 National Survey of Children's Health

Communication between parents and their children's health care providers plays a critical role in guaranteeing children receive appropriate treatment and ensuring parents are able to take appropriate actions based on a health care provider's advice. The literature suggests there is a relationship between parents' overall satisfaction with care and child's insurance status. This study investigated the impact the type (public or private) and adequacy of a child's insurance had on the quality of parent-provider communication while accounting for significant demographic factors. Data from the 2007 National Survey of Children's Health was analyzed with SAS 9.2. Non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic respondents were twice as likely to have suboptimal communication ratings when compared to Whites. Hispanic families who primarily speak Spanish at home were three times more likely to have less favorable communication experiences compared to non-Hispanic families. The lower a family's income the more likely parents were to have suboptimal communication experiences. Parents who felt their child's public insurance was inadequate were more than four times as likely (AOR = 4.31, CI: 3.25 – 5.73) to report unsatisfactory communication with providers compared to those with private, adequate insurance. These findings suggest more research is needed to understand the underlying differences between those who consider their public insurance adequate and those who consider it inadequate. I conducted an extensive literature review and analyzed the NSCH survey data in SAS 9.2. This began as a class assignment and has developed into a larger project which I hope to publish.