 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Annette L. Gardner, PhD, MPH and James G. Kahn, MD, MPH. Institute for Health Policy Studies, University of California, San Francisco, Box 0936, San Francisco, CA 94143, (415) 514-1543, algard@itsa.ucsf.edu
In the face of limited federal and state reform, many California counties are creating and launching county-level health care access initiatives for the uninsured. There have been insurance expansions targeted to uninsured children, e.g., Santa Clara's and San Francisco's Healthy Kids programs. Some counties have restructured programs for the medically indigent, expanding services and enrollment. There have been many other efforts.
For the last two years, we have been documenting county efforts to increase access to care, focusing on funding streams, program design and county policymaking. In this study, we interviewed representatives in 12 counties that have launched programs to increase access to care for the uninsured. This was followed by a 58-county survey to document access initiatives state-wide. We had three study aims:
1) What is the distribution of innovative health care access efforts across the state, including: insurance expansions, service enhancements, and reducing barriers to care through outreach, enrollment and education?
2) What factors influence the mix of insurance and program approaches, particularly: funding, regulatory requirements, decision-making, partnerships and county?
3) What are county needs to increase access to care, focusing on the assistance counties desire to support access initiatives?
Our findings indicate a patch-work approach to increasing access to care, with some counties being better positioned to launch coverage and service expansions than others. Also, while county needs are great, they are selective in how they would like these needs addressed. We will discuss this and other findings at our presentation.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Access to Care, Underserved Populations
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
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.