BOH agenda 032316 - Laserfiche WebLink

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11 Access Access to Health Care The ability to access quality and affordable health care services is a key component in a person’s overall health. According to Healthy People 2020, health care access is defined as “…timely use of personal health services to achieve the best health outcomes.”13 Health care access impacts a person’s quality and quantity of life as it dictates when and how often a person can use the health care system to obtain preventive, diagnostic, and treatment services. Orange County has a strong health care community that includes a nationally-ranked hospital system, an accredited School of Public Health, a federally qualified health center, a local public health department, a medical and dental school and various private medical practices. In spite of these resources, residents report problems accessing health care services. In addition to medical insurance, factors contributing to a resident’s inability to access health care services include the concentration of health care resources in the southern part of the county, inadequate transportation systems in the central and northern part of the county, language barriers, and perceived discrimination (or racism) within health care facilities. Orange County has a physician rate of 105.4 physicians (an increase from 93.6) per 10,000 people that far exceeds NC (22.7) and the US (22.5). As shown in figure 6, 18% of survey respondents, with children, report not having insurance for their children. Immigrant and Refugee Populations NC Minority Health data show that health disparities and inequities persist for immigrant and refugee children and adults alike. Compared to whites, NC Hispanic parents are more likely to report that their children have fair or poor general and dental health, are uninsured, don’t have access to a regular dentist and are classified as overweight or obese.14 Hispanics in NC also suffer disproportionally from late or no prenatal care, high teen birth and poverty rates, and a high uninsured percent compared to whites.15 Unfortunately data specific to Asian populations are not available currently due to unreliable population estimates and data limitations. Immigrant and refugee focus group respondents experience barriers when it comes to access to care, in particular the inability to get timely access to affordable, high quality medical and dental care, which often results in self-medication or avoidance of the system. 2% 7% 9% 18% 30% 34% 0%10%20%30%40% There are no doctors in my community It's too hard to get to a doctor's office The doctors have strict late or "no-show" policies that… My children don't have health insurance The hours and days they are open are not convenient The doctors don't accept Medicaid Figure 6: Reasons for Trouble Getting Medical Care for Child(ren)