State of residency and insurance status affect patients' access to primary care, according to a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine.
Researchers conducted a simulated patient study in which they called primary care offices requesting a new patient routine care appointment or an appointment for an urgent health concern. Researchers were randomly assigned to private insurance, Medicaid or no insurance and called primary care offices treating nonelderly adults in 10 states. They made approximately 13,000 calls to 7,788 offices requesting new patient appointments.
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Here are eight statistics on access to primary care from the study.
1. Approximately 85 percent of privately insured simulation patients received an appointment.
2. Approximately 58 percent of Medicaid patients received an appointment.
3. For uninsured patients, 78.8 percent received an appointment with full cash payment.
4. Only 15.4 percent of uninsured patients received an appointment if payment required at the time of the visit was $75 or less.
5. Median wait times for patients, regardless of insurance status or urgency of health concern, were less than one week. Massachusetts was an exception with a median wait time of two weeks.
6. Ninety percent of patients with private insurance who were unable to receive an appointment were told the office was not accepting new patients.
7. For Medicaid callers, 28.3 percent who did not receive an appointment were told the office was not accepting new patients.
8. Approximately 70 percent of Medicaid patients who did not receive an appointment were told the denial was due to their insurance status.
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