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Auditing Access to Outpatient Rehabilitation Services for Children With Traumatic Brain Injury and Public Insurance in Washington State
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Auditing Access to Outpatient Rehabilitation Services for Children With Traumatic Brain Injury and Public Insurance in Washington State

Molly M. Fuentes, Leah Thompson, D. Alex Quistberg, Wren L. Haaland, Karin Rhodes, Deborah Kartin, Cheryl Kerfeld, Susan Apkon, Ali Rowhani-Rahbar and Frederick P. Rivara
Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation, v 98(9), pp 1763-1770
Sep 2017
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apmr.2016.12.013
PMID: 28126353
Featured in Collection :   UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
url
https://europepmc.org/articles/pmc5522775View
Accepted (AM)Open Access (License Unspecified),  Open
url
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apmr.2016.12.013View
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open

Abstract

Disabled children Health equity Health services accessibility Health services for persons with disabilities Rehabilitation
To identify insurance-based disparities in access to outpatient pediatric neurorehabilitation services. Audit study with paired calls, where callers posed as a mother seeking services for a simulated child with history of severe traumatic brain injury and public or private insurance. Outpatient rehabilitation clinics. Sample of rehabilitation clinics (N=287): 195 physical therapy (PT) clinics, 109 occupational therapy (OT) clinics, 102 speech therapy (ST) clinics, and 11 rehabilitation medicine clinics. Not applicable. Acceptance of public insurance and the number of business days until the next available appointment. Therapy clinics were more likely to accept private insurance than public insurance (relative risk [RR] for PT clinics, 1.33; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.22–1.44; RR for OT clinics, 1.40; 95% CI, 1.24–1.57; and RR for ST clinics, 1.42; 95% CI, 1.25–1.62), with no significant difference for rehabilitation medicine clinics (RR, 1.10; 95% CI, 0.90–1.34). The difference in median wait time between clinics that accepted public insurance and those accepting only private insurance was 4 business days for PT clinics and 15 days for ST clinics (P≤.001), but the median wait time was not significantly different for OT clinics or rehabilitation medicine clinics. When adjusting for urban and multidisciplinary clinic statuses, the wait time at clinics accepting public insurance was 59% longer for PT (95% CI, 39%–81%), 18% longer for OT (95% CI, 7%–30%), and 107% longer for ST (95% CI, 87%–130%) than that at clinics accepting only private insurance. Distance to clinics varied by discipline and area within the state. Therapy clinics were less likely to accept public insurance than private insurance. Therapy clinics accepting public insurance had longer wait times than did clinics that accepted only private insurance. Rehabilitation professionals should attempt to implement policy and practice changes to promote equitable access to care.

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23 citations in Web of Science
21 citations in Scopus

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UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This publication has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#3 Good Health and Well-Being

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Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Rehabilitation
Sport Sciences
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