Racial and socioeconomic disparities in access to primary care among people with chronic conditions

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine racial and socioeconomic disparities in access to primary care among people with chronic conditions.

Methods: Data for this study were taken from the household component of the 2010 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. The analysis primarily focused on adults ≥ 18 years old. Logistic regressions were conducted among people with chronic conditions to compare primary care attributes between each minority group and their non-Hispanic white counterparts and between individuals with high, above average, or below average socioeconomic status and their low socioeconomic status counterparts, controlling for other individual factors.

Results: Racial disparities were found in having usual source of care (USC), USC provider type, and USC location. However, no disparities were found in ease of contacting or getting to USC as well as the services received. Furthermore, very limited socioeconomic disparities were found after controlling for other individual characteristics, in particular race and insurance status.

Conclusions: More efforts need to be devoted to racial/ethnic minorities with chronic conditions to improve their access to continuous and high-quality primary care.

Keywords: Access to Health Care; Chronic Disease; Health Care Disparities; Primary Health Care; Quality of Health Care.