HRSA researchers find that children with special health care needs (CSHCN) from diverse backgrounds confront several barriers that prevent easy access to medical care.  These barriers – which include financial problems and inaccessible providers – delayed or prevented access to care by 9.7 percent of CSHCN nationally, researchers say.
 
“Delayed or Forgone Care among Children with Special Health Care Needs: An Analysis of the 2001 National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs” by first author Zhihuan Jennifer Huang, Ph.D., of HRSA’s Maternal and Child Health Bureau, was published in January’s Ambulatory Pediatrics.  Nearly 13 percent of U.S. children have special health care needs, and 20 percent of U.S. households with children have at least one CSHCN, who require care and services beyond those of most children.
 
Researchers examined the impact of characteristics such as race, ethnicity, gender, income, region of residence and maternal education on access to medical care.  Questionnaires filled out by parents or legal guardians provided data on their children’s health, on how special health care needs affect children’s activities, and on families’ interactions with the health care system.
 
Findings indicate that:
 

• 7.8 percent of parents or guardians cited financial problems as the main reason that health care for their CSHCN had been delayed or forgone in the previous 12 months.
  
  
• lack of health insurance was the strongest indicator for delayed or forgone care; 11.8 percent of CSHCN were uninsured for at least part of the 12 months prior to the survey.
  
  
• teenagers are more likely to undergo delays or lack of care than other CSHCN.
  
  
• some minority families reported a higher incidence of delayed or forgone care compared to Non-Hispanic whites. No significant racial differences were found for “financial problems.”   Hispanic respondents, however, were more likely to report “lack of medical specialty” or language or cultural problems in accessing care, while non-Hispanic others -- a mixed group of Asian, Native Americans or multiracial minorities -- were more likely to report “time conflicts.”   Both groups were twice as likely to report “provider not accessible” as reasons for the delayed or forgone care compared to non-Hispanic whites or blacks.