Many people in the United States lack access to health care. From high insurance costs to inadequate transportation systems, they face various obstacles that keep them from the necessary medical care. Three in 10 Americans cite cost as a healthcare access barrier. But, effective health system leaders take a multipronged approach to close these gaps.
Make It Affordable
There are a variety of reasons that prevent many Americans from accessing health care. Sometimes these barriers are supply-related, such as a lack of primary care physicians or advanced technologies. In other cases, they are distribution-related, such as geographic limitations or a lack of transportation systems. Finally, affordability can also play a major role in access to care. A recent survey by West Health and Gallup found that three in 10 people cite high out-of-pocket patient costs as one of the main barriers to their access to healthcare.
In addition, patients with limited resources can need help to afford coverage and even if they do have insurance, rising healthcare costs are making their coverage less affordable. It is particularly true for those with high deductible plans, who must pay a significant sum out-of-pocket before their insurer covers anything. To improve access to health care, providers must work to address these barriers across the system. Thus, many government-funded health insurance coverage, including Riverside County Medi-Cal services, are available. It means reducing administrative burdens such as prior authorizations that detract from patient care and increasing the efficiency of existing resources. It also means addressing the underlying cost issue by implementing new payment models that achieve better outcomes at lower costs. As health systems continue to explore alternative treatment sites, including retail clinics, micro-hospitals, freestanding emergency departments and more, it will be essential that they are designed with affordability in mind.
Make It Easy
A lack of coverage and affordability are among the most prominent healthcare barriers preventing patients from receiving care. But many other factors can make visiting a clinician’s office impossible. These obstacles range from physical to logistical to cultural and financial. They can include a lack of accessibility in a facility, work-related concerns that force patients to skip appointments or transportation challenges that keep patients from getting to the clinician’s office. Sometimes, these barriers can result from a need for more medical professionals. It is a problem that health systems face across the country and worldwide, with rural towns, sparsely-populated areas and even urban communities struggling to find enough physicians. The health system can sometimes address this problem by establishing alternative treatment sites. It can take the form of urgent care centers, mobile clinics, micro-hospitals or freestanding emergency departments that allow patients to receive the care they need without traveling far from home. Other times, these barriers are related to a lack of communication. Patients who are deaf or speech-impaired may struggle to express themselves well in the clinic, whereas people with disabilities might not feel their needs are understood. In addition, language and cultural differences can be barriers for people who don’t speak English as their primary language or who have difficulty communicating in a poorly written way.
Make It Convenient
Some of the most pressing barriers to healthcare access are related to physical accessibility. It is easy for patients to miss appointments when they cannot get to the doctor’s office due to transportation or other constraints. Moreover, many patients lack knowledge about the local healthcare facilities they should visit for their symptoms. For example, they may be unsure if a broken leg requires care at an emergency department or can be treated by an urgent care clinic. Many of these barriers can be resolved by improving healthcare access. It may involve reducing costs, extending insurance coverage, and increasing the use of telehealth. In addition, it is essential to make healthcare more convenient. It can be done by simplifying patient paperwork, reducing appointment and wait times, and allowing patients to communicate with their providers through e-mail when necessary. The social determinants of health also contribute to other healthcare obstacles. These factors can be as simple as rurality and geography, but they can also include the level of medical education or the availability of healthcare infrastructure. They can also be as complicated as racial discrimination and decades-old policies such as redlining that affect the location of medical services in communities. Finally, poverty can limit access to healthcare even when a physician is available.
Make It Personal
With customer service being the defining quality of any experience, healthcare practices must be mindful of how they communicate with patients. Making an effort to be personal can make all the difference between a patient forgetting about your practice after one visit or becoming a loyal and engaged member. One of the biggest obstacles to healthcare access is that patients don’t feel their needs and concerns are heard. A simple step to improve this is addressing each patient by their preferred name and asking about specific details such as jobs, family, travel or hobbies. It makes patients feel recognized and understood, which leads to better participation, compliance and satisfaction.
In addition, practices need to ensure patients can reach their physicians outside of office hours. It can be done using secure doctor-patient e-mail, online community support, remote patient monitoring and telehealth. Effective personalized care can reduce adverse side effects, hospitalizations and unnecessary testing while lowering costs through improved efficiency. Another obstacle to healthcare access is the need for more physicians in rural areas. It can be addressed by expanding medical school residency slots, offering loan forgiveness programs and increasing physician immigration from abroad. In addition, telehealth and remote patient monitoring can be a cost-effective and reliable way to expand capacity in a health system that is already stretched thin.
