Brief ReportProvider continuity and reasons for not having a provider among persons with and without disabilities☆
Section snippets
Data source
The Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) is a nationally representative survey of health and healthcare outcomes among non-institutionalized US civilians.26 New families enrolled in the MEPS each year constitute a panel of data; data on these panels are collected in 5 waves over a 2-year period on all persons in sampled families, resulting in an overlapping panel design that can be analyzed longitudinally or cross-sectionally.
Longitudinal data from Panels 14 (2009–2010), 15 (2010–2011), and
Results
Nearly 15% of the longitudinally weighted sample had a disability, including nearly 9% who reported a basic disability and 6% who reported a complex disability (Table 1). Persons with complex disabilities (83.7%) were significantly more likely to experience provider continuity than persons with basic and persons without disabilities (65.6% and 60.7% respectively, p < 0.001; Figure 1). Approximately 11% of persons with complex disabilities experienced discontinuity compared to 19% of persons
Discussion
Comparisons of provider (dis)continuity between persons with and without disabilities, over a 2-year period, among a nationally representative sample of working-age adults revealed that persons with complex disabilities were more likely to experience provider continuity than their peers without disabilities and with basic disabilities. Persons with disabilities more frequently reported care costs and going different places for different needs and less frequently reported never or seldom being
Conclusions
Persons with disabilities report having usual providers and experience provider continuity more frequently than persons without disabilities, yet, paradoxically, this advantage does not confer benefits for health and healthcare outcomes. Additional research is needed to further untangle these relationships. Policies and programs need to be sensitive to the health and healthcare needs, as well as the unique barriers to provider continuity, faced by persons with disabilities.
Funding
This research did not receive any grants from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
Conflicts of interest
The authors have no conflict of interest.
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The views expressed in the article do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.