USUAL SOURCE OF CARE
A usual source of care has been positively associated
with receipt of preventive care,1,2 access
to care,3 continuity
of care, decreased hospitalization, and lower health care
costs.4 Although
90.8 percent of women reported having a
place they usually go to when they are sick or need advice
on health in 2001, this was lowest among women aged 18-24
(82.0 percent). The proportion of women with a usual source
of care increased with age, with nearly all (96.7 percent)
women aged 65 and older having a usual source of care.
Though most women across racial and ethnic groups had
an office-based usual source of care, non-Hispanic White
women
were more likely to have office-based care than women in
other racial/ethnic groups in 2000. Non-Hispanic Black
women were more likely to use a hospital outpatient department
or emergency room for their usual source of care than other
groups. Hispanic women were most likely to lack a usual
source
of care (20.8 percent) and, non-Hispanic White women were
most likely to have a usual source of care (92.6 percent).
 [d]
 [d]
1Ettner
SL: The relationship between continuity of care and the
health behaviors of patients: Does a usual physician make
a difference? Medical Care 37(6): 547-55, 1999. [Back
to Text]
2Ettner SL: The timing an preventive
services for women and children: The effect of having
a usual source
of care.
American Journal of Public Health 86(12):1748-54, 1996. [Back
to Text]
3Sox CM, Swartz K, Burstin HR,
Brennan TA: Insurance or a regular physician: Which is
the most powerful
predictor
of health care? American Journal of Public Health 88(3):364-70,
1998. [Back
to Text]
4Weiss LJ, Blustein J: Faithful
patients: The effect of long-term physician-patient relationships
on
the cost and
use of health care by older Americans. American Journal
of Public Health 86(12):1747-7, 1996. [Back
to Text] |
