scholarly journals Reforming Medicaid and Vulnerable People

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 33
Author(s):  
Arnold Birenbaum
Keyword(s):  
People With Disabilities ◽  
Federal State ◽  
Access To Health Services ◽  
The Public ◽  
Insurance Program ◽  
Political Clout ◽  
Access To Health ◽  
Vulnerable People ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Gain Access

Medicaid, the federal-state financed program that assists people to gain access to health services when they cannot afford them, has been inthe news of late. Unfortunately the news is disquieting for people who count on this program for health care and rehabilitation services. Change is not always the friend of vulnerable people, and in this instance, it can be downright disruptive when it comes to accessing services. Because they are not well organized, people with Medicaid coverage do not have political clout, even though more people are covered by Medicaid than Medicare (e.g., the public insurance program for almost all people over the age of 65 and some people with disabilities). New Bush administration proposals and ongoing practices could be particularly harsh for people with disabilities.

scholarly journals Accessing community health services: challenges faced by poor people with disabilities in a rural community in South Africa

2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisbet Grut ◽  
Gubela Mji ◽  
Stine H. Braathen ◽  
Benedicte Ingstad
Keyword(s):  
Health Services ◽  
Family Members ◽  
People With Disabilities ◽  
Community Health Services ◽  
Poor People ◽  
Social Forces ◽  
Access To Health Services ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Her Family ◽  
Access To Health

Poor people with disabilities who live in poor rural societies experience unique problems in accessing health services. Their situation is influenced by multiple factors which unfold and interplay throughout the person’s life course. The difficulties do not only affect the person with a disability and his or her family, but also impact on the relevant care unit. The barriers are rooted in a life in poverty, upheld and maintained by poverty-reinforcing social forces of the past and the present, and reinforced by the lack of the person’s perspective of the health services. This article explores how difficulties may interact and influence access to and utilisation of health services, and how this may render health services out of reach even when they are available. The study reveals that non-compliance is not necessarily about neglect but could as well be a matter of lived poverty. The study was based on in-depth interviews with people with disabilities and family members, and semi-structured interviews with health personnel. The data analysis is contextual and interpretive. When offering health services to people with disabilities living in resource-poor settings, services should take into consideration the person’s history, the needs, and the resources and abilities of the family group. Rethinking access to health services should transcend a narrow medical institutionalization of health professional’s training, and include a patient’s perspective and a social vision in understanding and practice. Such rethinking requires health service models that integrate the skills of health professionals with the skills of disabled people and their family members. Such skills lie dormant at community level, and need to be recognized and utilized.

scholarly journals Exploring Accessibility of Community Pharmacy Services

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah E. Kelling
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Community Pharmacy ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Community Pharmacists ◽  
Access To Health Services ◽  
The Public ◽  
Access To Health ◽  
Accessibility Of Health Services ◽  
System Access

Objective: To use selected literature to describe strengths and opportunities for improvement related to accessibility of health services in the community pharmacy setting. Summary: Pharmacists have been described as one of the most accessible health care professionals, particularly as nearly 90% of Americans live within 5 miles of a community pharmacy. However, geography alone does not provide access to health services. Individuals must be able to gain entry into the health care system, access a health care location where needed services are provided, and find a health care provider with whom the patient can communicate and trust. Current and potential opportunities for community pharmacists to increase access via each step are described. Conclusion: Community pharmacists are highly accessible health care professionals who are trusted by patients. Opportunities exist to further increase access to dispensing and non-dispensing services in order to better meet the needs of the public.   Type: Commentary

scholarly journals Barriers and Facilitators to Accessing Health Services: A Qualitative Study Amongst People with Disabilities in Cameroon and India

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. 1126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Zuurmond ◽  
Islay Mactaggart ◽  
Nanda Kannuri ◽  
Gudlavalleti Murthy ◽  
Joseph Oye ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Services ◽  
Access To Health Care ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
People With Disabilities ◽  
Personal Factors ◽  
Access To Health Services ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Access To Health

Background: Article 25 of the UNCRPD stipulates the right of people with disabilities to the highest attainable standard of health, and the timely uptake of appropriate health and rehabilitation services. This study seeks to explore the factors which influence access to health care among adults with disabilities in Cameroon and India. Methods: A total of 61 semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of adults with vision, hearing or musculoskeletal impairments, using data from an earlier cross-sectional disability survey. In addition, 30 key informants were interviewed to provide contextual information about the local services and context. Results: Key themes included individual-level factors, understanding and beliefs about an impairment, and the nature of the impairment and interaction with environmental factors. At the community and household level, key themes were family dynamics and attitudes, economic factors, social inclusion and community participation. Intersectionality with gender and age were cross-cutting themes. Trust and acceptability of health service providers in India and poor understanding of referral processes in both countries were key service-level themes. Conclusions: The interaction of environmental and personal factors with the impairment and their levels of participation and inclusion in community structures, all contributed to the take up of services. This study illustrated the need for a multi-faceted response to improve access to health services for people with disabilities.

scholarly journals Private Policing and Public Health: A Neglected Relationship

2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-38
Author(s):  
Jennifer D. Wood
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Crime Control ◽  
Mental Illnesses ◽  
Health It ◽  
The Public ◽  
Access To Health ◽  
Private Policing ◽  
Vulnerable People ◽  
Forms Of Violence

Policing, in its various forms and dimensions, has indelible and complex connections to public health. The conventional functions of policing—promoting social order, security, and crime prevention—are animated by many issues easily framed by a public health lens (e.g., forms of violence, mental illnesses, drug abuse, homelessness). Policing with a crime control focus can make public health worse by criminalizing vulnerable people and undermining access to health and harm reduction resources. Conversely, policing with a health focus can help link vulnerable people to treatment and recovery-oriented resources. Recognizing these connections, researchers have largely focused on the public health effects of policing by the public police, and practitioners have worked to transform the public police with population health in mind. This article suggests that although this focus on transforming the public police is necessary to the advancement of public health, it neglects to understand connections between private policing and public health. This conceptual article argues for the need to widen our focus beyond the public police when exploring policing’s relationship to public health. This expanded view, I suggest, is important to discovering the ways in which the health vulnerabilities of people and places may be compromised by different policing mentalities and practices. At the same time, it may provide clues about ways in which policing beyond the police might creatively and virtuously promote public health.

scholarly journals Epidemiological and socio-economic characteristics of the COVID-19 spring outbreak in Quebec, Canada: A population-based study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodolphe Jantzen ◽  
Nolwenn Noisel ◽  
Sophie Camilleri-Broet ◽  
Catherine Labbe ◽  
Thibault de Malliard ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Online Survey ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Health Condition ◽  
Positive Test ◽  
Access To Health Services ◽  
The Public ◽  
Health Authorities ◽  
Access To Health ◽  
The Status ◽  
Public Health Authorities

Background: By mid-July 2020, more than 108,000 COVID-19 cases had been diagnosed in Canada with more than half in the province of Quebec. To be prepared for a potential second wave of COVID-19 in the fall, it seems of utmost importance to analyze the epidemiological and socio-economic characteristics of the spring outbreak in the population. Method: We conducted an online survey of the participants of the CARTaGENE population-based cohort, composed of middle-aged and older adults. We collected information on socio-demographic, lifestyle, health condition, COVID-related symptoms and COVID-19 testing. We studied the association between these factors and two outcomes: the status of having been tested for SARS-CoV-2 and the status of having received a positive test when having been tested. These associations were evaluated with univariate and multivariate analyzes using a hybrid tree-based regression model. Results: Among the 8,129 respondents from the CARTaGENE cohort, 649 were tested for COVID-19 and 41 were positive. Medical workers and individuals having a contact with a COVID-19 patient had the highest probabilities of being tested (32% and 42.4%, respectively) and of being positive (17.2% and 13.0%, respectively) among those tested. 7.6% of the participants declared that they have experienced at least one of the four COVID-related symptoms chosen by the Public Health authorities (fever, cough, dyspnea, anosmia) but were not tested. Results from the tree-based model analyzes adjusted on exposure factors show that the combination of dyspnea, dry cough and fever was highly associated with being tested whereas anosmia, fever, and headache were the most discriminant factors for having a positive test among those tested. During the spring outbreak, more than one third of the participants have experienced a decrease in access to health services. There were sex and age differences in the socio-economic and emotional impacts of the pandemic. Conclusion: We have shown some discrepancies between the symptoms associated with being tested and being positive. In particular, the anosmia is a major discriminant symptom for positivity whereas ear-nose-throat symptoms seem not to be COVID-related. The results also emphasize the need of increasing the accessibility of testing for the general population.

scholarly journals The problems of young disabled people in St. Petersburg: sociological analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 76
Author(s):  
Olga A. Novozhilova
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Social Group ◽  
People With Disabilities ◽  
Russian Society ◽  
Access To Health Services ◽  
Disabled People ◽  
Information Accessibility ◽  
Access To Health ◽  
Youth Activities ◽  
Free Environment

Disability as a social problem is one of the most pressing phenomena of modern Russian society. The article analyzes young disabled people as a specific social group and the problems they face in their lives. Young disabled people are quite an active social group, they participate in youth activities, reveal their talents. But because of the barriers in the environment, they cannot fully realize themselves. A study has been carried out showing the problems of young people with disabilities that need to be addressed immediately. Problems such as access to health services and medicines, employment problems, lack of equipment and lack of barrier-free environment, education and information accessibility have been identified. Particular attention is paid to the issue of accessibility as one of the factors preventing young people with disabilities from interacting actively with the environment. The longitudinal nature of the study allowed us to analyze what has changed in solving the problems of this social group. The results of the study showed that in St. Petersburg and other cities, much more attention to this category of people began to be paid, but often problem-solving is still point-by-point rather than complex.

scholarly journals People with disabilities and professionals’ views on access to health services in Western Sydney

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gisselle Gallego ◽  
Amy Dryden ◽  
Angela Dew ◽  
Ana Fernandez ◽  
Luis Salvador-Carulla ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Services ◽  
People With Disabilities ◽  
Access To Health Services ◽  
Access To Health

scholarly journals Socioeconomic characteristics and costs of rare and orphan diseases in Peru, 2019

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 710-718
Author(s):  
Grecia Claussen Portocarrero ◽  
Alfonso Gutierrez Aguado
Keyword(s):  
Age Groups ◽  
Orphan Diseases ◽  
Access To Health Services ◽  
Administrative Records ◽  
The Public ◽  
Socioeconomic Characteristics ◽  
Access To Health ◽  
Observational Design ◽  
Delay Of Diagnosis ◽  
A Current

Introduction: The rare and orphan diseases (ROD) constitute a current challenge due to the lack of investigation. Objective: Describe the socioeconomic characteristics of rare and orphan diseases (ROD) in Peru, 2019. Methods: Descriptive observational design. The information was obtained from FISSAL administrative records, and an intentional sample of 20 patients was taken to carry out the questionnaire on ROD. For the economic records, a review of the public budget of the MEF was made. The data analysis was descriptive and inferential. Results: There were 454 patients with a total of 49 ROD; of these, the most representative age groups were schoolchildren and young adults (18% each), and the most frequent diagnosis was Tetralogy of Fallot (22%). The questionnaire on ROD reports a median of 7 months in the delay of diagnosis and between 3 and 5 doctors were visited. Likewise, 30% considered that it generated a high to very high expense. It was calculated that the ROD budget constitutes 2.25% of the total budget for high-cost diseases. Likewise, the ROD budget was different between 2014 and 2019. Conclusions: The population with ROD in Peru is not large; however, it requires greater attention to access to health services and a greater budget allocation.

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