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Study reveals key factors determining African-Americans' use of healthcare

Physician Practice Advisor, September 21, 2004

A new study shows that the strongest changeable factors predicting healthcare use by African-Americans are having health insurance and a regular physician or facility. The research from the National Center for Primary Care (NCPC) at Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, and the Robert Graham Center: Policy Studies in Family Medicine and Primary Care in Washington, D.C., was published in the September edition of the Journal of the National Medical Association.

The study sought to assess modifiable characteristics that make a difference in use of healthcare services within the African-American community. This study explored why some African-American patients receive optimal care while others do not. The goal was to identify and reduce these health disparities.

Findings include:

• Those with only public health insurance were much greater consumers of healthcare than the uninsured, reflecting higher use by the elderly and by the poor.
• Uninsured African-Americans were less likely to get healthcare in all healthcare service settings other than the emergency room than those who had private health insurance and those eligible for Medicare or Medicaid.
• Low-income African-Americans, who may not qualify for Medicaid or be able to afford private insurance, had worse health status than either the poor or any other income group.
• African-Americans with a usual source of care also used outpatient visits, inpatient hospital bed-days, and prescription drugs two to four times more often than those without a usual source of care.

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