Access of Care

1) What is access of care?

Access of care can be defined as the capability to obtain affordable, convenient, acceptable, effective and mostly needed healthcare assistances at the right time. According to healthy people 2020, access to care is the appropriate use of healthcare amenities for a person to attain the best possible health condition. This include entry to a health care system, access to appropriate locations with needed services, and contacting a health care provider who can be trusted ("Access," 2013).

Access to care constitutes of five measurements such as availability, accessibility, accommodation, affordability, and acceptability. This means acceptable and affordable health services should be available to required persons at the time of necessity. Access to care is different for different types of patients (Shi & Singh, 2008, p. 508-509). For example, access to health service is different for a disables person and a working person. A disabled client may have to worry about transportation and a working person thinks about getting an appointment on his/her day off.

2). How does service availability affect access of care?

Availability is a broad term that refers to the capability of health services to match

with client’s requirements. Clients have varied needs regarding the availability of healthcare services. The various range of availability related issues include availability of primary and preventive services, availability of enabling assistances such as transport, interpretation, and social services, availability of health care specialists, and /or availability of appointments when needed. Availability of care can also be based on income, insurance, and geographical differences. For example, rural Americans hav...

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...ious population surveys to assess the equity of access to health care services (Shi & Singh, 2008, p. 510-512).

References

Access to Health Services. (2013). Retrieved November 25, 2013, from http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topicsobjectives2020/overview.aspx?topicid=1

Chapter 9. Access to Health Care:National Healthcare Quality Report, 2011. (2011). Retrieved November 25, 2013, from http://www.ahrq.gov/research/findings/nhqrdr/nhqr11/chap9.html

Key Facts about the Uninsured Population. (2013). Retrieved Oct 28, 2013, from http://kff.org/uninsured/fact-sheet/key-facts-about-the-uninsured-population/

Shi, L., & Singh, D. A. (2008). Delivering health care in America: a systems approach (4th ed.). [Adobe Digital Editions]. Retrieved from http://gcumedia.com/digital-resources/jonesandbartlett/2008/delivering-health-care-in-america_-a-systems-approach_ebook_4e.php