Healthy People 2020 Objectives for Access to Care
Eliminating Disparities
Access to quality and comprehensive health care services by patients with chronic diseases plays a fundamental role of maintaining and promoting health, managing and preventing diseases, minimizing chances of developing unnecessary disabilities, reducing premature death, and help to achieve health equity for all people (Koh, Blakey & Roper, 2014). In the United States, health disparities result from inequity to access quality health care based on patient’s socioeconomic status, age, race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability status, gender, residential location, and country of origin. The most affected minority groups include Hispanic, African Americans, and Pacific Islanders. This part of eliminating disparities in access to care focuses on three constituents: timeliness of care, insurance coverage, and health equity.
Equity in accessing health care facilities impacts the patient’s overall psychological, physical, and social status and quality of life. The disparities emanate from the high cost of care, inadequate or no insurance coverage, and lack of committed care providers (Koh et al., 2014). As a result, they lead to unmet health needs, frequent hospitalizations, delays in receiving preventive care, and increased financial burdens. Therefore, there is a need for intervention by the local and national governments to eliminate these health disparities in order to improve patient’s health outcomes and lower medication and follow-up costs.
The process of improving health care services involves increasing access to health facilities and using evidence-based practice to diagnose, treat, and follow-up patients (Koh et al., 2014). This helps to create patient trust in the system, improve patient-nurse communication, eliminate discrimination based on health status as well as ensuring that patients receive appropriate care. In addition, the objective aims to lower mortality from preventable causes.
Reference
Koh, H. K., Blakey, C. R., & Roper, A. Y. (2014). Healthy People 2020: a report card on the health of the nation. Jama, 311(24), 2475-2476.
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