Abstract
Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) experience difficulty accessing health care services. Using parent-reported data from the 2009–2010 National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs, we examined whether having a medical home reduces unmet need for specialty care services for children with ASD (n = 3,055). Descriptive statistics and Chi square tests identified sample characteristics and examined the relationship between unmet needs and a standardized measure of medical home. Logistic regression models explored the individual impact of demographic, condition-specific and medical home variables on unmet need. Parents reported that nearly all children had a need for specialty services, 36 % had an unmet need, and 23.9 % had a medical home. Children who had fewer unmet needs were more likely to have received family-centered and coordinated care through a medical home, and this relationship remained significant even when demographic and condition-specific variables were taken into account. These findings suggest ways to improve access to care for children with ASD through enhanced family-centered and coordinated care within the medical home.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to express their appreciation to Dr. J. Wade Davis for his statistical assistance.
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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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The Institutional Review Board at the university involved in this project approved all study procedures and all persons included in the study gave their informed consent prior to their inclusion in the study.
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Cheak-Zamora, N.C., Farmer, J.E. The Impact of the Medical Home on Access to Care for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. J Autism Dev Disord 45, 636–644 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-014-2218-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-014-2218-3