Urgent Care Centers Can Address Gaps in Access to Primary Care According to New Research from UnitedHealth Group
June 25 2020 - 9:23AM
Business Wire
If results in West Virginia are replicated
nationwide, more than 10 million children could benefit from
much-needed well-child visits
New research from UnitedHealth Group has shown that urgent care
centers can serve up to 10 million American children who currently
have limited access to well-child visits. These visits play an
important role in providing children and their parents the
services, screenings and referrals they need to live healthier
lives.
The findings are based on work in West Virginia where MedExpress
urgent care facilities partnered with Medicaid managed care plans
to deliver more than 7,000 well-child visits, including 5,000 for
children living in rural areas. MedExpress is also partnering with
Medicaid programs and managed care plans to deliver well-child
visits in Delaware, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska,
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia.
Similar partnerships throughout the country between urgent care
centers, health plans and state Medicaid programs could help
children in low-income families receive timely preventive services.
The need for such partnerships with Medicaid programs is only
likely to increase due to the economic and health consequences of
COVID-19.
“Millions of children living in low-income areas have difficulty
accessing well-child visits each year, but it does not have to be
this way. Urgent care centers can provide well-child visits for
millions of children enrolled in Medicaid who may not have access
to a regular primary care provider,” said Dean Hatcher, president
of MedExpress. “Well-child visits for children are among the most
cost-effective health care services we can deliver.”
Well-child visits are a critically important element of
high-quality primary care for children and typically include a
physical exam, screenings, immunizations and cognitive and
behavioral assessments. In situations where urgent care centers are
not able to provide all recommended services, urgent care providers
can offer referrals and recommendations for additional care.
Access to office-based primary care physicians remains a
challenge for children enrolled in Medicaid, especially those
living in medically underserved areas and rural communities, many
of whom do not have a regular primary care provider. Medicaid is
particularly important to children of color, who are
disproportionately represented among the program’s beneficiaries,
according to one study.
According to UnitedHealth Group research, nearly 4 million gaps
in care each year would be closed if urgent care centers delivered
one well-child visit per urgent care center per day. An average of
three well-child visits per urgent care center per day would close
10 million gaps in care each year nationwide – including 2 million
in rural areas.
Over 10,000 urgent care centers across the U.S. provide about
30% of the nation’s primary care, accounting for 90 million patient
visits each year. Located in convenient retail settings, open
evenings and weekends and offering walk-in visits on demand with
short wait times, urgent care centers are well positioned to serve
families whose children lack a regular primary care provider.
Read the full report here.
About UnitedHealth Group
UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) is a diversified health care
company dedicated to helping people live healthier lives and
helping to make the health system work better for everyone.
UnitedHealth Group offers a broad spectrum of products and services
through two distinct platforms: UnitedHealthcare, which provides
health care coverage and benefits services; and Optum, which
provides information and technology-enabled health services. For
more information, visit UnitedHealth Group at
www.unitedhealthgroup.com or follow @UnitedHealthGrp on
Twitter.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200625005518/en/
Bryan Fisher, 202-292-1456, Bryan.Fisher@uhg.com
UnitedHealth (NYSE:UNH)
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