The Importance of Type of Usual Source of Care for Children??s Physician Access and Expenditures

Abstract

Despite the overall improvement in access to medical care for low-income people, differences in access to care by income levels remain for children. One reason may be the types of places low-income children often go for care. This paper examines the importance of type of usual source of care—physician's office versus hospital outpatient/emergency room sites and the potential mitigating influence of a specific physician as caregiver at these sites—on physician access and expenditures. Likelihood of a visit, number of visits, distribution of visits for preventive and illness-related care, and likelihood of a preventive visit are examined for all children and for those under 6 years. Implications of different types of usual source of care for costs of physician care are discussed as well.