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CSHCN with hearing difficulties: Disparities in access and quality of care
Jessica Minnaert1, Mary Kay Kenney1, Reem Ghandour1
1U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Rockville, MD, USA.
Insights
Children with hearing difficulties (HD) in the U.S. face significant unmet needs in healthcare access, including medical homes and insurance. Improving access to care is crucial for their overall health and development.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Health
- Public Health
- Healthcare Access
Background:
- Hearing difficulties (HD) impact a significant number of children in the U.S., affecting development, learning, and social interactions.
- Barriers in language, communication, and learning are common for children with HD.
- The extent of healthcare access and unmet needs for children with HD is not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the healthcare access and identify unmet needs among children with hearing difficulties (HD) in the United States.
- To compare healthcare access between children with HD and those without HD within the population of children with special healthcare needs (CSHCN).
Main Methods:
- Cross-sectional study utilizing data from the 2009/2010 National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs (NS-CSHCN).
- Analysis included bivariate and multivariable regression models comparing CSHCN with HD (n=2,315) to those without HD (n=37,851).
- The study encompassed 40,242 CSHCN aged 0-17 years, with caregiver-reported data.
Main Results:
- Approximately 694,000 CSHCN (6.3%) in the U.S. reported some level of HD.
- Children with HD were less likely to have access to a medical home compared to those without HD.
- CSHCN with HD demonstrated reduced access to adequate health insurance and community services.
Conclusions:
- Children with HD experience significant deficits in accessing medical homes, adequate insurance, and community-based services.
- Knowledge of accessing community services and partnering with healthcare providers is vital for CSHCN with HD.
- Addressing these healthcare access gaps is essential for the well-being of children with hearing difficulties.
Background:
Hearing difficulties (HD) affect a sizable minority of children in the United States and can have a significant impact on child development. Children with HD may face barriers around language development, communication abilities, learning, and social interactions, which in turn can affect multiple aspects of their lives.
Objective/Hypothesis:
Little is known about the extent to which children with HD have access to a system of care and we hypothesize that this population may experience significant unmet needs.
Methods:
In this cross-sectional study, using bivariate and multivariable regression models, we analyzed data from the 2009/2010 National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs (NS-CSHCN). Selected survey items were used to assess health and healthcare characteristics of CSHCN with some level of HD (n = 2,315) compared to those without HD (n = 37,851). The study sample included 40,242 CSHCN aged 0-17 years, whose caregivers responded to the survey.
Results:
Approximately 694,000 CSHCN in the U.S. were reported to have any level of HD, representing 6.3% of the CSHCN population. Compared to CSHCN without HD, those with HD were less likely to have access to a medical home, community services, or have adequate health insurance.
Conclusions:
Significant deficits in medical home access, adequate insurance, and accessibility of community-based services are evident for CSHCN with HD. Families having knowledge of how and when to access community services and partner with providers in their child's health care is important for the overall health and wellbeing of this subpopulation of CSHCN.
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