Substance Use Disorder-Related Disparities in Patient Experiences of Primary Care

Katherine J Hoggatt; Susan M Frayne; Fay S Saechao; Elizabeth M Yano; Donna L Washington

doi:10.1089/heq.2018.0069

Substance Use Disorder-Related Disparities in Patient Experiences of Primary Care

Health Equity. 2019 May 2;3(1):193-197. doi: 10.1089/heq.2018.0069. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Katherine J Hoggatt^{1

2}, Susan M Frayne^{3

4}, Fay S Saechao³, Elizabeth M Yano^{1

5}, Donna L Washington^{1

6}

Affiliations

¹ VA Health Services Research and Development (HSR&D) Center for the Study of Healthcare Innovation, Implementation & Policy, VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Sepulveda, California.
² Department of Epidemiology, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, Los Angeles, California.
³ VA HSR&D Center for Innovation to Implementation (Ci2i), VA Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, California.
⁴ Division of Primary Care and Population Health, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California.
⁵ Department of Health Policy and Management, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, Los Angeles, California.
⁶ Department of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles Geffen School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California.

Abstract

Purpose: To assess disparities in primary care experiences for patients with a substance use disorder (SUD) diagnosis. Methods: We assessed differences in Veterans Health Administration (VA) primary care patients' experiences using data from the 2014 outpatient VA Patient-Centered Medical Home Survey of Healthcare Experiences of Patients (SHEP; N=286,026). We obtained patient demographics and diagnoses from VA electronic medical record data. Results: Patients with an SUD diagnosis reported worse experiences for 8 of 12 SHEP measures, including access, provider communication, and information received (p<0.05). Conclusion: Targeted strategies may be needed to ensure patients with SUD have favorable primary care experiences.

Keywords: health disparities; patient experience; primary care; quality measurement; substance-related disorders; veterans.

Grants and funding

IK6 HX002836/HX/HSRD VA/United States