Health Care for U.S. Kids Falls Short
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A large study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that American children receive recommended health-care procedures only 46% of the time when they see a doctor. In fact, children get even worse care than adults,...
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A large study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that American children receive recommended health-care procedures only 46% of the time when they see a doctor. In fact, children get even worse care than adults, who receive appropriate care about half the time, according to a similar survey published in 2003. "Taken together, these studies show that no one, anywhere, is immune from poor quality of care [in the U.S.]," says lead researcher Rita Mangione-Smith of Seattle Children's Hospital Research Institute. The researchers, from the Rand Corp. and University of Washington as well as Seattle Children's, reviewed the medical records of 1,536 children from 12 metropolitan areas around the country and assessed 175 measures of quality in 12 clinical areas. They found that children in the U.S. do not routinely receive regular weight and measurement checks, widely recommended screening tests, or standard care for asthma and diarrhea. "As a pediatrician, I was shocked by some of our findings," says Mangione-Smith. "I rescreened several of the charts because I couldn't believe the results we were getting." The children in the study were predominantly from white, middle- or upper-middle-class families; 82% were covered by private insurance. Children without insurance likely fare far worse, the researchers noted.
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Highlights:
The researchers blamed much of the care deficit on insurers, whom they said pressure doctors to spend only 10 minutes on a regular checkup, leaving them little time to run all the recommended tests. In addition, pediatricians are...
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