Current State of Pediatric Specialty Financing
Is there a case for pediatricians in your neighborhood providing care to all children in a medical home model?
Is there a case for pediatricians in your neighborhood providing care to all children in a medical home model?
Pediatrics is a specialty that provides care to children and adolescents. In the USA, pediatricians provide care in many different ways; they do so in a model of community-based care or neighborhood that we call a medical home; or within the walls of a hospital --you find a pediatrician's expertise is a delivery rooms, intensive care units, emergency rooms, and inpatient units. In other countries, such as Canada and Costa Rica, only the wealthy can afford to see a pediatrician within an office setting. Preventative care is often given in community-based clinics where nurses provide care such as vaccinations without an annual physical.
Care for children in the US must be improved. Today there are almost 6,000,000 children with anxiety and 3,000,000 with depression 1. Nearly 15,000,000 children are obese, 2a risk factor for strokes, heart disease, and blindness. About 51% of US children live in a household with socioeconomic conditions where they qualify for the Federal and State assistance program Mediciad,3, but today they are significantly underfunded. Such underfunding and physician shortages prevent many children from having access to a pediatrician or sub-specialist when they become ill.
“Older children (age 12-17) received the lowest rates of preventive care. Preventive care in this age group typically includes depression and suicide risk screenings, so this decline is particularly concerning given rising burdens of mental illness and suicide attempts among adolescents.”.
For example, in Northern Virginia, which has 2 of the wealthiest counties in the country, sits outside of the halls of power in DC, it can take 12 months to see a pediatric neurologist or two years for a pediatric psychiatrist.
As if that was not challenging enough, a recent review from Kaiser Family Foundation shows we are spending about $2,500 in healthcare for children with Medicaid. This proves to be not nearly enough for those children who could be described as the most vulnerable within our communities.4
We want to open the discussion with this post. In posts to come, we will add our thoughts on our workforce shortage and our thoughts on solutions.
Last Reviewed: March 8, 2023Source: National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Page last reviewed: May 17, 2022Content source: Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
Children’s Health Coverage Trends: Gains in 2020-2022 Reverse Previous Coverage LossesRecent national survey data suggest that 1.4 million children have gained health coverage since the end of 2020Ann B. Conmy, Christie Peters, Nancy De Lew, Benjamin D. Sommers
KFF Medicaid Spending Per Full-Benefit Enrollee,