*This is an archive page. The links are no longer being updated.
1992.09.01 :  AHCPR Study on Well-Child Visits

TO:      PHS News Division, 719H HHH Bldg.
FROM:    Public Affairs Branch, DOC/CRDL/AHCPR
CONTACT: Bob Isquith (301)227-8370
September 1, 1992

TITLE/SUBJECT OF RELEASE: New AHCPR study finds that only one-
third of low-income pre-school children receive the recommended
number of well-child visits.  

URGENCY:  The journal containing the article will be published
September 5.       

RECOMMENDED RELEASE DATE: Tuesday, September 8, *This is an archive page. The links are no longer being updated.
1992.    

TO BE DISTRIBUTED BY: AHCPR

PLANNED DISTRIBUTION: Daily and trade press.  

CLEARED BY: Dr. J.Jarrett Clinton, Administrator, AHCPR; 
Dr. Donald Goldstone, Director, Center for General Health
Services Intramural Research; and Margaret VanAmringe, Director,
AHCPR Center for Research Dissemination and Liaison.  

CLEARED AT PHS BY:

RECEIVED PHS NEWS DIV:

CARRIED TO HHS:

CLEARED AT HHS BY:


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE               Contact:  Bob Isquith
Tuesday September 8, 1992                     (301) 227-8370


     Only a third of low-income pre-school children receive the
recommended number of well-child visits according to a new study
by the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR).  Among
the nation's more affluent pre-schoolers, the researchers found
only half receive the recommended number of visits.
     The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends well-child
visits at one, two, four, six, nine, 12, 15, 18 and 24 months,
and then annually for older pre-school children.
     The study also shows uninsured children from families living
below 200 percent of the federal poverty line (or below $27,842
for a family of four at the time of the study) are less likely
than other children, including those on Medicaid, to receive the
preventive care services recommended by the AAP for children
under age five.
     "Departures from the recommended guidelines are particularly
pronounced in the second year of life.  As a result, some
children may fail to receive immunizations for preventable
diseases, such as measles, rubella and mumps," said AHCPR's
Pamela Farley Short, Ph.D., and Doris C. Lefkowitz, Ph.D.
     In addition, the study found that when low-income children
are on Medicaid for at least a year the amount of well-child care
they receive increases.
     However, according to Short and Lefkowitz, expanding
Medicaid to cover all uninsured children below 200 percent of the
poverty line would not bring the level of well-child visits up to
AAP recommendations.  Based on their findings, the researchers
predict that if Medicaid were expanded to cover those children,
the proportion receiving well-child care would increase to 61
percent, but the proportion meeting AAP guidelines would increase
to only 39 percent.
     According to the authors, factors other than insurance and
income, such as the lower educational attainment of low-income
mothers, explain about 80 percent of the gap in well-child visits
between children above and below 200 percent of poverty.
     The authors suggest combatting the problem by aiming 
educational programs at parents to encourage well-child visits. 
Health officials also should find ways to bring services to the
children, possibly in day care settings and welfare offices.
     The study, Encouraging Preventive Services for Low-Income
Children:  The Effect of Expanding Medicaid, by Drs. Short and
Lefkowitz, was published in a September 1992 issue of the journal
Medical Care.  AHCPR's 1987 National Medical Expenditure Survey,
on which the research was based, provides estimates of insurance
coverage and use of health services, expenditures and sources of
payment.
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