Racial variations in department of Veterans Affairs ambulatory care use and unmet health care needs

Our objective was to describe racial/ethnic variations in Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) ambulatory care use and its association with the presence of unmet health care needs. Using the 1992 National Survey of Veterans, we examined race/ethnicity and unmet health care need for ambulatory care us...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Military medicine 2002-03, Vol.167 (3), p.235-241
Main Authors: WASHINGTON, Donna L, HARADA, Nancy D, VILLA, Valentine M, DAMRON-RODRIGUEZ, Joann, DHANANI, Shawkat, SHON, Herb, MAKINODAN, Takashi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
African Americans - statistics & numerical data
Ambulatory Care Facilities - utilization
Biological and medical sciences
Health Services Accessibility
Health Services Needs and Demand
Hispanic Americans - statistics & numerical data
Humans
Indians, North American - statistics & numerical data
Medical sciences
Minority Groups - statistics & numerical data
Prevention and actions
Public health. Hygiene
Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine
Specific populations (family, woman, child, elderly...)
United States - epidemiology
United States Department of Veterans Affairs
Veterans
Veterans - classification
Veterans - statistics & numerical data
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Summary:Our objective was to describe racial/ethnic variations in Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) ambulatory care use and its association with the presence of unmet health care needs. Using the 1992 National Survey of Veterans, we examined race/ethnicity and unmet health care need for ambulatory care users of VA and non-VA facilities. Black and Hispanic veterans were more likely to report any VA use. In unadjusted analyses, American Indian/Eskimo, Hispanic, and black veterans were 4.4, 2.5, and 1.9 times more likely, respectively, than white veterans to report an inability to get needed care. Adjusting for VA ambulatory care use diminished the disparity in inability to get needed care between American Indian/Eskimo or Hispanic veterans and white veterans and eliminated the disparity between black and white veterans. Our findings support the VA's role as a medical safety net provider and suggest that VA ambulatory care use is effective in mitigating health-related racial disparities for some veterans. Additional facilitators for reducing unmet need should be explored.
ISSN:0026-4075
1930-613X
DOI:10.1093/milmed/167.3.235