Patients With Health-Related Social Needs More Likely to Report Poor Clinic Experiences

Mary Gray; Kyle G Jones; Bill J Wright

doi:10.1177/23743735211008307

Patients With Health-Related Social Needs More Likely to Report Poor Clinic Experiences

J Patient Exp. 2021 Apr 8:8:23743735211008307. doi: 10.1177/23743735211008307. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Mary Gray¹, Kyle G Jones², Bill J Wright²

Affiliations

¹ Comagine Health, Portland, OR, USA.
² Center for Outcomes Research and Education, Providence Health and Services, Portland, OR, USA.

Abstract

Measuring patients' care experience is necessary to understanding and improving health care quality and is a core component of patient-centered care. In this study, we test whether patient health care experiences differed between patients with and without health-related social needs, above and beyond demographic differences previously studied. This study relies on survey data from 2341 patients who visited 1 of 7 primary care clinics in Portland, Oregon, and surrounding communities during the latter half of 2018. Survey analysis reveal that patients with at least 1 health-related social need had greater odds of reporting staff not always answering questions, not getting all the care they need, not getting the information to manage care, not being treated with respect by their provider, and getting care being a hassle. The findings from this study suggest that patients with health-related social needs are not getting the holistic care they expect in their primary care clinics and find it a hassle to get care regardless of their demographic characteristics and insurance status. This study may help to inform how health care systems and clinics can best serve patients with health-related social needs.

Keywords: clinic care; health care experiences; health-related social needs; patient perspectives/narratives.