Insurance Acceptance, Appointment Wait Time, and Dermatologist Access Across Practice Types in the US.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

In the 15 years since dermatology access was last investigated on a national scale, the practice landscape has changed with the rise of private equity (PE) investment and increased use of nonphysician clinicians (NPCs).

Objective

To determine appointment success and wait times for patients with various insurance types at clinics with and without PE ownership.

Design, setting, and participants

In this study, PE-owned US clinics were randomly selected and matched with 2 geographically proximate clinics without PE ownership. Researchers called each clinic 3 times over a 5-day period to assess appointment/clinician availability for a fictitious patient with a new and changing mole. The 3 calls differed by insurance type specified, which were Blue Cross Blue Shi

SUBMITTER: Creadore A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7807384 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature