What are the positive factors that are contributing to you reaching your desired result?
- Varied providers: We have family practice doctors, pediatricians, nurse practitioners, etc. to be able to support families. Located in a variety of areas not just in Corsicana.
- New/expanded hours: Navarro Pediatrics has just added a Saturday clinic and they are also doing a drive-by immunization clinic.
- Hope Clinic/Waxahachie/DFW/Waco: There are providers in nearby communities that are accessible to some families.
- PEDIA Clinic: Available to low-income families.
What are the negative factors that are restricting you from reaching your desired result?
- COVID: Driving families away from going to the doctor for normal well visits and check-ups.
- Lack of transportation
- Lack of insurance or being underinsured
- Availability: working families need more after hours and weekend options
- Drop off: Families do a good job from birth to 18 months. After that there's a drop-off of kids going yearly
- Doctors often leave the area: hard for families to build rapport and find a consistent doctor in the county.
- Lack of education/understanding: Parents don't understand why these visits are important, and doctors don't explain the importance well enough.
- Insurance benefits: many families don't realize that well visits are normally covered by benefits because they are preventative
- Immunizations: some parents are against vaccinations--those are a part of your well checks
What populations are the most disadvantaged and what causes these disparities?
- Families who are undocumented
- Rural families: because of transportation
- Those who lack transportation
- Uninsured and underinsured families
- Unemployed/Underemployed families
- Spanish-speaking families
Are there foreseeable factors that will affect your work over the next few months to a year?
- COVID: Virus is getting worse, more families staying home and away from public
- COVID: Restricting number of visitors can come into appointments with patient. Some parents don't have childcare for other children to go to a visit.
- COVID Vaccine: will families feel comfortable taking children to be vaccinated?
- New federal administration: may see changes with health insurance system
- School reopening/reclosing: school nurses and teachers will be able to or be restricted from seeing children and encouraging parents to take kids to well visits
What additional research is needed to better understand the factors that influence the slope of the curve and related disparities?
- PEDIA Clinc: What specific services do they provide and who is eligible?
- Schedule of well visits: how many appointments should a child attend from 0 to 18?
- What clinics in the area have translators or bilingual staff available?
- What are well checks checking for? What types of problems/issues do they prevent?
- What percent of issues are caught early by a well check?
- What types of legislative actions are in the works for healthcare on state and federal levels?