Racial/ethnic variations in veterans' ambulatory care use.
OBJECTIVE
We assessed racial/ethnic variations in patterns of ambulatory care use among Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care-eligible veterans to determine if racial/ethnic differences in health care use persist in equal-access systems.


METHODS
We surveyed 3227 male veterans about their health and ambulatory care use.


RESULTS
Thirty-eight percent of respondents had not had a health care visit in the previous 12 months. Black (odds ratio [OR] = 0.5), Hispanic (OR = 0.4), and Asian/Pacific Islander veterans (OR=0.4) were less likely than White veterans to report any ambulatory care use. Alternately, Whites (OR=2.2) were more likely than other groups to report ambulatory care use. Being White was a greater predictor of health care use than was having fair or poor health (OR=1.4) or functional limitations (OR=1.5). In non-VA settings, racial/ethnic minorities were less likely to have a usual provider of health care. There was no VA racial/ethnic variation in this parameter.


CONCLUSIONS
Racial/ethnic disparities in health and health care use are present among VA health care-eligible veterans. Although the VA plays an important role in health care delivery to ethnic minority veterans, barriers to VA ambulatory care use and additional facilitators for reducing unmet need still need to be investigated.
Washington
Donna L
DL
Department of Medicine, VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, CA 90073, USA. donna.washington@med.va.gov
Villa
Valentine
V
Brown
Arleen
A
Damron-Rodriguez
JoAnn
J
Harada
Nancy
N
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000553:Ambulatory Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002140:California; D003625:Data Collection; D005006:Ethnicity; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009505:Nevada; D044469:Racial Groups; D014728:Veterans