title: Health care access and utilization in older versus younger homeless adults.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine whether demographic characteristics, health care access, and acute health care utilization differ by age among homeless adults.
  
  
  METHODS
  We interviewed all 2,175 adult attendees of a citywide homeless outreach event.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Older participants were more likely than younger participants to have a regular place for health care (59.8% vs. 44.3%, p<.01), a regular health care provider (53.6% vs. 35.6%, p<.01), and health insurance (45.5% vs. 32.1%, p<.01). Older participants were less likely to be unable to obtain needed health care (15.6% vs. 20.9%, p=.05). In a multivariate analysis, only lack of health insurance predicted inability to obtain needed care (AOR 2.9, CI 1.76-4.8).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Older and younger homeless adults have similarly high rates of acute health care utilization. The better access to care among older homeless adults speaks to the importance of insurance in determining access to care among homeless adults.
authors.affiliation: Division of Gerontology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, USA. rtbrown@bidmc.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Rebecca T
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: Ryan V
authors.initials: RV
authors.lastname: Kimes
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Guzman
authors.forename: Margot
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kushel
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006703:Ill-Housed Persons / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007348:Insurance, Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires