title: Acceptance of New Medicaid Patients by Primary Care Physicians and Experiences with Physician Availability among Children on Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To estimate the relationship between physicians' acceptance of new Medicaid patients and access to health care.
  
  
  METHODS
  The National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) Electronic Health Records Survey and the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) 2011/2012.
  
  
  METHODS
  Linear probability models estimated the relationship between measures of experiences with physician availability among children on Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) from the NHIS and state-level estimates of the percent of primary care physicians accepting new Medicaid patients from the NAMCS, controlling for other factors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Nearly 16 percent of children with a significant health condition or development delay had a doctor's office or clinic indicate that the child's health insurance was not accepted in states with less than 60 percent of physicians accepting new Medicaid patients, compared to less than 4 percent in states with at least 75 percent of physicians accepting new Medicaid patients. Adjusted estimates and estimates for other measures of access to care were similar.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Measures of experiences with physician availability for children on Medicaid/CHIP were generally good, though better in states where more primary care physicians accepted new Medicaid patients.
authors: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, 3311 Toledo Road, Hyattsville, MD, 20782.
authors: Sandra L
authors: SL
authors: Decker
mesh_terms: D065326:Children's Health Insurance Program / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008484:Medicaid / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D058007:Physicians, Primary Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States
keywords: State health policies; access; demand; primary care; utilization of services