Differences in realized access to healthcare among newly arrived refugees in Germany: results from a natural quasi-experiment.

Wenner J, Bozorgmehr K, Duwendag S, Rolke K, Razum O (2020)
BMC public health 20: 846.

Zeitschriftenaufsatz | Veröffentlicht | Englisch
 
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Abstract / Bemerkung
BACKGROUND: Germany has a statutory health insurance (SHI) that covers nearly the entire population and most of the health services provided. Newly arrived refugees whose asylum claim is still being processed are initially excluded from the SHI. Instead, their entitlements are restricted and parallel access models have been implemented. We assessed differences in realized access of healthcare services between these access models.; METHODS: In Germany's largest federal state, North Rhine-Westphalia, two different access models have been implemented in the 396 municipalities: the healthcare voucher (HcV) model and the electronic health card (eHC) model. As refugees are quasi-randomly assigned to municipalities, we were able to realize a natural quasi-experiment including all newly assigned refugees from six municipalities (three for each model) in 2016 and 2017. Using claims data, we compared the standardized incidence rates (SIR) of specialist services use, emergency services use, and hospitalization due to ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSC) between both models. We indirectly standardized utilization patterns first for age and then for the sex.; RESULTS: SIRs of emergency use were higher in municipalities with HcV (ranging from 1.41 to 2.63) compared to emergency rates in municipalities with eHC (ranging from 1.40 to 1.71) and differed significantly from the expected rates derived from official health reporting. SIRs of emergency and specialist use in municipalities with eHC converged with the expected rates over time. There were no significant differences in standardized hospitalization rates for ACSC.; CONCLUSION: The results suggest that the eHC model is slightly better able to provide refugees with SHI-like access to specialist services and goes along with lower utilization of emergency services compared to the HcV model. No difference between the models was found for hospitalizations due to ACSC. Results might be slightly biased due to incompletely documented service use and due to (self-) selection on the level of municipalities with municipalities interested in facilitating access showing more interest in joining the project.
Stichworte
Refugees; Access to healthcare; Natural quasi-experimental design; Claims data
Erscheinungsjahr
2020
Zeitschriftentitel
BMC public health
Band
20
Art.-Nr.
846
eISSN
1471-2458
Finanzierungs-Informationen
Open-Access-Publikationskosten wurden durch die Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft und die Universität Bielefeld gefördert.
Page URI
https://pub.uni-bielefeld.de/record/2943891

Zitieren

Wenner J, Bozorgmehr K, Duwendag S, Rolke K, Razum O. Differences in realized access to healthcare among newly arrived refugees in Germany: results from a natural quasi-experiment. BMC public health. 2020;20: 846.
Wenner, J., Bozorgmehr, K., Duwendag, S., Rolke, K., & Razum, O. (2020). Differences in realized access to healthcare among newly arrived refugees in Germany: results from a natural quasi-experiment. BMC public health, 20, 846. doi:10.1186/s12889-020-08981-2
Wenner, Judith, Bozorgmehr, Kayvan, Duwendag, Stella, Rolke, Kristin, and Razum, Oliver. 2020. “Differences in realized access to healthcare among newly arrived refugees in Germany: results from a natural quasi-experiment.”. BMC public health 20: 846.
Wenner, J., Bozorgmehr, K., Duwendag, S., Rolke, K., and Razum, O. (2020). Differences in realized access to healthcare among newly arrived refugees in Germany: results from a natural quasi-experiment. BMC public health 20:846.
Wenner, J., et al., 2020. Differences in realized access to healthcare among newly arrived refugees in Germany: results from a natural quasi-experiment. BMC public health, 20: 846.
J. Wenner, et al., “Differences in realized access to healthcare among newly arrived refugees in Germany: results from a natural quasi-experiment.”, BMC public health, vol. 20, 2020, : 846.
Wenner, J., Bozorgmehr, K., Duwendag, S., Rolke, K., Razum, O.: Differences in realized access to healthcare among newly arrived refugees in Germany: results from a natural quasi-experiment. BMC public health. 20, : 846 (2020).
Wenner, Judith, Bozorgmehr, Kayvan, Duwendag, Stella, Rolke, Kristin, and Razum, Oliver. “Differences in realized access to healthcare among newly arrived refugees in Germany: results from a natural quasi-experiment.”. BMC public health 20 (2020): 846.
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2020-06-17T06:49:59Z
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