In the marketplace of health care, it is no surprise that economics plays a major role in a physician's decision whether to refer a child. A new study by University of Pittsburgh researchers published in the Sept. 24 Journal of American Medical Association has found that primary care providers are more likely to refer uninsured children to low or no cost clinics, also called public vaccine clinics, for necessary immunizations. Typically, referrals are made by primary care providers for complicated procedures that require the skill and knowledge of a specialist.
Any practitioner is capable of giving a shot or giving a pill.
More than half of all physicians interviewed by Pitt researchers reported they would refer a child to a low or no cost clinic to receive necessary vaccinations if the child did not have insurance or had an insurance plan that did not cover vaccination costs. The likelihood of referral was associated with the child's type of insurance. Pitt researchers conducted phone interviews with 1,236 physicians across the country to determine how likely they would be to refer a child to a public vaccine clinic. They were presented with three scenarios in which only the insurance status of the child differed and were asked to rate, on a scale of 0 to 10, their likelihood of referring a child to a clinic for a vaccination. Vaccines are developed to bolster the immune system and need to be administered at specific times to protect against potentially life-threatening diseases.