When access to assessment and routine care by a pediatric specialist is delayed, patients may receive inappropriate or insufficient treatment, experience complications, and have potentially avoidable emergency department visits and hospitalizations. In response to growing concerns about pediatric patients’ ability to access subspecialty care, the Children’s Specialty Care Coalition partnered with Practical Research Solutions to survey its membership institutions on metrics related to access to care, including patient wait times and length of time for physician recruitment. This report outlines key findings of the survey and provides a snapshot in time of access to pediatric specialty care in California.
