Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Receipt of Needed Services

Data on the experiences of children and youth with special health care needs (CYSHCN) accessing health care services and resources is limited, and yet this group represents nearly 20 percent of the pediatric population. To learn more, our Foundation contracted with NORC at the University of Chicago to conduct a national survey and focus groups of parents of CYSHCN to better understand the challenges they face. The findings of this work indicate that across a range of different measures, CYSHCN and their families have lower levels of access to the health care services they need compared to children without special health care needs. There are also differences in experiences for specific subgroups of CYSHCN. 

This brief focuses on Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Receipt of Needed Services. Findings include: 

• Black and Hispanic CYSHCN and their families have more challenges accessing the care they need, experience more barriers, and often face greater consequences when care is missed. 

• Hispanic CYSHCN had the highest rates of unmet needs across all services, and their families experienced the highest rate of insurance and financial barriers. 

• While racial and ethnic disparities in receipt of needed services spanned preventive to specialty care, disparities are greater for more specialized needs, such as home health care and medical equipment and devices. 

Read more about the survey and focus group methodology and view the other data briefs.