Cost remains biggest barrier to dermatologic care

Socioeconomic factors continue to be the biggest barrier for access to outpatient dermatologic care, according to a study.

“Disparities in the use of outpatient dermatologic care remain a significant problem,” Mallory L. Zaino, MD, of the department of dermatology at Wake Forest School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and colleagues wrote. “The object of this study was to identify specific barriers to dermatologic care and determine the impact of demographic and socioeconomic factors on the perception of each barrier.”

A survey study of 127 subjects was conducted in which a malignant melanoma illustration was provided, and participants were asked to score barriers to care on a 10-point Likert scale.

Barriers included the cost of health care, fear of COVID-19, lack of health care, lack of treatment understanding, lack of transportation, lack of insurance and inconvenience. Subjects were also asked demographic questions regarding gender, age, ethnicity, race, education level, household income and insurance status.

The high cost of health care was reported to be a high barrier by subjects who were female, young, lacked insurance and had a lower household income.

A patient’s race, education level and annual household income affected the types of barriers ranked as the most important.

“Identifying barriers to care, particularly for vulnerable populations, may help guide interventions to improve patients’ outcomes,” the authors wrote. “High cost of health care remains a barrier and is perceived as a greater burden on patients who are young, lack insurance and have a lower annual household income.”

The authors recommend mobile clinics, free skin exams and community education to combat barriers to receiving health care for these populations.