Leps Caroline, Monteiro Jessica, Barozzino Tony, Bowry Ashna, Rashid Meb, Sgro Michael, Suleman Shazeen
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario.
McGill University, Montreal Children's Hospital, Pediatrics, Montreal, Quebec.
Paediatr Child Health. 2023 Apr 24;28(6):344-348. doi: 10.1093/pch/pxad011. eCollection 2023 Oct.
The Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP) provides temporary healthcare coverage to refugees and refugee claimants. Previous research demonstrates that paediatric healthcare providers poorly utilize the IFHP, with low registration rates and limited understanding of the program. The objective of this study was to examine paediatric provider use of IFHP-covered supplemental benefits, and their experience with trying to access these benefits.
A one-time survey was administered via the Canadian Paediatric Surveillance Program in February 2020. Of those who had provided care to IFHP-eligible patients, descriptive tables and statistics were created looking at provider demographics, and experience using the IFHP supplemental benefits. A multinomial logistic regression was built to look at provider characteristics associated with trying to access supplemental benefits.
Of the 2,753 physicians surveyed, there were 1,006 respondents (general paediatricians and subspecialists). Of the respondents, 526 had recently provided care to IFHP-eligible patients. Just over 30% of those who had recently provided care did not access supplemental benefits as they did not know they were covered by the IFHP. Of those who had tried to access supplemental benefits, over 80% described their experience as difficult, or very difficult.
Paediatric providers have a poor understanding of IFHP-covered supplemental benefits, which is cited as a reason for not trying to access supplemental benefits. Of those who do try to access these benefits, they describe the process as difficult. Efforts should be made to improve provider knowledge and streamline the process to improve access to healthcare for refugee children and youth.
临时联邦健康计划（IFHP）为难民和难民申请者提供临时医疗保健覆盖。先前的研究表明，儿科医疗服务提供者对IFHP的利用率很低，登记率低且对该计划的了解有限。本研究的目的是调查儿科医疗服务提供者对IFHP覆盖的补充福利的使用情况，以及他们在尝试获取这些福利方面的经历。
2020年2月通过加拿大儿科监测计划进行了一次调查。在那些为符合IFHP资格的患者提供过护理的人中，创建了描述性表格和统计数据，以研究医疗服务提供者的人口统计学特征以及使用IFHP补充福利的经历。构建了多项逻辑回归模型，以研究与尝试获取补充福利相关的医疗服务提供者特征。
在接受调查的2753名医生中，有1006名受访者（普通儿科医生和专科医生）。在这些受访者中，有526人最近为符合IFHP资格的患者提供过护理。在最近提供过护理的人中，略超过30%的人没有获取补充福利，因为他们不知道这些福利在IFHP覆盖范围内。在那些尝试获取补充福利的人中，超过80%的人将他们的经历描述为困难或非常困难。
儿科医疗服务提供者对IFHP覆盖的补充福利了解不足，这被认为是不尝试获取补充福利的一个原因。在那些确实尝试获取这些福利的人中，他们将这个过程描述为困难。应该努力提高医疗服务提供者的知识水平，并简化流程，以改善难民儿童和青少年获得医疗保健的机会。
