The role of community health centers in responding to disparities in visual health.
The role of community health centers in responding to disparities in visual health.
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DOI：
10.1016/j.optm.2008.04.101
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发表时间：
2008-10-01
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Shin, Peter
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Proser, Michelle;Shin, Peter
背景：社区卫生中心 (CHC) 是以社区为基础的非营利性提供者，为医疗服务不足的人群提供初级和预防性卫生保健。与此同时，在全国范围内，少数种族/族裔和低收入人群因难以获得全面的眼部和视力护理而受到不成比例的影响，并且更有可能出现不良后果。 概述：本报告介绍了 CHC 的基本原理，包括使命、患者、医疗保健类型和提供的扶持服务、护理的质量和成本效益以及资金来源。本报告还回顾了高危人群视力差异的人口统计数据、未诊断和未治疗的视力问题的经济影响，以及视力问题高危人群与 CHC 目标患者之间的相似性。结论：为了应对医疗保健服务和健康状况结果方面的差异，CHC 处于最佳位置，可以帮助改善获得全面眼科和视力护理的机会，并减少视力健康状况的差异。需要进行广泛的研究，以进一步确定和解决医疗服务不足的人群在获得验光护理方面的差异，以及 CHC 在满足这些需求方面可以发挥的潜在作用。
BACKGROUND: Community health centers (CHCs) are nonprofit community-based providers of primary and preventive health care for medically underserved populations. At the same time, nationally, racial/ethnic minorities and low-income populations are disproportionately affected by poor access to comprehensive eye and vision care and are more likely to experience adverse outcomes.OVERVIEW: This report describes the fundamentals of CHCs, including mission, their patients, the types of health care and enabling services that they provide, the quality and cost-effectiveness of their care, and how they are funded. This report also reviews the demographics of vision disparities among at-risk populations, the economic impact of undiagnosed and untreated vision problems, and the similarities between those at risk for vision problems and the patients targeted by CHCs.CONCLUSIONS: Aimed at responding to disparities in access to health care services and health status outcomes, CHCs are optimally positioned to contribute to improved access to comprehensive eye and vision care as well as to the reduction of disparities in visual health status. There is need for extensive research in further defining and addressing disparities in access to optometric care in medically underserved populations and the potential role that CHCs can play in meeting those needs.