Family planning clinic patients: Their usual health care providers, insurance status, and implications for managed care

Purpose: To understand the extent to which family planning clinic patients have health insurance or access to other health care providers, as well as their preferences for clinic versus private reproductive medical care. Method: An anonymous self-report questionnaire was administered at three Pl anned Parenthood clinics in Los Angeles County to 780 female patients aged 12-49 years. Dependent variables included insurance status, usual source of care, and a battery of questions regarding the importance of confidentiali ty. Results: A total of 356 adolescents (aged 12-19 years) and 424 adults (aged 20-49 years) completed the survey in 1994. Fifty-nine percent of adolescen ts and 53% of adults had a usual source of care other than the clinic. The majority of each group reported some degree of continuity of care in their usual provider setting. Nearly half (49% of all adolescents had health insu rance compared with 27% of adults. Adolescents cited not wanting to involve family members as the primary reason for not using their usual providers, whereas adults were more likely to cite being uninsured. The majority of bo th adult and adolescent patients indicate they would prefer the clinic over private health care if guaranteed health care that was free, confidential, or both. Conclusion: Despite many patients' having health insurance and other source s of health care, family planning clinics were primarily chosen because of cost and confidentiality. Their reasons for preferring clinics may continue despite changes in access to insurance or efforts to incorporate similar r eproductive services into mainstream health care provider systems. Making p ublic or private health care funds available to family planning clinics thr ough contracts or other mechanisms may facilitate patients' access to essen tial services and reduce potential service duplication. (C) Society for Ado lescent Medicine, 2000.