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Results for “Public Assistance”

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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1993

Interhospital transfers, the COBRA Law (1985), and the use of a public assistance health plan.

Public outcry regarding unsafe interhospital patient transfers led to the passage of the COBRA Law of 1985. Since its implementation in 1986, the law has been sharply criticized for its sporadic enforcement, narrow focus, and lack of care provisions for the poor. We reviewed retrospectively the charts of all emergency department patients transferred from two Milwaukee private hospitals during two identical 6-month periods in 1985-1986 and 1988-1989. We compared demographic and clinical characteristics of the patients transferred during the two periods. The emergency departments cared for 15% of Milwaukee's emergency patient population and transferred 216 and 200 patients during each respective period. Uninsured transfers fell from 32% to 17% of the study populations. Although the proportion of the local population belonging to a health maintenance organization (HMO) did not change, transfer of HMO patients increased from 14% to 27%. Transfers to the area's various tertiary care centers made up 21% and 35% of all transfers and were conducted without regard to insurance status. There was a fourfold increase in the use of the county's public assistance plan for emergency hospitalization of indigent patients at local hospitals. Although the number of uninsured patients transferred from the study hospitals decreased markedly, this decrease was counterbalanced by increased private hospital use of the county's emergency hospitalization plan for indigent patients. This successful plan bears further examination by health policy planners as an important model for the provision of emergency hospitalization for the indigent.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Perception of dental illness among persons receiving public assistance in Montreal.

OBJECTIVES: We examined rationales for behaviors related to dental care among persons receiving public assistance in Montreal, Quebec. METHODS: Fifty-seven persons receiving public assistance participated in 8 focus groups conducted in 2002. Sessions were recorded on audiotape and transcribed; analyses included debriefing sessions and coding and interpreting transcribed data. RESULTS: In the absence of dental pain and any visible cavity, persons receiving public assistance believed they were free of dental illness. However, they knew that dental pain signals a pathological process that progressively leads to tooth decay and, therefore, should be treated by a dentist. However, when in pain, despite recognizing that they needed professional treatment, they preferred to wait and suffer because of a fear of painful dental treatments and a reluctance to undertake certain procedures. CONCLUSIONS: Persons receiving public assistance have perceptions about dental health and illness that prevent them from receiving early treatment for tooth decay, which may lead to disagreements with dentists when planning dental treatments.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

[Admission to health resorts/sanatoriums. The public health office between requirements and reality exemplified by sections 7 and 8 of the public assistance regulations].

The state (FRG) provides public assistance to its civil servants and their families by granting a state subsidy for diseases, births and deaths. Preventive measures such as stay and treatment in sanatoria and reconvalescent homes have also been subject to regulations. The variance in their specific definitions is discussed critically and compared with the concept "hospital". The official assistance rendered by the public health officer is explained. The applications forms and their handling by the attending family doctors and others are adversely criticised. The ambiguity between sanatorium and reconvalescent homes, the choice of the location and the medical efficacy of this preventive measure are discussed.

Convalescence↗
PubMed1975

Female alcoholics and public assistance.

The proband group in this investigation consisted of 71 female alcoholics subjected to compulsory treatment by the Temperance Board. Public assistance was surveyed from the calendar year when the subject reached 19 years of age to the 9th year after the first compulsory treatment. During the four-year period preceding the first compulsory treatment, the percentage of probands on public assistance per year increased from 25 to 50; this coincided with the increase in the percentage of probands having non-compulsory contact with the Temperance Board, annually. During the same period, both the percentage of probands who for the first time received public assistance and also the percentage of probands having first non-compulsory contact with the Temperance Board were doubled. After the first compulsory treatment, the dependence on public assistance remained constant at a very high level. The first instance of public assistance was a late socio-medical symptom. The first gonorrhoeal infection and also the first recorded criminal offence usually occurred considerably earlier; on the other hand, the first conviction for drunkenness occurred somewhat later in the course.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

The new immigration: implications for poverty and public assistance utilization.

Central to the controversy over the new immigration is the worry that it has promoted an increase in the level of poverty and welfare utilization among immigrants. This study documents and explains immigrant-native trends and differentials in poverty and public assistance utilization during the period from 1960-1980. Results show that there is ample evidence that the level of poverty among immigrants, particularly recent immigrants, increased over the 1960-1980 period. However, there was little indication of a commensurate rise in the propensity of families to receive public assistance. There is also little evidence of a disproportionate and increasing burden of immigrants on public assistance coffers as the new immigration proceeds. Recent immigrants are no more likely to receive welfare than otherwise comparable natives. Regarding average annual public assistance income among welfare families, the empirical results suggest that immigrants differ little from natives in their degree of utilization. Like immigrants of previous waves, the new immigrants appear to be industrious and able to capitalize on their labor force potential to keep them out of poverty. This conclusion derives from findings that 1) in both the tabular and multivariate context, multiple earners kept a greater % of immigrant than native families out of poverty, and 2) immigrants showed a relative disinclination to use welfare as an income maintenance strategy. Still, the decline over time in ameliorative impact of multiple earners should be a source of concern. Also central to the concern over the new immigration is the increasing prevalence of nonwhites among immigrant cohorts. The sizable Hispanic component of the new immigration is particularly controversial. Among the most consistent findings of this study is the apparent deterioration in the economic status of white immigrants and the noticeable lack of any similar deterioration among Hispanic families. For example, among all the groups studied, recent white immigrants registered the largest increases in poverty over time. Poverty among recent Hispanic immigrants did not increase as sharply. Also, Hispanics became increasingly reluctant to use public assistance income whereas recent white immigrants did not, and revealed an increase in mean annual welfare receipt not nearly as great as that for white and Asian families. Admittedly, rates of poverty and public assistance receipt continue to be greater among Hispanics than whites. Still, changes over time reveal a marked deterioration among whites but no such deterioration among Hispanics.

Acculturation↗
PubMed1995

Provider-assisted suicide: a survey of PA attitudes. Results of the 1994 Michigan survey conducted by the Michigan Academy of Physician Assistants Public Policy Committee.

Assisted suicide continues to be a topic of debate among health care providers, including PAs. The Public Policy Committee of the Michigan Academy of Physician Assistants surveyed all licensed PAs in Michigan regarding assisted suicide in an effort to determine whether a public policy statement should be developed, and whether that could be extrapolated into a resolution to be taken to the House of Delegates (HOD) of the American Academy of Physician Assistants in 1994. Based on the divergent results of the survey, the Michigan delegation did not submit a resolution to the HOD.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1978

Response to recipiency under public assistance and SSI.

This research focuses on the attitudes, perceptions, and program preferences of aged and disabled persons who received public assistance in 1973 and supplemental security income payments in 1974. The Social Security Administration gathered the data in a nationwide survey of the low-income aged and disabled. Most respondents did not feel embarrassed or bothered about receiving public assistance in 1973 and were generally satisfied with their treatment by the welfare agency. Response to SSI in 1974 was even more favorable. Satisfaction with agency performance remained at a high level and feelings of embarrassment generally declined. SSI was preferred over public assistance by most respondents. Administrative efficiency and the size of cash benefits apparently were more important considerations than the degree of stigma perceived.

Aged↗
PubMed1994

The effects of early education intervention on maternal employment, public assistance, and health insurance: the infant health and development program.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to test whether early education intervention influences maternal employment, education, fertility, and receipt of public assistance and health insurance. METHODS: The Infant Health and Development Program is a randomized trial of the efficacy of early education on the outcomes of 985 low-birthweight, premature children. Families in eight sites received either pediatric follow-up and referral (follow-up only group) or pediatric services plus early intervention services (intervention group) for the first 3 years of the child's life. RESULTS: Mothers in the intervention group were employed more months and returned to the work force earlier than those in the follow-up only group. Fertility and education were not associated with treatment. Mothers who had some college education received more months of public assistance in the intervention group compared with the follow-up only group. Mothers who were employed received more public assistance and public health insurance in the intervention group compared with the follow-up only group, when maternal employment was controlled. CONCLUSIONS: Findings are discussed in terms of the recent emphasis on two-generational programs directed to providing health, welfare, and child care services to young children and their families.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Quality of prostate carcinoma care in a statewide public assistance program.

BACKGROUND: The authors evaluated the feasibility of measuring quality of care in a statewide public assistance program for men with prostate carcinoma. METHODS: The sample consisted of 84 men who were followed for > or = 6 months after receiving primary treatment for early-stage prostate carcinoma (55 received radical prostatectomy and 29 received radiotherapy) through a free public program for low-income, uninsured men. Quality was assessed by chart review with 16 indicators previously developed and validated at the RAND Corporation, as well as by telephone and mail surveys that included the University of California at Los Angeles Prostate Cancer Index short form. RESULTS: Quality of care measurement was feasible for 13 (81%) indicators from electronic chart abstraction, administrative documents, and patient questionnaires. Communication between specialist and primary physician was better for men treated with radiotherapy than with surgery (84% vs. 45%, P = 0.004). Subjects treated in private institutions were more likely than those treated in public institutions to have > or = 2 follow-up visits with the treating physician or institution within 1 year of treatment (93% vs. 63%, P = 0.003) and to have documentation of communication with the primary care physician (90% vs. 40%, P << 0.0001). Disease-specific, health-related quality of life 6 months after treatment did not appear to differ between public and private facilities. CONCLUSIONS: The authors found the application of quality of care indicators to be feasible in a statewide public assistance program, but with some differences between public and private providers. These quality of care indicators identified target areas for improvement.

Adult↗