The Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP) lists four main barriers to accessing primary care. They include; high cost of care, insufficient or no insurance coverage, lack of availability of services, and lack of culturally competent care (ODPHP, 2014). Regarding the first two barriers, they are in fact prominent national issues, where questions have been raised concerning the high cost of care in the United States compared to other developed countries. Treatment is expensive and insurance companies for a long time were selective in choosing the conditions to cover. Lack of availability of services mainly applies to ethnic minority groups such as the Hispanics and African Americans. The healthcare centers and services within these minority neighborhoods are inadequate or even poor. Lastly, the diverse American population sometimes presents a challenge to nursing practitioners, especially those who do not understand their patients’ cultural backgrounds.
Debate is ongoing regarding the cost of care. One significant step was the enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. It is estimated that more than 20 million adults got healthcare cover as a consequence of the bill ( Gaffney & McCormick, 2017) . However, the relevant stakeholders need to study other developed countries that provide affordable primary care to their citizens and implement the same in the United States. Access to quality care need not to be an expensive and frustrating affair.
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Nurse practitioners continue to make a difference in access to primary care. One such effort is to ensure that patients receive timely and quality care. When patients’ needs are attended to in time, they report satisfaction. Besides, NPs also learn to work in culturally-diverse healthcare environments to address the needs of patients from numerous cultural backgrounds ( Naylor & Kurtzman, 2010) . While physicians diagnose and recommend medication to the patients, NPs are involved in the actual care, where they ensure patients take their medication or treatment procedures as required. Additionally, NPs talk to the patients, and help them in every process of their recovery.
References
Gaffney, A., & McCormick, D. (2017). The Affordable Care Act: implications for health-care equity. The Lancet , 389 (10077), 1442-1452.
Naylor, M. D., & Kurtzman, E. T. (2010). The role of nurse practitioners in reinventing primary care. Health affairs , 29 (5), 893-899.
Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (2014). Access to Health Services. https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/Access-to-Health-Services
