Obtaining Care for Chronically Ill Children in the Home Based Setting

GAO discussed barriers to families' access to home- and community-based medical and support care for their seriously chronically-ill children. GAO noted that: (1) families required medical services more often than support services; (2) of the medical services, families most frequently required medical office visits and medication; (3) of the support services, families most frequently required child care, counseling, day care, and transportation; and (4) many families had difficulty obtaining medical and support services, with support services posing the greater difficulty. GAO also found that: (1) lack of adequate information caused many of the access problems; and (2) hospital discharge programs generally provided sufficient information regarding children's health care needs but not regarding medical service providers, service financing, or support service availability. GAO believes that increased case management services, covering service information, planning, and coordination, could ease access problems to medical and support services.