Factors Influencing Health Care Access revised

Factors Influencing Health Care Access
Name
Institution
There are five factors that influence utilization of healthcare system. They include accommodation, availability, acceptability, accessibility, and affordability.
Availability
Availability of health care services is a necessity in any society, and, therefore, the services offered by healthcare personnel should meet the population’s need. Different segments of a population require different health care services. If a particular segment of a population is large, health care services required by that segment should be more and vice versa (Sandstrom, Lohman, & Bramble, 2014, 17).
Accessibility
Accessibility is another factor that influences utilization of healthcare services. The facilities should be established in a location with an excellent infrastructural network, not only in urban centers but also in rural areas to ensure that the population living outside the urban centers can access a full range of the services (Sandstrom, Lohman, & Bramble, 2014, 17), thus guaranteeing accessibility.
Accommodation
Accommodation addresses the people’s ability to utilize the health care services, how the facilities are organized and the appropriateness of services. The service provider’s schedule should be flexible so as to accommodate patients (Sandstrom, Lohman, & Bramble, 2014, 18). When planning health care services, these factors should be considered to guarantee accommodation of all potential patients.
Acceptability
Acceptability of health care services is necessary as, without acceptance, people may decide not to go for the services.

Therefore, healthcare workers should strive to gain trust and break communication barriers, beliefs or conflicting customs that may exist (Sandstrom, Lohman, & Bramble, 2014, 18). Lack of acceptability may keep people away from the health care services and facilities.
Affordability
Affordability is about the ability of the people to pay for the healthcare services. Health insurance coverage helps patients meet the financial cost (Sandstrom, Lohman, & Bramble, 2014, 18). Therefore, the health insurance should be less expensive so that all persons can enroll and receive specialized attention whenever a referral is recommended.
Client’s Access to My Services
In my career as an occupational therapy assistant, I noticed that availability and affordability impacted a client’s access to my services. My client required specialized services. In his locality, he could not find a health care facility that could handle him. He had the ability to pay because he had a health insurance cover. Therefore, in absence of a facility in his locality, he traveled to urban center thus ending up in my facility. The ability to pay and the absence of the healthcare facility in his area of residence impacted the client’s access to my services.
Outcome Measures
I use both self-reporting and performance-based as outcome measures. I use them because they guarantee accuracy and provide me with the patient’s personal feelings and self-perceptions, thus ensuring that my actions are patient-centered and evidence-based (Leland, Crum, Phipps, Roberts, & Gage, 2015, 2). Evidence-based practice (EBP) helps me re-assess my processes and enhance documentation and quality of treatment services.
References
Leland, L. E., Crum, K., Phipps, S., Roberts, P., & Gage, B. (2015). Advancing the Value and Quality of Occupational Therapy in Health Service Delivery. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 69(1), 1-7. Retrieved from http://ajot.aota.org/on 01/20/2018
Sandstrom, R. W., Lohman, H., & Bramble, J. D. (2014). Health services: Policy and systems for therapists (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River: NJ: Pearson.