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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

Health Care Access and Quality

Goal: Increase access to comprehensive, high-quality health care services.

A medical cross icon overlays an empty doctor's waiting room with pink walls and blue chairs.

Many people in the United States don’t get the health care services they need. Healthy People 2030 focuses on improving health by helping people get timely, high-quality health care services.

About 1 in 10 people in the United States don’t have health insurance.1 People without insurance are less likely to have a primary care provider, and they may not be able to afford the health care services and medications they need. Strategies to increase insurance coverage rates are critical for making sure more people get important health care services, like preventive care and treatment for chronic illnesses.

Sometimes people don’t get recommended health care services, like cancer screenings, because they don’t have a primary care provider. Other times, it’s because they live too far away from health care providers who offer them. Interventions to increase access to health care professionals and improve communication — in person or remotely — can help more people get the care they need.

Objective Status

  • 4 Target met or exceeded
  • 9 Improving
  • 13 Little or no detectable change
  • 4 Getting worse
  • 4 Baseline only
  • 8 Developmental
  • 7 Research

Learn more about objective types

Related Objectives

The following is a sample of objectives related to this topic. Some objectives may include population data.

Health Care Access and Quality — General

Reduce the proportion of emergency department visits with a longer wait time than recommended — AHS‑09
Little or no detectable change
Increase the proportion of adults who get recommended evidence-based preventive health care — AHS‑08
Getting worse

Adolescents

Increase the proportion of adolescents who speak privately with a provider at a preventive medical visit — AH‑02
Little or no detectable change
Increase the proportion of adolescents who had a preventive health care visit in the past year — AH‑01
Getting worse

Cancer

Increase the proportion of females who get screened for breast cancer — C‑05
Improving
Increase the proportion of females who get screened for cervical cancer — C‑09
Little or no detectable change
Increase the proportion of adults who get screened for lung cancer — C‑03
Baseline only
Increase the proportion of adults who get screened for colorectal cancer — C‑07
LHI label
Baseline only
Increase the proportion of people who discuss interventions to prevent cancer with their providers — C‑R02
Research
Increase the proportion of people with colorectal cancer who get tested for Lynch syndrome — C‑R03
Research

Children

Increase the proportion of children with developmental delays who get intervention services by age 4 years — EMC‑R01
Research

Community

Increase the number of community organizations that provide prevention services — ECBP‑D07
Developmental

Drug and Alcohol Use

Increase the proportion of people with a substance use disorder who got treatment in the past year — SU‑01
Little or no detectable change

Family Planning

Increase the proportion of women who get needed publicly funded birth control services and support — FP‑09
Baseline only

Health Care

Reduce the proportion of people who can't get prescription medicines when they need them — AHS‑06
Target met or exceeded
Increase use of the oral health care system — OH‑08
LHI label
Target met or exceeded
Reduce the proportion of people who can't get medical care when they need it — AHS‑04
Improving
Increase the proportion of people with a usual primary care provider — AHS‑07
Baseline only
Increase the ability of primary care and behavioral health professionals to provide more high-quality care to patients who need it — AHS‑R01
Research

Health Communication

Increase the proportion of adults whose health care provider checked their understanding — HC/HIT‑01
Little or no detectable change
Decrease the proportion of adults who report poor communication with their health care provider — HC/HIT‑02
Little or no detectable change
Increase the proportion of adults whose health care providers involved them in decisions as much as they wanted — HC/HIT‑03
Little or no detectable change
Increase the proportion of adults with limited English proficiency who say their providers explain things clearly — HC/HIT‑D11
Developmental

Health IT

Increase the proportion of adults offered online access to their medical record — HC/HIT‑06
Target met or exceeded
Increase the proportion of hospitals that exchange and use outside electronic health information — HC/HIT‑D05
Developmental
Increase the proportion of hospitals with access to necessary electronic information — HC/HIT‑D06
Developmental
Increase the proportion of doctors with electronic access to information they need — HC/HIT‑D07
Developmental
Increase the proportion of doctors who exchange and use outside electronic health information — HC/HIT‑D08
Developmental
Increase the proportion of people who can view, download, and send their electronic health information — HC/HIT‑D09
Developmental
Increase the proportion of people who say their online medical record is easy to understand — HC/HIT‑D10
Developmental
Increase the use of telehealth to improve access to health services — AHS‑R02
Research

Health Insurance

Increase the proportion of people with health insurance — AHS‑01
LHI label
Improving
Increase the proportion of people with prescription drug insurance — AHS‑03
Improving
Reduce the proportion of people under 65 years who are underinsured — AHS‑R03
Research

Oral Conditions

Reduce the proportion of people who can't get the dental care they need when they need it — AHS‑05
Target met or exceeded
Increase the proportion of people with dental insurance — AHS‑02
Improving
Increase the proportion of low-income youth who have a preventive dental visit — OH‑09
Getting worse

Pregnancy and Childbirth

Increase the proportion of pregnant women who receive early and adequate prenatal care — MICH‑08
Getting worse

Sensory or Communication Disorders

Increase the proportion of newborns who get screened for hearing loss by age 1 month — HOSCD‑01
Little or no detectable change
Increase the proportion of infants who didn’t pass their hearing screening who get evaluated for hearing loss by age 3 months — HOSCD‑02
Little or no detectable change
Increase the proportion of infants with hearing loss who get intervention services by age 6 months — HOSCD‑03
Little or no detectable change
Increase access to vision services in community health centers — V‑R01
Research

Sexually Transmitted Infections

Reduce the number of new HIV infections — HIV‑01
Improving
Increase knowledge of HIV status — HIV‑02
LHI label
Improving
Increase linkage to HIV medical care — HIV‑04
Improving
Reduce the rate of mother-to-child HIV transmission — HIV‑06
Improving
Reduce the number of new HIV diagnoses — HIV‑03
Little or no detectable change
Increase viral suppression — HIV‑05
Little or no detectable change
Increase the proportion of sexually active female adolescents and young women who get screened for chlamydia — STI‑01
Little or no detectable change

Other topics you may be interested in

References

1.

Berchick, E.R., Hood, E., & Barnett, J.C. (2018). Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2017. Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2018/demo/p60-264.pdf [PDF - 1.4 MB]