Yorkers increasingly utilized urgent care centers through the pandemic (from 37% in 2021 to 44% in 2022). These findings likely reflect the growing availability of urgent care centers, whose numbers have doubled over the past decade, 11 as well as their important role as an alternative source of timely, albeit sometimes costly, healthcare for high-need New Yorkers. Emergency room use dropped among more-advantaged, high-need New Yorkers (from 21% to 11%) in 2022, likely because their other usual places of care (e.g., doctors’ offices) returned to more normal availability and possibly because urgent care centers increasingly became a more affordable substitute. On the other hand, economically disadvantaged New Yorkers used emergency rooms fairly consistently in 2021 and 2022 (roughly 30%), continuing to rely on emergency rooms more than their more-advantaged counterparts. In the 6 months prior to being surveyed Use of specific healthcare settings among high-need New Yorkers Figure 2 Figure 2. Use of specific healthcare settings among high-need New Yorkers
2021
2022
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50% 51%
50%
44%
40%
38%
37%
40%
31%
30%
29%
28%
30%
21%
20%
11%
10%
0%
Economic disadvantage
No economic disadvantage
Economic disadvantage
No economic disadvantage
Economic disadvantage
No economic disadvantage
Went to an urgent care center or clinic in a drug/grocery store
Used telehealth for medical advice/care
Went to a hospital emergency room
All in all, as more-advantaged New Yorkers appeared to be returning to pre-pandemic patterns of access, disadvantaged New Yorkers continued to disproportionately rely on reactive care settings, including urgent care centers and emergency rooms for regular access, suggesting that their struggle to secure stable ave- nues for healthcare persisted through the pandemic. Source: Poverty Tracker longitudinal survey data, cohorts three and four. High-need refers to New Yorkers with high healthcare needs, such as multiple chronic health conditions, serious psychological distress, or a work-limiting health condition. Note: Telehealth, urgent care, and emergency room use are not mutually exclusive.
11 Urgent Care Association, “The essential nature of urgent care in the healthcare ecosystem post-COVID-19.”
PLACES OF HEALTHCARE RECEIPT AMONG NEW YORKERS WITH HIGH HEALTHCARE NEED 7
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