Housing hardship and where high-need New Yorkers usually seek healthcare As the pandemic waned, high-need New Yorkers reported less reliance on doctor’s offices and health cen- ters as their usual source of care (Figure 7). At the same time, a growing share reported having no usual place to receive healthcare. Between the peak and waning periods, the share who most often visited a doc- tor or health center declined by 9 percentage points for those with stable housing and those with persistent hardship, and by 4 percentage points for those with some hardship. Over the same period, the share report- ing no usual place of care increased from 1–4% in the peak period to 10–13% in the waning period. Figure 7: As the pandemic waned, high-need New orkers relied less on doctor’s offices as their most common place of care, and more reported having no regular source of care. As the pandemic waned, high-need New Yorkers relied less on doctor’s offices as their most common place of care, and more reported having no regular source of care . Figure 7
Stable Housing
Some Housing Hardship Persistent Housing Hardship
Doctor’ office or Health Center
No Usual Place of Care
100%
89%
87%
90%
80%
79%
78%
80%
75%
70%
60%
40% 50%
30%
10% 20%
13%
11%
10%
1% 4% 4%
Peak (2021 - 2022)
Warning (2023 - 2024)
Peak (2021 - 2022)
Warning (2023 - 2024)
Source: Poverty Tracker longitudinal survey data, cohorts three, four, and five. 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. A shift toward more reactive care settings, including emergency rooms (ER) and urgent care centers, helps explain the declining use of physician offices as a usual source of care. Between the peak and wan- ing periods, the share of New Yorkers who reported visiting an emergency room in the past six months increased across all groups (Figure 8). This rise was most pronounced among those facing persistent housing hardship, for whom ER use rose from 27% to 39%. Use of urgent care centers, whose popularity rose during the pandemic, remained consistently high across both periods, ranging from 39% to 47%. 15 Source: Poverty Tracker longitudinal survey data, cohorts three, four, and five. 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
15 Koutavas, A., Hussein, M., Bushman-Copp, L., and Wimer, C. "Places of Healthcare Receipt Among New Yorkers with High Healthcare Need Over the Course of the Pandemic."
HOW HOUSING IS LINKED TO HEALTHCARE ACCESS AMONG NEW YORKERS SINCE THE PANDEMIC 13
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