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Helping GEnerations Identify Risks (HEIRs) to Health

About the Study

The HEIRs to Health study, funded by The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, examines the relationships between parental factors, social determinants of health, and a children’s receipt of recommended healthcare.

This study is a partnership between Oregon Health & Science University’s Department of Family Medicine and OCHIN, Inc., a national network of community health centers that deliver care to more than a million underserved patients. Using OCHIN’s comprehensive, outpatient primary care electronic health record data, we identified a national cohort of children that link to at least one parent. We are also conducting interviews with parents to understand the factors facilitating or hindering children’s receipt of recommended care.

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Reason for the Study

Although preventive and acute healthcare are essential to ensure child health and monitor development, many children do not receive adequate care. Research shows the factors associated with receipt of healthcare for children include having health insurance coverage and/or a usual source of care, and parental factors such as health conditions and health insurance coverage. Social determinants of health are also associated with mortality, morbidity, healthcare access, healthcare utilization, and health outcomes. However, the specific parental healthcare and health factors and social determinants of health most strongly associated with a children’s receipt of recommended care are largely unknown. Further, the pathways between and among these factors are not clearly defined.

To design effective interventions to improve children’s receipt of recommended healthcare, it is also essential to understand parents’ perspectives about how they ensure their children receive recommended healthcare.

Explore our findings and find out what we have learned.

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