Substance use disorder-related disparities in patient experiences of primary care

Purpose: To assess disparities in primary care experiences for patients with a substance use disorder (SUD) diagnosis.

Methods: We assessed differences in Veterans Health Administration (VA) primary care patients' experiences using data from the 2014 outpatient VA Patient-Centered Medical Home Survey of Healthcare Experiences of Patients (SHEP; N=286,026). We obtained patient demographics and diagnoses from VA electronic medical record data.

Results: Patients with an SUD diagnosis reported worse experiences for 8 of 12 SHEP measures, including access, provider communication, and information received (p<0.05).

Conclusion: Targeted strategies may be needed to ensure patients with SUD have favorable primary care experiences. (author abstract)