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. 2015 Nov;105 Suppl 5(Suppl 5):S690-5.
doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2015.302839. Epub 2015 Oct 8.

Continuing Need for Sexually Transmitted Disease Clinics After the Affordable Care Act

Karen W Hoover  1 , Bradley W Parsell  1 , Jami S Leichliter  1 , Melissa A Habel  1 , Guoyu Tao  1 , William S Pearson  1 , Thomas L Gift  1
Affiliations

Continuing Need for Sexually Transmitted Disease Clinics After the Affordable Care Act

Karen W Hoover et al. Am J Public Health. 2015 Nov.

Abstract

Objectives: We assessed the characteristics of sexually transmitted disease (STD) clinic patients, their reasons for seeking health services in STD clinics, and their access to health care in other venues.

Methods: In 2013, we surveyed persons who used publicly funded STD clinics in 21 US cities with the highest STD morbidity.

Results: Of the 4364 STD clinic patients we surveyed, 58.5% were younger than 30 years, 72.5% were non-White, and 49.9% were uninsured. They visited the clinic for STD symptoms (18.9%), STD screening (33.8%), and HIV testing (13.6%). Patients chose STD clinics because of walk-in, same-day appointments (49.5%), low cost (23.9%), and expert care (8.3%). Among STD clinic patients, 60.4% had access to another type of venue for sick care, and 58.5% had access to another type of venue for preventive care. Most insured patients (51.6%) were willing to use insurance to pay for care at the STD clinic.

Conclusions: Despite access to other health care settings, patients chose STD clinics for sexual health care because of convenient, low-cost, and expert care. Policy Implication. STD clinics play an important role in STD prevention by offering walk-in care to uninsured patients.

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Figures

FIGURE 1—
FIGURE 1—
Reasons reported by males (n = 2251) and females (n = 2091) for using care in the sexually transmitted disease (STD) clinic: United States, 2013.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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