Anticipated Acceptance of Neighborhood Health Clinics by the Urban Poor

An experimental group of randomly selected, low-income families receiving comprehensive pediatric care have been compared with respect to their anticipated use of new neighborhood health centers to similarly randomly selected families whose medical care is fragmented and uncoordinated in emergency clinics, well-baby clinics, etc. Families now receiving comprehensive care would continue in that program for both health and illness care despite the greater convenience of the neighborhood clinics. The group now receiving fragmented care say they would use the neighborhood clinic for health care, but only 58% expect to use it for illness care. Thus, it is concluded that only to the extent that neighborhood clinics provide personalized, comprehensive care, can we expect them to replace the present uncoordinated, fragmented pattern of health care prevalent in their target population.