PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Nahla Fahmy
AU  - Fiona G. Kouyoumdjian
AU  - Jonathan Berkowitz
AU  - Sharif Fahmy
AU  - Carlos Magno Neves
AU  - Stephen W. Hwang
AU  - Ruth Elwood Martin
TI  - Access to Primary Care for Persons Recently Released From Prison
AID  - 10.1370/afm.2314
DP  - 2018 Nov 01
TA  - The Annals of Family Medicine
PG  - 549--551
VI  - 16
IP  - 6
4099  - http://www.annfammed.org/content/16/6/549.short
4100  - http://www.annfammed.org/content/16/6/549.full
SO  - Ann Fam Med2018 Nov 01; 16
AB  - We aimed to determine if a history of recent imprisonment affects access to primary care. Using patient roles, we telephoned to request an initial appointment with all family physicians (n = 339) who were accepting new patients in British Columbia, Canada. We sequentially assigned patient scenarios: male or female recently released from prison; male or female control. Controls were 1.98 (95% CI, 1.59-2.46) times as likely to be offered an appointment compared with persons recently released from prison, with an absolute risk difference of 41.8% (95% CI, 31.0-52.5). Our study suggests discrimination is a barrier to primary care for people released from prison, even with universal health insurance. We need to improve access to primary care during the high-risk period following prison release.