Ensuring Equal Access to Specialty Care

Improving access to specialty care represents an important component of a comprehensive plan to address disparities in health care. At a time when our nation is struggling to rein in health care spending and potential overuse of specialty services,1,2 it is critical to consider the needs of many rural and underserved communities in which access to specialty services is often severely limited. In the Indian Health Service, a federal health system providing care to American Indians and Alaska natives, less than one third of primary care physicians report that they have regular access to specialty care.3 This limited access . . .