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WESLACO, RGV - Gaps in access to secondary healthcare in the Rio Grande Valley will be the focus at RGV Equal Voice Network\\u2019s Rio Grande Valley Health Summit.

The summit takes place at Knapp Conference Center in Weslaco on Dec. 12.

To prepare for the summit, the RGV Equal Voice Network\\u2019s health working group conducted a survey of Federally Qualified Health Centers and other safety net clinics in the Valley. These surveys interacted with 603 patients. The group also conducted 13 focus groups throughout the Valley, conducted in English and Spanish. The information collected forms the basis of a White Paper that will be presented at the summit.

The Federally Qualified Health Centers and other safety net clinics in the Valley reported:

• There was general agreement that a lack of of secondary care present a significant challenge to patients;
• One respondent reported that 25-30 percent of the patients were estimated to stop medical care due to the patient ceasing to pursue secondary care. Another clinic reported 60-70 percent of their patients making the same choice;
• One responded reported that put 15,000 referrals in the first quarter of 2018, an estimated 80-90 percent of those appointments were cancelled due to the patients\\u2019 lack of funds or inability to access funds to begin the specialty care procedure or care;
• Another respondent found that 45 percent of its patients were unable to access secondary care in 2017. The lack of coordinated partnership or collaboration between the safety net clinics and the hospitals, specialists, and medical school was reference by respondents as a cause of lack of access

\\u201cWe are very confident in the reliability of this sample of data that was collected through both the surveys and through the focus groups,\\u201d said Salomon Torres, a member of the RGV Equal Voice Network\\u2019s health working group.\\xa0

The White Paper found that there is a "dearth of resources for our medically underserved population to access secondary care recommended by primary care."

Ann Cass, chair of the RGV Equal Voice Network\\u2019s health working group, said the data shows that the very low and low income population and the working poor are not accessing secondary care because they do not have the funds. She pointed out that Hidalgo County alone has 300,000 people without health insurance.\\xa0

\\u201cWe know that they have been having BBQs in order to pay for cancer treatments. People are dying because they cannot get into the specialty care that they need,\\u201d Cass said. \\u201cThat is what we heard and that is what we verified.\\u201d

Cass added: \\u201cThe White Paper is going to be showing a lot of recommendations that we can make to get rid of those gaps.\\u201d

The above podcast features the analysis of Cass and Torres.\\xa0

To read the new stories and watch the news videos of the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service go to www.riograndeguardian.com.