Background The Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP) provides health care coverage to refugees and refugee claimants, yet remains underused by providers. The objective of this study was to assess Canadian paediatricians’ current understanding and utilization of the IFHP, and perceived barriers to utilization. Methods A one-time survey was administered via the Canadian Paediatric Surveillance Program in February 2020. In addition to descriptive statistics, multinomial logistic regressions were built to examine paediatrician use of the IFHP, and characteristics associated with registration and use. Results Of the 2,753 physicians surveyed, there were 1,006 respondents (general paediatricians and subspecialists). 52.2% of respondents had provided care to IFHP-eligible patients in the previous 6 months. Of those participants, only 26.4% were registered IFHP providers, and just 16% could identify 80% or more of IFHP-covered services. Knowledge of 80% or more of IFHP-covered services was associated with registration status (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.92; 95%CI 1.09 to 3.37). Among those who knew they were not registered, 70.2% indicated they did not know they had to register. aOR demonstrated that those with fewer years of practice had higher odds of not knowing that they had to register (aOR 1.22; 95%CI 1.01 to 1.49). Conclusions We demonstrate that IFHP is poorly utilized by paediatric providers, with low registration rates and poor understanding of IFHP-covered supplemental services, even among those who have recently provided care to IFHP-eligible patients. Efforts to improve registration and knowledge of IFHP are essential to improving access to health care for refugee children and youth.

中文翻译：

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临时联邦健康计划：儿科医疗保健提供者的访问和使用调查

背景 临时联邦健康计划 (IFHP) 为难民和难民申请者提供医疗保健保险，但仍未被提供者充分利用。本研究的目的是评估加拿大儿科医生目前对 IFHP 的理解和利用，以及感知到的利用障碍。方法 2020 年 2 月通过加拿大儿科监测计划进行了一次调查。除了描述性统计数据外，还建立了多项逻辑回归来检查儿科医生对 IFHP 的使用，以及与注册和使用相关的特征。结果 在接受调查的 2,753 名医生中，有 1,006 名受访者（普通儿科医生和专科医师）。52.2% 的受访者在过去 6 个月内曾为符合 IFHP 条件的患者提供护理。在这些参与者中，只有 26 人。4% 是注册的 IFHP 提供者，只有 16% 可以识别 80% 或更多的 IFHP 涵盖的服务。了解 80% 或更多 IFHP 涵盖的服务与注册状态相关（调整优势比 [aOR] 1.92；95%CI 1.09 至 3.37）。在知道自己没有注册的人中，70.2%的人表示不知道必须注册。aOR 表明，执业年限较少的人不知道自己必须注册的可能性更高（aOR 1.22；95%CI 1.01 至 1.49）。结论 我们证明，儿科提供者对 IFHP 的利用不佳，注册率低，对 IFHP 涵盖的补充服务了解不足，即使在最近为符合 IFHP 资格的患者提供护理的那些人中也是如此。