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Federally Qualified Health Center Use Among Dual Eligibles: Rates Of Hospitalizations And Emergency Department Visits
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Federally Qualified Health Center Use Among Dual Eligibles: Rates Of Hospitalizations And Emergency Department Visits

Brad Wright, Andrew J. Potter and Amal Trivedi
Health affairs (Millwood, Va.), Vol.34(7), pp.1147-1155
07/01/2015
DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.2014.0823
PMCID: PMC4887267
PMID: 26153309
url
https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2014.0823View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

People who are eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid, known as "dual eligibles," disproportionately are members of racial or ethnic minority groups. They face barriers accessing primary care, which in turn increase the risk of potentially preventable hospitalizations and emergency department (ED) visits for ambulatory care-sensitive conditions. Federally qualified health centers provide services known to address barriers to primary care. We analyzed 2008-10 Medicare data for elderly and nonelderly disabled dual eligibles residing in Primary Care Service Areas with nearby federally qualified health centers. Among our findings: There were fewer hospitalizations for ambulatory care-sensitive conditions among blacks and Hispanics who used these health centers than among their counterparts who did not use them (16 percent and 13 percent fewer, respectively). Use of the health centers was also associated with 3 percent and 12 percent fewer hospitalizations for ambulatory care-sensitive conditions among nonelderly disabled blacks and Hispanics, respectively. These findings suggest that federally qualified health centers can reduce disparities in preventable hospitalizations for some dual eligibles. However, further efforts are needed to reduce preventable ED visits among dual eligibles receiving care in the health centers.
Health Care Sciences & Services Health Policy & Services Life Sciences & Biomedicine Science & Technology

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