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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Chih Wei Lee, MPH, Office of Statistics and Evaluation/MA Diabetes Control Program, Bureau of Family and Community Health, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, 250 Washington Street, 5th Floor OSE, Boston, MA 02108, 617/624-5555, Chih.Lee@state.ma.us and Nidu Philips, PhD, Division of Community Health Promotion, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, 250 Washington Street, Boston, MA 02108.
Diabetes is a serious chronic condition that disproportionately impacts racial and ethnic populations. When left uncontrolled, it can lead to various complications that contribute to the growing number of hospitalizations each year. Preventable hospitalizations are defined as those hospitalizations for which timely and effective use of primary care should have been able to prevent the hospitalization. Diabetes-related hospitalizations are preventable with proper access and delivery of primary care.
Methods: Diabetes is one of 24 selected ‘ambulatory care sensitive conditions’ monitored by the Massachusetts Division of Health Care, Finance and Policy (HCF&P) as preventable hospitalizations. The Massachusetts Diabetes Control program analyzed inpatient hospital discharge data from fiscal years 1996 to 1999 to determine the prevalence of diabetes-related preventable hospitalizations. Analysis included 18,627 diabetes-related preventable hospitalizations defined as a primary diagnosis of diabetes with “unmentioned,” “unspecified” or “other specified” condition, ketoacidosis, hyperosmolar coma, or other comas with ketoacidosis.
Results: Diabetes-related preventable hospitalizations made up 9% of all preventable hospitalizations in Massachusetts. Uninsured individuals had the highest percentage of diabetes-related preventable hospitalizations (87.8%) among all diabetes-related hospitalizations, followed by Medicaid recipients (74.2%).
The percentage of uninsured individuals and those covered by Medicaid for diabetes-related preventable hospitalizations were significantly greater among racial and ethnic populations than among the white, non-Hispanic population.
Differences in access to adequate primary care result in disparities among racial and ethnic populations. The barriers created by these disparities contribute to the higher number of preventable diabetic hospitalizations.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant in this session will
Keywords: Diabetes, Utilization
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.