|
The Commonwealth Fund:
Although the quality of chronic disease care in community health centers (CHCs) compares favorably with care received in other settings, gaps exist, particularly for the uninsured, a study by Harvard Medical School researchers found.
In the future, this is likely to increase as a result of anticipated changes in Medicaid eligibility rules, the rising cost of private insurance, and federal legislation expanding the number of such centers, among other factors.
To gain a better understanding of the quality of care delivered in such facilities, the researchers examined medical records of more than 5,600 patients receiving care for one of three chronic conditions---asthma, diabetes, and hypertension---between 1999 and 2000 in a national sample of 64 publicly funded CHCs.
Less Than Half of Patients Receive Appropriate Care For 15 of the 22 indicators examined---including asthma management plans, annual foot exams, and beta blocker use---less than half of eligible patients studied received appropriate care.
Overall, the mean quality scores (measuring the number of applicable indicators met for each condition, with higher scores representing higher quality of care) were 37 percent for asthma, 37 percent for diabetes, and 59 percent for hypertension.
For example, white patients received recommended care for diabetes and asthma care more frequently than did black and Hispanic patients, while the uninsured received recommended diabetes and asthma care less often than those with public or private insurance coverage.
The study highlighted that newer centers (i.e., established less than 30 years ago) provided recommended care more frequently than did older CHCs (48% vs. 43% on a mean basis, respectively).
Posted on January 11, 2007 05:00 PM
|
