South L.A., Antelope Valley lead L.A. County in preventable hospitalizations

Key takeawaysIn Los Angeles County, areas with the highest rates of potentially preventable hospitalizations and emergency department visits are the same areas with the highest percentages of adults insured by Medi-Cal.High rates seen in South Los Angeles and the Antelope Valley suggest better outpatient care is needed there.Study authors recommend that policymakers and payers should consider improving access to care and increasing payments for Medi-Cal providers to help narrow health equity disparities.If you ’re a Los Angeles County resident living with chronic health conditions like diabetes, asthma or hypertension, your risk of a preventable hospitalization or emergency department visit is considerably higher if you live in a lower-income area like South Los Angeles, according to a new UCLA Center f or Health Policy Research study.Researchers found that South Los Angeles has the highest rate of preventable hospitalizations (1,252 per 100,00 adults), followed by the Antelope Valley (888). The South Los Angeles rate is 1.4 times the rate for Antelope Valley and 1.7 times the rate for West Los Angeles, which has the lowest rate (735).High rates of preventable hospitalizations and emergency department visits in an area suggest that outpatient care is insufficient for the needs of the people living there, the report states. This is because of inequities in access to and quality of health care combined with acute need in these areas.Rates of Potentially Preventable Hospitaliz...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news