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Topics
- Access to Care (1)
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AHRQ Research Studies
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Research Studies is a compilation of published research articles funded by AHRQ or authored by AHRQ researchers.
Results
1 to 6 of 6 Research Studies DisplayedFleming MD, Shim JK, Yen I
Managing the "hot spots": health care, policing, and the governance of poverty in the US.
This research looked at a form of surveillance and intervention by health care systems known as “hot spotting”, which targets high-cost patients who are super-utilizers of emergency departments with intensive health and social services. An ethnographic investigation of hot spotting’s modes of distribution and its workings in the lives of patients and providers found that it targets the same individuals and neighborhoods as the police, who maintain longer-standing practices of hot spotting in zones of racialized urban poverty. The boundaries between them are shifting as a financialized logic of governance has come to dominate both the health and criminal justice systems.
AHRQ-funded; HS027648.
Citation: Fleming MD, Shim JK, Yen I .
Managing the "hot spots": health care, policing, and the governance of poverty in the US.
Am Ethnol 2021 Nov;48(4):474-88. doi: 10.1111/amet.13032..
Keywords: Low-Income, Social Determinants of Health, Vulnerable Populations
Walter LA, Schoenfeld EM, Smith CH
Emergency department-based interventions affecting social determinants of health in the United States: a scoping review.
Emergency departments (EDs) function as the safety nets of the American health care system, caring for many vulnerable populations. ED-based interventions to assess social risk and mitigate social needs have been reported in the literature. However, the breadth and scope of these interventions have not been evaluated. As the field of social emergency medicine (SEM) expands, a mapping and categorization of previous interventions may help shape future research. In this study, the investigators sought to identify, summarize, and characterize ED-based interventions aimed at mitigating negative social determinants of health.
AHRQ-funded; HS025701; HS013852.
Citation: Walter LA, Schoenfeld EM, Smith CH .
Emergency department-based interventions affecting social determinants of health in the United States: a scoping review.
Acad Emerg Med 2021 Jun;28(6):666-74. doi: 10.1111/acem.14201..
Keywords: Emergency Department, Social Determinants of Health, Vulnerable Populations, Low-Income
Langston DM, Oslock WM, Paredes AZ
Hospital location and socioeconomic disadvantage of emergency general surgery patients.
This study’s purpose was to test the hypothesis that a hospital’s neighborhood disadvantage is associated with vulnerability of its emergency general surgery (EGS) patients. An area deprivation index (ADI), which is a neighborhood-level measure of disadvantage, and key characteristics of 724 hospitals in 14 states were linked to patient-level data in State Inpatient Databases. Hospitals in more disadvantaged areas disproportionately serve underserved EGS patient populations but are less likely to have robust resources for EGS care or train future EGS surgeons.
AHRQ-funded; HS022694.
Citation: Langston DM, Oslock WM, Paredes AZ .
Hospital location and socioeconomic disadvantage of emergency general surgery patients.
J Surg Res 2021 May;261:376-84. doi: 10.1016/j.jss.2020.12.028..
Keywords: Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP), Surgery, Social Determinants of Health, Vulnerable Populations, Critical Care
Nguyen KH, Trivedi AN, Cole MB
Receipt of social needs assistance and health center patient experience of care.
The goal of this study was to examine the degree to which community health center patients report receiving social needs assistance and compares measures of access and quality. A nationally representative sample of 4,699 nonelderly adults receiving care at community health centers out of 12.6 million patients was studied from the 2014-2015 HRSA Health Center Patient Survey. Social needs assistance was defined as a patient receiving community health center assistance accessing social programs such as applying for government benefits or obtaining basic needs such as transportation, housing, or food. From the sample, 36% reported receiving social needs assistance. Patients receiving assistance were more likely to report their usual source of care as a community health center and to report perceived quality of care as “the best”. They were also significantly less likely to use emergency departments as their usual source of care.
AHRQ-funded; HS000011.
Citation: Nguyen KH, Trivedi AN, Cole MB .
Receipt of social needs assistance and health center patient experience of care.
Am J Prev Med 2021 Mar;60(3):e139-e47. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2020.08.030..
Keywords: Social Determinants of Health, Vulnerable Populations, Patient Experience, Quality of Care
Chambers EC, McAuliff KE, Heller CG
Toward understanding social needs among primary care patients with uncontrolled diabetes.
This study examined the relationship between unmet social needs and diabetes among a predominantly Black and Hispanic patient population in a large urban hospital system in Bronx, New York. A total of 5846 patients with diabetes seen at a primary care visit between April 2018 and December 2019 were included and completed a social needs screener. Twenty-two percent of the patient sample had at least 1 unmet social need, with the most prevalent unmet needs being housing issues, food insecurity, and lack of healthcare transportation. Patients with more unmet needs had a greater likelihood of uncontrolled diabetes, with lack of healthcare transportation and food insecurity having the greatest likelihood.
AHRQ-funded; HS026396.
Citation: Chambers EC, McAuliff KE, Heller CG .
Toward understanding social needs among primary care patients with uncontrolled diabetes.
J Prim Care Community Health 2021 Jan-Dec;12:2150132720985044. doi: 10.1177/2150132720985044..
Keywords: Diabetes, Chronic Conditions, Primary Care, Vulnerable Populations, Social Determinants of Health
Moy E, Freeman W
AHRQ Author: Moy E, Freeman W
Federal investments to eliminate racial/ethnic health-care disparities.
The authors presented a model that describes the relationships among social disadvantage, health-care disparities, and health disparities. They proposed that increasing the diversity of the public health and health-care workforces is an efficient strategy for reducing disparities because it impacts both access to care and patient-provider communication.
AHRQ-authored.
Citation: Moy E, Freeman W .
Federal investments to eliminate racial/ethnic health-care disparities.
Public Health Rep 2014 Jan-Feb;129 Suppl 2:62-70. doi: 10.1177/00333549141291s212.
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Keywords: Access to Care, Disparities, Racial and Ethnic Minorities, Social Determinants of Health, Vulnerable Populations