QE Report 2021: Examining the Relationship Between Socioeconomic Factors and Preventable Diabetes- and Hypertension-related Inpatient Admissions
As a certified national Qualified Entity (QE), BHI combines Medicare fee-for-service data with our own rich set of commercial claims data from more than 234 million individuals to research and report on the quality and delivery of care in the U.S.
Our first QE report focuses on diabetes due to its increasing prevalence and ability to be effectively managed if diagnosed early and treated appropriately. The inclusion of diabetes-related goals in Healthy People 2020, a framework for national objectives to improve the health of Americans (ODPHP, Healthy People 2020), indicates it has also become a current focus of U.S. public health policy.
While prevention and management are possible, social determinants of health (SDOH) have been shown to significantly impact the outcomes of patients with diabetes (Walker et al., 2016). This report examines the relationships between preventable diabetes and hypertension admission rates and socioeconomic status (SES) measures to inform the potential of improved access to preventive care to reduce avoidable hospitalization. The data contained in the report reinforce the profound impact that SDOH, including SES, have on health outcomes.
