title: How are age and payors related to avoidable hospitalization conditions?
abstract: (1) Examine variations in AHC indicators across age groups and payor types; (2) evaluate the impact of individual and community characteristics on AHC indicators; and (3) investigate the effect of adjustment for age and other factors on AHC indicators. MCOs can use AHC hospitalization and inpatient days to develop focused strategies in reducing AHC hospitalization. But biased comparisons often occur without adjustment for confounding factors. This study demonstrates that age and age/gender adjustments are needed for privately insured and Medicare patients while additional adjustment for community characteristics is needed for Medicaid and Self-Pay patients.
authors.affiliation: Graduate Program in Health Service Administration, Xavier University, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: MacDowell
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Levin
authors.forename: R W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Hornung
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Linn
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015986:Confounding Factors, Epidemiologic; D003953:Diagnosis-Related Groups; D005260:Female; D006300:Health Services Misuse / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006302:Health Services Research / Q000379:methods; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007350:Insurance, Hospitalization; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009820:Ohio / Q000453:epidemiology; D010351:Patient Discharge; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care; D020379:Risk Adjustment