Dataset Information

The impact of funding for federally qualified health centers on utilization and emergency department visits in Massachusetts.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

Federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) receive federal funding to serve medically underserved areas and provide a range of services including comprehensive primary care, enabling services, and behavioral health care. Greater funding for FQHCs could increase the local availability of clinic-based care and help reduce more costly resource use, such as emergency department visits (ED).

Objective

To examine the impact of funding increases for FQHCs after the ACA on the use of FQHCs and EDs.

Methods

Retrospective study using the Massachusetts All Payer Claims Database (APCD) 2010-2013 that included APCD enrollees in 559 Massachusetts ZIP codes (N = 6,173,563 in 2010). We calculated shift-share predictions of changes in FQHC funding at the ZIP code-level for FQHCs that received Community Health Center funds in any year, 2010-13 (N = 31). Outcomes were the number of ZIP code enrollees with visits to FQHCs and EDs, overall and for emergent and non-emergent diagnoses.

Results

In 2010, 4% of study subjects visited a FQHC, and they were more likely to be younger, have Medicaid, and live in low-income areas. We found that a standard deviation increase in prior year FQHC funding (+31 percentage point (pp)) at the ZIP code level was associated with a 2.3pp (95% CI 0.7pp to 3.8pp) increase in enrollees with FQHC visits and a 1.3pp (95% CI -2.3pp to -0.3pp) decrease in enrollees with non-emergent ED visits, but no significant change in emergent ED visits (0.3pp, 95% CI -0.8pp to 1.4pp).

Conclusions

We found that areas exposed to greater FQHC funding increases had more growth in the number of enrollees seen by FQHCs and greater reductions in ED visits for non-emergent conditions. Investment in FQHCs could be a promising approach to increase access to care for underserved populations and reduce costly ED visits, especially for primary care treatable or non-emergent conditions.

SUBMITTER: Myong C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7714363 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

The impact of funding for federally qualified health centers on utilization and emergency department visits in Massachusetts.

Myong Catherine C Hull Peter P Price Mary M Hsu John J Newhouse Joseph P JP Fung Vicki V

PloS one 20201203 12

<h4>Importance</h4>Federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) receive federal funding to serve medically underserved areas and provide a range of services including comprehensive primary care, enabling services, and behavioral health care. Greater funding for FQHCs could increase the local availability of clinic-based care and help reduce more costly resource use, such as emergency department visits (ED).<h4>Objective</h4>To examine the impact of funding increases for FQHCs after the ACA on the ...[more]

PMID: 33270778

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Project description:RATIONALE, AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To examine factors related to recruitment of eligible patients and retention of enrolled patients in diabetes group visits (GVs).MethodAs part of a cluster randomized trial, 272 eligible patients were contacted and 75 patients were eventually enrolled in GVs at six community health centers (CHC). Fisher's exact tests and χ2 tests were used to compare enrolled and nonenrolled patients by patient recruitment method, gender and preferred language. Linear mixed models were used to evaluate characteristics associated with GV attendance such as diabetes self-empowerment and diabetes-associated distress. Content analysis was used to analyse patients' open-ended survey responses, and template analysis was used to analyse CHC staff interviews.ResultsIn terms of recruitment and enrollment analysis, patients who received in-person contact only and both phone and in-person contact comprised a greater fraction of the enrolled than unenrolled group, while those who received phone only and both phone and mail comprised a smaller fraction of the enrolled than unenrolled group (p = 0.004). In terms of retention analysis, 70 of the 75 enrolled patients attended at least one GV (93%). The average number of GVs was 3.2 out of 6 visits. Higher GV attendance was associated with lower baseline diabetes empowerment (p = 0.03). Patients' most common self-reported motivating factors to attend GVs were to learn more about diabetes, gain improved blood glucose control and find support from peers.ConclusionIn-person recruitment for GVs at CHCs was more effective than recruitment by telephone/mail. Patients who felt less empowered to manage their diabetes were most motivated to attend GVs. These findings could help clinicians implement targeted recruitment of patient populations who are more likely to attend diabetes GVs and tailor self-management education interventions to their patient populations, particularly for underserved patients who face disparate clinical outcomes.

Project description:BackgroundIn the United States, 1 in 11 people receive primary care from a federally qualified health center (FQHC). Text messaging interventions (TMIs) are accessible ways to deliver health information, engage patients, and improve health outcomes in the health center setting.ObjectiveWe aimed to evaluate the impact of a TMI implemented with a group visit (GV) intervention among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) at FQHCs on patient-reported outcomes and clinical outcomes based on patient TMI engagement.MethodsA TMI was implemented for 11 health centers participating in a cluster randomized study of diabetes GVs in Midwestern FQHCs targeting adults with T2DM. FQHC patients participated in 6 monthly GVs either in person or online and a concurrent 25-week TMI. Outcome measures included clinical markers such as glycated hemoglobin A1c and patient-reported diabetes distress, diabetes self-care, diabetes self-efficacy, diabetes care knowledge, diabetes quality of life, diabetes social support, and TMI use and satisfaction. TMI response rate was calculated as responses to an SMS text message requesting a response divided by total messages requesting a response sent. Patients were grouped as high responders if their response rate was greater than or equal to the median response rate and low responders if their response rate was below the median. We conducted linear mixed models to compare high and low responders and within a group, adjusting for age, gender, GV attendance, and depression/anxiety at baseline.ResultsIn total, 101 of 124 GV patients (81.5%) enrolled in the TMI. The average age of the population in the TMI was 53 years. Of the 101 respondents, 61 (60%) were racial or ethnic minorities, while 42 of 82 respondents (51%) had a high school diploma/General Education Development or less, and 56 of 80 respondents (71%) reported an annual income less than US $30,000. In addition, 70 of 81 respondents (86%) owned a smartphone and 74 of 80 respondents (93%) had an unlimited texting plan. The median response rate was 41% and the mean response rate was 41.6%. Adjusted models showed significantly improved diabetes knowledge (P<.001), foot care (P<.001), and exercise (P=.002) in high responders (n=34) compared to low responders (n=23) at 6 months. No group difference was found in glycated hemoglobin A1c. Within high responders, diabetes distress (P=.001), social support (P<.001), quality of life (P<.001), diabetes knowledge (P<.001), foot care (P<.001), and diet (P=.003) improved from baseline to 6 months. Low responders only improved in diabetes quality of life (P=.003) from baseline to 6 months.ConclusionsIn a FQHC safety net population participating in a combined TMI and GV intervention, our study showed improved diabetes distress, social support, knowledge, self-care, self-efficacy, and quality of life among patients highly engaged in the SMS text messaging program.

Dataset Information

The impact of funding for federally qualified health centers on utilization and emergency department visits in Massachusetts.

Importance

Objective

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

The impact of funding for federally qualified health centers on utilization and emergency department visits in Massachusetts.

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