Does Identification of Previously Undiagnosed Conditions Change Care-Seeking Behavior? Academic Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • OBJECTIVE: To determine whether identification of previously undiagnosed high cholesterol, hypertension, and/or diabetes during an in-home assessment impacts care seeking among Medicare beneficiaries. DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING: Data from the REasons for Geographic And Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study, which recruited African American and white participants across the continental United States from 2003-2007, were linked to Medicare claims. STUDY DESIGN: We used panel data models to analyze changes in doctor visits for evaluation and management of conditions after participants were assessed, utilizing the study's rolling recruitment to control for secular trends. DATA EXTRACTION METHODS: We extracted Medicare claims for the 24 months before through 24 months after assessment via REGARDS for 5,884 participants. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Semi-annual doctor visits for previously undiagnosed conditions increased by 22 percentage points (95 percent confidence interval: 16-28) 2 years following assessment. The effect was similar by gender, race, region, and Medicaid, but it may have been lower among participants who lacked a usual health care provider. CONCLUSIONS: In-home assessment of cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood glucose can increase doctor visits for individuals with previously undiagnosed conditions. However, biomarker assessment may have more limited impact among individuals with low access to care.

publication date

  • January 10, 2017

Research

keywords

  • Diabetes Mellitus
  • Home Care Services
  • Hypercholesterolemia
  • Hypertension
  • Patient Acceptance of Health Care

Identity

PubMed Central ID

  • PMC5980362

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 85010815517

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1111/1475-6773.12644

PubMed ID

  • 28070913

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 53

issue

  • 3