In a new article published in Medical Care, researchers examined the association of neighborhood social conditions with total annual and potentially preventable Medicare costs. The researchers, including Dr. Yongkang Zhang, research associate in population health sciences; Dr. Jessica Ancker, associate professor of population health sciences; Dr. Jaclyn Hall, research scientist of health outcomes and biomedical informatics at University of Florida College of Medicine; Dr. Dhruv Khullar, assistant professor of population health sciences and medicine; Yiyuan Wu, research biostatistician in population health sciences; and Dr. Rainu Kaushal, chair of population health sciences, measured neighborhood social conditions by Area Deprivation Index at the census block group level, categorized into quintiles. The retrospective cohort study indicated that disadvantaged neighborhood conditions are associated with lower total annual Medicare costs but higher potentially preventable costs. This may be due to socioeconomic barriers limiting access and use of primary care and disease management services.
- Highlights