National Healthcare Disparities Report - LDI Health Economist
National Healthcare Disparities Report - LDI Health Economist
National Healthcare Disparities Report - LDI Health Economist
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Effectiveness of Care<br />
Also, in the NHQR:<br />
n From 1998 to 2008, adults ages 45-64 and age 65 and over were more likely to have a blood<br />
cholesterol measurement than adults ages 18-44. Among adults under age 65, those who had public<br />
insurance or who were uninsured were less likely to have a blood cholesterol measurement than<br />
those with private health insurance.<br />
Chapter 2 Cardiovascular Disease<br />
NEW<br />
Outcome: Inpatient Deaths Following Heart Attack<br />
Heart attack, or acute myocardial infarction, is a common life-threatening condition that requires rapid<br />
recognition and efficient treatment in a hospital to reduce the risk of serious heart damage and death.<br />
Measuring processes of heart attack care can provide information about whether a patient received specific<br />
needed services, but these processes make up a very small proportion of all the care that a heart attack<br />
patient needs. Measuring outcomes of heart attack care, such as mortality, can provide a more global<br />
assessment of all the care a patient receives and usually is the aspect of quality that matters most to patients.<br />
Significant improvements in process measures of quality of care for heart attack have occurred in recent<br />
years. All process measures tracked in past reports have attained overall performance levels exceeding 95%<br />
and have been retired. Therefore, the 2011 NHQR and NHDR focus on outcome measures. Survival<br />
following admission for heart attack reflects multiple patient factors, such as a patient’s comorbidities, as well<br />
as health care system factors, such as the possible need to transfer patients to other hospitals for services. It<br />
also may partly reflect receipt of appropriate health services.<br />
Previous reports used AHRQ Quality Indicators version 3.1 to generate death rates for heart attack. The 2011<br />
reports use a modified version 4.1 of the software. While the effects of version change are extremely small,<br />
these estimates should not be compared with estimates in previous reports.<br />
60 <strong>National</strong> <strong><strong>Health</strong>care</strong> <strong>Disparities</strong> <strong>Report</strong>, 2011