South L.A. lead L.A. County in preventable hospitalizations and the highest number of adults covered by Medi-Cal

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South Los Angeles has the highest proportion of adults covered by Medi-Cal (35.2%), the state program that pays for a variety of medical services for people with limited incomes and resources. The Antelope Valley has the second-highest percentage (27.9%), while West Los Angeles has the lowest percentage of adults insured through Medi-Cal (10.7%).

“These disparities are another striking example of the health care system failing to properly serve the people who are most medically and socially vulnerable,” said Ninez Ponce, director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, or CHPR, and lead author of the study. . “People shouldn’t become desensitized to these inequities. Instead, this should raise the alarms that we need to fix our systems.”

People with common conditions don’t get appropriate care

Researchers from the UCLA CHPR and the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Healthcare Center for Advancing Health Equity analyzed patient discharge data for hospitalizations and emergency department visits from 2016–2021 from the California Department of Health Care Access and Information. They identified admissions for conditions for which hospitalizations and emergency department visits are typically preventable with appropriate disease management to calculate rates of preventable admissions.

These conditions include but are not limited to:

Diabetes

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Asthma

Hypertension

heart failure

Dehydration

Bacterial pneumonia

Urinary tract infection

They used data from the UCLA CHPR’s California Health Interview Survey to determine the percentage of adults with health insurance through Medi-Cal for the eight service planning areas in Los Angeles County.

Proper disease management entails regular visits to primary care providers and specialists, along with taking medications as prescribed.

“Regular visits build relationships between patients and providers, promote preventative care and encourage adherence to treatment regimens,” said Susan Babey, co-director of the Chronic Disease Program at the UCLA CHPR and study co-author. “These relationships are a benefit that people with private insurance enjoy but that everyone should have access to.”

Multiple studies conducted by outside researchers suggest that higher Medicaid reimbursement rates are associated with better access to health care. Yet for all services, California ranks 32nd in the nation in its Medicaid-to-Medicare Fee Index.

“If we adequately financed primary and specialty care services in areas with high rates of preventable hospitalizations, that could make a real difference in managing chronic conditions like diabetes,” Babey said.