Journal article
Does socioeconomic status affect hospital utilization and health outcomes of chronic disease patients?
Jongsay Yong, Ou Yang
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF HEALTH ECONOMICS | SPRINGER | Published : 2021
Abstract
This study quantifies the extent socioeconomic status (SES) affects hospital utilization and adverse hospital events of chronic disease patients. After identifying the initial first-year spell of the disease, we examine six outcomes that include measures of utilization and incidence of adverse in-hospital events. Three years of hospital administrative data from the state of Victoria, Australia, are used to extract a sample of 237,743 patients with chronic disease spells. SES is measured using the utilization records of specific health and human services. The study finds that, compared to patients with no disadvantage, SES disadvantaged patients tend to incur higher hospital costs and longer ..
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Funding Acknowledgements
This paper arises out of a project commissioned by the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department. The authors are grateful to the Victorian DHHS for funding support and making possible access to the data, to Peter Breadon, Laura Andrew, Ross Geddes for many rounds of discussions on earlier drafts, and especially to Tristan Bouckley for coordinating the project and facilitating data access. The authors have no other competing interests to declare.