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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Links between social environment and health care utilization and costs | | Author(s) | Marie A Brault, Amanda L Brewster, Elizabeth H Bradley |
| Journal title | Journal of Gerontological Social Work, vol 61, no 2, February-March 2018 |
| Publisher | Taylor and Francis, February-March 2018 |
| Pages | pp 203-220 |
| Source | http://www.tandfonline.com |
| Keywords | Physical environment ; Neighbourhoods, communities etc ; Social contacts ; Health [elderly] ; Services ; Usage [services] ; Costs [care]. |
| Annotation | The social environment influences health outcomes for older adults and could be an important target for interventions to reduce costly medical care. In this study the authors aimed to look at which elements of the social environment distinguish communities that achieve lower health care utilisation and costs from communities that experience higher health care utilisation and costs for older adults with complex needs. The study used a sequential explanatory mixed methods approach. It classified community performance based on three outcomes: rate of hospitalisations for ambulatory care sensitive conditions, all-cause risk-standardised hospital readmission rates, and Medicare spending per beneficiary. The authors conducted in-depth interviews with 245 key informants from organisations providing health or social services. Higher performing communities were distinguished by several aspects of social environment and these features were lacking in lower performing communities: 1) strong informal support networks; 2) partnerships between faith-based organisations and health care and social service organisations; and 3) grassroots organising and advocacy efforts. Higher performing communities share similar social environmental features that complement the work of health care and social service organisation. Many of the supportive features and programmes identified in the higher performing communities were developed locally and with limited governmental funding, providing opportunities for improvement. (JL). |
| Accession Number | CPA-180420208 A |
| Classmark | R: RH: TOA: CC: I: QLD: QDC |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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