Title: Mortality amenable to healthcare in Louisiana: results from a cross-sectional study

Authors: Maysoun Dimachkie Masri; Claudia Campbell; Reid Oetjen; Larry S. Webber; Yara M. Asi

Addresses: Department of Health Management and Informatics, College of Health and Public Affairs, HPA 2:214, University of Central Florida, 4000 Central Florida Blvd., Orlando, Fl 32816-2205, USA ' Department of Health Systems Management, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, 1440 Canal Street, Suite 1907, New Orleans, LA 70112, USA ' Department of Health Management and Informatics, College of Health and Public Affairs, HPA 2: 210, University of Central Florida, 4000 Central Florida Blvd., Orlando, Fl 32816-2205, USA ' Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, 1440 Canal St., Room 2085, New Orleans, LA 70112, USA ' University of Central Florida, 3371 Foxcroft Circle, Oviedo, FL 32765, USA

Abstract: Evaluating disparities in healthcare outcomes is not an easy task for policy makers. This requires access to outcome indicators at the patient level. Patient level data are not easily available because of privacy considerations and costs of collection. One approach to assess health disparities is to examine variations in mortality from conditions known to be amenable to medical care. Mortality amenable to healthcare (MAHC) is defined as deaths before the age of 75 from selected causes that should not occur in the presence of timely and effective medical care (Nolte ad McKee, 2004). This study describes the differences in age-adjusted standardised mortality rates (ASMRs) from all cause MAHC and ASMRs for diabetes mellitus and ischemic heart disease separately, by parish, in Louisiana; and estimates the Spearman correlation between ASMR from all cause MAHC and socio-economic factors.

Keywords: Louisiana; mortality amenable to healthcare; MAHC; health systems outcomes; quality indicators; healthcare disparities; healthcare outcomes; mortality variations; age-adjusted standardised mortality rates; ASMRs; UISA; United States; diabetes mellitus; ischemic heart disease; socio-economic factors.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPP.2014.063078

International Journal of Public Policy, 2014 Vol.10 No.4/5, pp.209 - 230

Received: 29 Aug 2012
Accepted: 08 Apr 2013
Published online: 19 Jul 2014 *

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