Disparities in Insurance Type among Minorities for Congestive Heart Failure Diagnosis in the Ambulatory Care Setting

摘要

Background: Lack of access to healthcare, health insurance and health providers and access to quality healthcare is strongly related to socioeconomic inequalities. These inequities are thought to reflect social and economic disparities more than biological differences associated with the race of the individuals. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the associations between ethnicity/race and method of payment with the diagnosis of new onset heart failure in the ambulatory care setting. Health care disparities have been well documented to exist in various demographics and socioeconomic statuses. Specifically, there are differences in access to and quality of healthcare between ethnic and racial groups; and additionally, the quantity and quality of care that a patient receives is dependent on the patientsa?? insurance status. Methods: Data sets for this study were retrieved from the 2010 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDCa??s] National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) - as this is the most recent data available for analysis. The IBM SPSS Version 20.0 statistical software was used to conduct the analysis of the data. Cross-tabulation of the dependent and independent variables was completed to examine the prevalence of CHF diagnosis by insurance type and ethnicity/race. Correlation tests were run to determine if any significant correlations between the variable existed in the target population. Lastly, Chi-Square tests were analyzed on the independent variable to determine if there was a statistically significant association with the dependent variable. Result: The results supported past research which found that racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities exist in health care. The data demonstrates the number of respondentsa?? self-identified ethnicity/race cross referenced with the corresponding method of payment. In addition, the number of respondentsa?? self-identified ethnicity/race was cross referenced with the number of new diagnosis of CHF. Conclusion: Disparities in the diagnosis of CHF are significantly associated with ethnicity, race, and insurance status. The results demonstrate that substantial differences exist between ethnicities and race in the diagnosis of CHF. Further, substantial differences were discovered in the diagnosis of CHF between the privately insured, publically insured, and the uninsured.