TY - JOUR
T1 - Using the electronic health record for assessment of health insurance in community health centers
AU - Hatch, Brigit
AU - Tillotson, Carrie
AU - Angier, Heather
AU - Marino, Miguel
AU - Hoopes, Megan
AU - Huguet, Nathalie
AU - DeVoe, Jennifer
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association. All rights reserved.
PY - 2016/9/1
Y1 - 2016/9/1
N2 - Objective To demonstrate use of the electronic health record (EHR) for health insurance surveillance and identify factors associated with lack of coverage.Materials and Methods Using EHR data, we conducted a retrospective, longitudinal cohort study of adult patients (n = 279 654) within a national network of community health centers during a 2-year period (2012-2013).Results Factors associated with higher odds of being uninsured (vs Medicaid-insured) included: male gender, age >25 years, Hispanic ethnicity, income above the federal poverty level, and rural residence (P < .01 for all). Among patients with no insurance at their initial visit (n = 114 000), 50% remained uninsured for every subsequent visit.Discussion During the 2 years prior to 2014, many patients utilizing community health centers were unable to maintain stable health insurance coverage.Conclusion As patients gain access to health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, the EHR provides a novel approach to help track coverage and support vulnerable patients in gaining and maintaining coverage.
AB - Objective To demonstrate use of the electronic health record (EHR) for health insurance surveillance and identify factors associated with lack of coverage.Materials and Methods Using EHR data, we conducted a retrospective, longitudinal cohort study of adult patients (n = 279 654) within a national network of community health centers during a 2-year period (2012-2013).Results Factors associated with higher odds of being uninsured (vs Medicaid-insured) included: male gender, age >25 years, Hispanic ethnicity, income above the federal poverty level, and rural residence (P < .01 for all). Among patients with no insurance at their initial visit (n = 114 000), 50% remained uninsured for every subsequent visit.Discussion During the 2 years prior to 2014, many patients utilizing community health centers were unable to maintain stable health insurance coverage.Conclusion As patients gain access to health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, the EHR provides a novel approach to help track coverage and support vulnerable patients in gaining and maintaining coverage.
KW - Electronic health records
KW - Health insurance
KW - Health services accessibility
KW - Patient Protection and affordable care act
KW - community health centers
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84995768516&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84995768516&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/jamia/ocv179
DO - 10.1093/jamia/ocv179
M3 - Article
C2 - 26911812
AN - SCOPUS:84995768516
SN - 1067-5027
VL - 23
SP - 984
EP - 990
JO - Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association
JF - Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association
IS - 5
ER -