The association between primary care use and potentially-preventable hospitalization among dual eligibles age 65 and over

Table 1 Characteristics of dual eligibles age 65 and over, by primary care use

Variable	Received no primary care	Received some primary care	Received only primary care
N (person-years)	1,707,535	7,230,068	1,523,524
Mean age	76.5^*** (8.1)	78.2^*** (8.6)	76.8^*** (8.1)
% Male	38.5^***	30.0^***	31.3^***
Race/Ethnicity
% White	48.1^***	55.1^***	41.4^***
% Black	17.5^***	14.9^***	15.6^***
% Asian/Pacific Islander	10.3^***	10.9^***	19.6^***
% AI/AN	2.7^***	0.9^***	1.0^***
% Hispanic	20.2^***	17.0^***	21.2^***
% Other	1.2^***	1.2^***	1.2^***
Disability Status
% Older adult with disability	23.4^***	27.9^***	21.4^***
Residence
% Urban	79.4^***	83.1^***	79.1^***
% Rural	20.6^***	16.9^***	20.9^***
Health Status
Mean # of chronic conditions	3.0^*** (2.9)	6.2^*** (2.9)	3.5^*** (2.3)
% with 0 chronic conditions	28.2^***	0.9^***	7.4^***
% with 1–3 chronic conditions	32.6^***	17.5^***	46.9^***
% with 4–6 chronic conditions	25.6^***	38.7^***	34.9^***
% with 7–9 chronic conditions	10.9^***	29.7^***	9.2^***
% with 10+ chronic conditions	2.7^***	13.2^***	1.6^***
Health Services Use
Mean PCP visits	0.0^*** (0.0)	9.6^*** (9.0)	5.2^*** (4.6)
Mean outpatient specialist visits	4.5^*** (6.6)	10.5^*** (11.2)	0.0^*** (0.0)
ACSC Hospitalizations
Mean # of ACSC hospitalizations	0.05^*** (0.3)	0.1^*** (0.5)	0.04^*** (0.3)
% with 1+ ACSC hospitalization	3.6^***	9.0^***	3.3^***

Note: Sample includes individuals ages 65 and older with at least 2 consecutive observations in 2012–2018, a maximum of 365 total outpatient visits in any year, and no missing race/ethnicity or sex data. Ranksum test for continuous variables or chi-squared test on categorial variables to test differences between individuals who did not receive primary care, who did receive some primary care, and who received only primary care
^*p < 0.05
^**p < 0.01
^***p < 0.001

ISSN: 1472-6963