Advancing Equity in Preventive Care: Leveraging Hospital Admissions for Vulnerable Populations

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Healthcare Management
• Preventive Medicine

Background:

• Traditional preventive care models face challenges in reaching all patient populations.
• Overdue preventive care items, such as vaccinations and screenings, represent a significant public health concern.
• Hospital admissions present a potential, yet underutilized, opportunity to address gaps in preventive care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of leveraging hospital admissions to deliver overdue preventive care interventions.
• To identify patient characteristics associated with successful preventive care delivery during hospitalization.
• To assess the potential of hospitalizations to mitigate inequities in preventive care access.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of patient data during hospital admissions.
• Intervention focused on overdue vaccinations, cancer screening, and laboratory tests.
• Analysis of patient demographics and healthcare utilization to identify benefit predictors.

Main Results:

• 28.7% of patients had at least one overdue preventive care item.
• 70.9% of these patients received at least one preventive care intervention during their hospital stay.
• Housing instability and >1 year since last primary care appointment were associated with greater benefit.

Conclusions:

• Hospitalization offers a viable strategy to supplement traditional preventive care delivery.
• This intervention successfully addressed overdue preventive care for a significant proportion of eligible patients.
• Leveraging hospital admissions can be an effective method to reduce disparities in preventive healthcare access and improve population health outcomes.