Journal of health and human services administration
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J Health Hum Serv Adm · Jan 2003
The dual enrolled as a disadvantaged population: developing culturally informed interventions for Tennessee Medicare/Medicaid women.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have begun a major national initiative to reduce disparities in health care for the underserved through their contracts with state quality improvement organizations (QIOs). This initiative has translated into state-level projects that are, in many cases, investigating these populations to determine how best to address their health care deficiencies and improve the quality of their care. Tennessee's campaign, coordinated by the Center for Healthcare Quality (CHQ), the state's QIO, focused on the use of formative research to gain insights into diversity among the underserved in different settings across the state. Results aided the design of a series of site-appropriate interventions aimed at improving the utilization of mammography screening among Tennessee's Dual Enrolled: Medicare beneficiaries who are also enrolled in Medicare.
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J Health Hum Serv Adm · Jan 2003
Health care disparities in disadvantaged Medicare beneficiaries: a national project review.
The wealth of literature documenting differences in health care utilization by race and ethnicity underscores the need to develop a system to effectively measure health care related disparities. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has taken the first steps toward detailing the quality of care for fee-for-service (FFS) Medicare beneficiaries. Using data collected for the two-period 1997-1999 on a cross-section of beneficiaries from all states and territories of the U. ⋯ Over the next decade, the composition of Medicare beneficiaries will become more diverse. This increasing diversity makes it imperative to identify and monitor the existence and extent of health care disparities. The consistent and ongoing evaluation of racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities should provide an incentive to create effective preventive programs tailored to specific community needs.