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Racial Disparities In Post-Acute Home Health Care Referral And Utilization Among Older Adults With Diabetes, Jamie Smith, Olga Jarrín, Haiqun Lin, Tina Dharamdasani, Jennifer Tsui, Charlotte Thomas-Hawkins

College of Nursing Faculty Papers & Presentations

Racial and ethnic disparities exist in diabetes prevalence, health services utilization, and outcomes including disabling and life-threatening complications among patients with diabetes. Home health care may especially benefit older adults with diabetes through individualized education, advocacy, care coordination, and psychosocial support for patients and their caregivers. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between race/ethnicity and hospital discharge to home health care and subsequent utilization of home health care among a cohort of adults (age 50 and older) who experienced a diabetes-related hospitalization. The study was limited to patients who were continuously enrolled in Medicare for at …