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BMC Health Services Research
Published in: BMC Health Services Research 1/2019

Open Access 01-12-2019 | Research article

Healthcare spending in the State of Louisiana

Authors: Blake P. Kruger, Jeremiah R. Brown

Published in: BMC Health Services Research | Issue 1/2019

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Abstract

Background

The State of Louisiana spends the most on Medicare beneficiaries per capita, but reports greater disparities in health status and death rates than other states. This project sought to investigate the associations between healthcare intensity, healthcare spending, and mortality in Louisiana.

Methods

We used a 100% sample of 2014 Medicare claims data with beneficiaries assigned to hospital referral regions in Louisiana using small area analysis. We used simple and multivariable linear regression modelling to evaluate associations between healthcare intensity, healthcare spending rates, and mortality rates. We adjusted for age, sex, race, and population health risk factors.

Results

We found no statistically significant associations between our measured variables when adjusted for age, sex, and race. These results were consistent after further adjusting mortality for population health risk factors.

Conclusions

To our knowledge, no prior studies have investigated the associations between healthcare intensity, healthcare spending, and mortality in Louisiana. Our findings suggest that increased healthcare spending in Louisiana may not improve survival. Identifying more granular aspects of healthcare contributing to spending patterns in Louisiana may provide targets for future quality improvement work.
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Metadata
Title
Healthcare spending in the State of Louisiana
Authors
Blake P. Kruger
Jeremiah R. Brown
Publication date
01-12-2019
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Health Services Research / Issue 1/2019
Electronic ISSN: 1472-6963
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-019-4275-y

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