University of Pittsburgh Researcher Adds New Findings in the Area of Geriatrics and Gerontology (Racial And Ethnic Differences in Participant Experience of Home- And Community-based Services): Aging Research – Geriatrics and Gerontology

2023 JAN 11 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- New research on geriatrics and gerontology is the subject of a new report. According to news reporting originating from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “It is widely recognized that racial and ethnic minorities experience lower quality of care and worse health outcomes across a wide range of health services and long-term care settings.”

The news editors obtained a quote from the research from University of Pittsburgh: “However, less is known about racial and ethnic differences in home and community-based services (HCBS). This study used the HCBS version of the Consumer Assessment of Health Providers Survey (CAHPS) to examine participant experience of care in a large, statewide Medicaid program. The CAHPS-HCBS is a validated measure of quality of HCBS that supplements measures of health outcomes and provides policy makers with critical data on system performance. As part of a larger evaluation of Pennsylvania’s transition to Managed care for users of HCBS, representative samples of older adults were interviewed before and after the program was implemented. This study takes advantage of the phased implementation of managed care to estimate the causal effect of the program on differences in participant experience by racial and ethnic group. In general, non-Hispanic whites rated their overall satisfaction with HCBS lower than non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic people.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “The implementation of Managed care was associated with improvements in non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic ratings of personal care and service coordination, but not that of non-Hispanic whites. One implication of these findings is that managed care organizations can have positive impact on participant experience. The CAHPS-HCBS instrument is publicly available and can be used by state agencies to monitor racial and ethnic disparities in participant experience.”

For more information on this research see: Racial And Ethnic Differences in Participant Experience of Home- And Community-based Services. Innovation in Aging, 2022,6(Supplement_1). (Innovation in Aging - https://academic.oup.com/innovateage). The publisher for Innovation in Aging is Oxford University Press (OUP).

A free version of this journal article is available at https://doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igac059.198.

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Howard Degenholtz, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States.

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)