Race and Ethnicity, Neighborhood Social Deprivation and Medicare Home Health Agency Quality for Persons Living With Serious Illness.

OBJECTIVE

Examine the relationship between race and ethnicity and area-level social deprivation and Medicare home health care (HHC) agency quality for seriously ill older adults receiving HHC.

METHODS

A linear probability fixed effects model analyzed the association between patient-level predictors and HHC agency quality (star-rating), controlling for neighborhood level fixed effects. Linear mixed regression modeled the relationship between area-level social deprivation and receiving care from a high-quality HHC agency. An interaction term between race and social deprivation index quartiles examined whether racial disparities in accessing high-quality HHC agencies depended on the level of neighborhood social deprivation.

RESULTS

The final sample consisted of 213 491 Medicare beneficiaries. Reduced access to high-quality HHC was associated with identifying as Black (1.2 % point lower, < .001), having Medicaid (5.5 % point lower, < .0001), and living in a neighborhood with high social deprivation (6.5% point lower, < .001). The effect of race on access to high-quality HHC persisted regardless of the level of neighborhood social deprivation.

CONCLUSIONS

For people living with serious illness, living in areas with higher social deprivation is associated with lower-quality HHC. Patient race and ethnicity has a consistent effect reducing access to high-quality HHC agencies, regardless of neighborhood. Future research must investigate ways to improve access to high-quality HHC for racial and ethnic historically marginalized populations who are seriously ill, especially in areas of high social deprivation. This includes understanding what policies, organizational structures, or care processes impede or improve access to high-quality care.