Study of Ambulatory Care Sensitive Diagnoses as a Monitor of Primary Access, 1993: [California]

The purpose of this study was to examine whether higher hospital admission rates for chronic medical conditions result from community differences in access to care, prevalence of the chronic medical conditions, propensity to seek care, or physician admitting style. In multiple California communities, five chronic medical conditions were studied: asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, congestive heart failure, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension. This collection includes data from two surveys, one of adults in the communities (Part 1, Community Health Care Survey Data), and the other of physicians who provide adult primary care in the same communities (Part 3, Physician Practice Survey Data). Topics covered included respondent self-report of access to care in the community (including health insurance status, whether the respondent had a regular source of care, and specific and overall difficulties in obtaining care), respondent propensity to seek care (how important the respondent thought it was to see a physician for each of five major symptoms), physician predisposition to hospitalize patients, and physician responsiveness to patients' social factors (such as whether the patient was an alcoholic or an IV drug user, uninsured, homeless, lived alone, or was covered by Medicaid). Demographic variables include sex, race, education, household income, and marital status.