Disparities in Infection Risk Among Home Healthcare Patients: Unveiling the Underserved

Session Description: In this session, the speaker will present findings from a federally-funded research study highlighting the understudied relationship between socioeconomic status and the risk of healthcare-associated infections among home healthcare patients.

Specifically, the speaker will present new findings from combining the Outcome and Assessment Information Set (OASIS) with several social deprivation and other socioeconomic measures. These measures will be compared and contrasted, giving insight into how disparities can vary based on which analytic measure is used. The speaker will also present analyses of merged national Medicare datasets using a widely-used measure, the Area Deprivation Index, to gauge home healthcare patient outcomes, specifically infection-related hospitalizations. These findings highlight the disparities in infection risk for home healthcare patients living in disadvantaged areas. Lastly, the speaker will discuss the broader implications of socioeconomic disparities, recognizing the layered challenges faced by home healthcare patients and the necessity of a comprehensive approach that addresses both medical and socioeconomic challenges. We will end with a discussion of future directions and attendees are encouraged to share how their patients are impacted by socioeconomic disparities.