N.Y. Web site tracks health care

Officials say data can show gaps in treatment

ALBANY -- Although New York's health-care system is one of the country's most expensive, it ranks 39th in hospital admissions for preventable conditions. The state is taking steps to change that, Health Commissioner Richard Daines said this week.

Daines, a physician, announced a new Web site that charts hospital admission rates by ZIP code for a variety of conditions. By showing geographic areas where there are potential gaps in preventive and primary care, the site will serve as a tool in revamping the state's health-care system, he said.

"When we have more detailed local data, our efforts to meet needs within the community" are greatly improved, Daines said.

A central focus of Gov. David Paterson's administration, and that of former Gov. Eliot Spitzer, has been reducing what the state spends on inpatient care and concentrating more resources on preventive care in the community.

Preventable hospitalizations are divided into several categories on the Web site:

* Circulatory conditions (angina, congestive heart failure, hypertension).

* Diabetes-related conditions (short-term and long-term complications, lower-extremity amputation, uncontrolled diabetes).

* Respiratory conditions (asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease).

* Acute conditions (bacterial pneumonia, dehydration, urinary tract infection).

In the central, rural part of Delaware County, for example, the overall hospitalization rate is 30 percent below the state average. The ZIP codes are 13731, 13740, 13752, 13753 and 12455. But to the north, near the border with Schoharie County, the rate of potentially preventable hospitalizations is about 37 percent higher than the state norm.

The data shed light on disparities between racial and ethnic groups when it comes to preventable hospitalizations. The challenge in areas where racial and ethnic groups have disproportionately higher hospital admission rates is to expand access to good primary care and better chronic disease management, Anne Beal, chairwoman of the state Minority Health Council, said in a statement.

In the Monroe County ZIP codes of 14622, 14617, 14615 and 14621, which include parts of the city of Rochester, the hospitalization rates for all conditions are 15 percent less than the statewide average. However, Hispanics are about 1.5 times more likely to be hospitalized for any of those conditions, and blacks are more than twice as likely, according to the Web site.

In the downtown Brooklyn ZIP codes of 11201, 11205 and 11217, the rate of uncontrolled diabetes is more than 2.5 times the statewide average. Admission rates for blacks and Hispanics are almost five times the norm for New York.

Statistics like those are a strong indicator that people who live in the ZIP codes aren't getting the care they need, Daines said.

In reviewing statistics for their community, hospitals and ambulatory care providers may decide to collaborate on screening for certain diseases and treatment, Daines said. Public-health officials could use it to help evaluate a community's health, diet and school programs. Members of the public can also benefit from the information, he said.

In phase 2 of developing the Web site, the Health Department will include data about children's hospitalizations and other statistics, he said.

Senate Health Committee Chairman Kemp Hannon, R-Nassau County, said the state now has the tools to make decisions based on evidence.

"It's dealing with a measuring stick, a yard stick. We really haven't had that before," he said.

Ultimately, greater use of primary care will make the health-care system more affordable because it will reduce the number of expensive hospitalizations that are avoidable, Hannon said in a statement.

Sue Ellen Wagner of the Healthcare Association of New York State said she hoped the Web site would be "another vehicle to help hospitals and community groups work together."

A recently created Doctors Across New York program provides incentives to physicians for practicing in underserved areas of the state.

Additional Facts Online

https://apps.nyhealth.gov/statistics/prevention/quality_indicators/


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