The Impact of Health Service Use on Racial Differences in Mortality among the Elderly

• Published in: Research on aging Vol. 29; no. 3; pp. 207 - 224
• Main Authors: Sherkat, Darren E., Kilbourne, Barbara S., Cain, Van A., Hull, Pamela C., Levine, Robert S., Husaini, Baqar A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA Sage Publications 01.05.2007; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: African Americans; Beneficiaries; Black White Differences; Charges; Health care access; Health Care Services; Health Care Utilization; Health services; Health services utilization; Medicaid; Medicare; Morbidity; Mortality; Mortality Rates; Older people; Physicians; Race; Racial differences; Racial differentiation; Socioeconomic factors; Socioeconomic Status; Tennessee; United States; Medicare beneficiaries; racial disparities; mortality; physician services
• ISSN: 0164-0275; 1552-7573
• DOI: 10.1177/0164027506298709

The authors investigated the impact of socioeconomic conditions, patterns of morbidity, and health service use on Black—White differences in rates of mortality, and mortality associated with specific diagnoses. Longitudinal data from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Physician billing data and Medicare Enrollment Database (EDB) were analyzed to assess physician-diagnosed morbidity, health service use, and mortality among the population of Medicare beneficiaries in Tennessee (N = 665,887). Proportional hazards models were used to examine the effects of socioeconomic status, morbidity, and service use on race differences in mortality. Racial differences in physician visits explain the largest portion of mortality differentials between Black Americans and Whites. Race disparities in mortality associated with particular forms of morbidity are also partly a function difference in health service use. Our findings suggest that Black—White mortality differentials could be narrowed by increasing Black Americans' access to physician services.