County shows better health data
BY TERRY FLORES
tflores@kenoshanews.com
Kenosha Countycontinues to see steady improvement in lowering the number of people who are medically treated outside their homes for otherwise preventable illnesses.
Fewer county adults ages 65 or older were admitted to hospitals for flu and pneumonia in 2009, a trend that has continued to decline over the last five years.
The average cost of each preventable hospitalization for Kenosha County older adults in 2009 was $20,955. The total number of “preventable hospitalizations” for senior citizens dropped from 1,415 in 2008 to 1,330 in 2009. The number of preventable hospitalizations decreased by 85, saving an estimated $1.8 million, according to an analysis of county data by Kenosha Area Family and Aging Services.
According to the data, the county’s hospitalization rate for senior citizens with pneumonia or influenza has also steadily declined over the last four years. In 2009, the rate was 16.5 per 1,000 adults aged 65 or older. The number marks a 26 percent decrease from the 2005 when the rate was 22.3 per 1,000.
In 2009, the county’s rate for all preventable hospitalizations in older adults was 73.9 per 1,000 compared to 79.1 in 2008, or a 7 percent decrease, said Gary Brown, executive director of the Kenosha Area Family and Aging Services Inc., who has been monitoring local data for several years
Pneumonia and influenza were among the 14 health conditions found to be best treated through outpatient care rather than in the hospital, according to local medical experts. Hospitalizations for these conditions are used to calculate preventable hospitalization rates.
Kenosha County Division of Health Director Cindy Johnson said education efforts through her department and in the community at medical and health centers, doctors offices, schools and agencies have had an effect on the declining hospitalizations of older adults.
“In 2009, that was a year when H1N1 influenza was at its peak and there was a lot of outreach altogether,” said Johnson. “There was a lot of media attention, not only with people being encouraged to get a flu vaccination, but also physicians at hospitals working very diligently assisting them in accessing their primary provider,” she said. “They were able to be treated at home with medications prescribed by their primary care physicians and treated earlier thus preventing more from going to the hospital (seeking emergency care).”
Other factors, such as, less severe strains of the flu virus also contributed to the drop, she said.
Despite the decline for in-patient care, however, costs for preventable hospitalizations continue to increase. Among older adults, the charge for an average hospital stay grew 8 percent from $19,372 in 2008 to $20,955 in 2009. Locally, an average length of stay for a patient in 2009 was 5.4 days, according to the data. By comparison, in Racine County, the charge for an average hospital stay increased by just 4.3 percent from $18,238 to $19,017. In that county, the average length of stay was 4.6 days.
According to local health professionals, educating older adults to go to their primary care doctors is one of the goals the county continues working on to improve the health of its residents. Changing the culture is also challenging as many older patients wait until their conditions worsen and end up in the emergency room. Access to health care locally includes transportation and reluctance to see doctors.
Brown said his agency and others have worked hard to refer senior citizens to primary physicians, but there are also only so many to go around.
“We do have an awful lot of people going to the emergency room more of than in other counties,” he said.
According to a report released this year that ranks the health of counties in the state, Kenosha has the 16th highest ratio of patients to primary doctor, or 1,393:1. In nearby counties, such as, Racine, the ratio is 1,037:1 and in Milwaukee County, 715:1.
