Researchers at the University of Iowa College of Public Health have been awarded a $1.54 million grant from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities to study the role federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) might play in reducing disparities in potentially preventable hospital-based care among dual-eligibles.

Approximately 10 million Americans are eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid. According to Brad Wright, assistant professor of health management and policy at the UI and principle investigator on the grant, these dual-eligibles are a disproportionately high-cost population with substantial and often unmet healthcare needs.

“Despite having two sources of insurance coverage, dual-eligibles are one of the most vulnerable populations in the country,” he says. “They often experience high rates of potentially preventable hospitalizations and emergency department visits resulting from disparities in access to primary care.”

Little is known about the relationship between primary care access and the broader continuum of potentially preventable hospital care, which includes not only emergency department visits and hospitalizations, but also observation stays, 30-day return ED visits, and 30-day all-cause readmissions.

“This grant allows us to further our understanding of how we might use FHQCs to improve access to primary care, reduce disparities along ethnic and racial lines, and reduce those costly and potentially preventable emergency department visits and hospitalizations,” Wright says.