Proper disease management, which includes regular visits to primary care providers and specialists and taking medication as prescribed, could prevent an emergency department (ED) visit or hospitalization for many conditions, such as diabetes, asthma, and hypertension.

Preventable hospitalizations and emergency departments visits result in higher costs than outpatient visits. Each year in California, over $3.5 billion is spent on hospitalizations that would be potentially preventable with better outpatient care.

In 2021, there were more than 220,000 preventable hospitalizations across the state, with more than one-quarter of them (58,000+) in Los Angeles County.

In a new study by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research (CHPR) in partnership with Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Healthcare Center for Advancing Health Equity, researchers examine variations in rates of potentially preventable hospitalizations and emergency departments visits among adults in Los Angeles County, looking specifically at geographic variations across the eight Service Planning Areas (SPAs).

In this webinar, study authors Ninez A. Ponce, PhD, MPP, and Susan H. Babey, PhD, share findings from the policy brief, including the areas with the highest rates of preventable hospitalizations and the connection to areas with higher proportions of adults insured by Medi-Cal.

Read the policy brief, Geographic Disparities in Preventable Hospitalizations and Emergency Department Visits in Los Angeles County: https://healthpolicy.ucla.edu/our-wor...

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The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research (CHPR) is one of the nation's leading health policy research centers and the premier source of health policy information for California. UCLA CHPR is home to the California Health Interview Survey, the largest state health survey in the nation, which interviews more than 20,000 Californians each year on a broad range of health topics.

Established in 1994, UCLA CHPR is based in the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and affiliated with the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.

The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research improves the public's health by advancing health policy through research, public service, community partnership, and education.