By Bernice Yeung, California Watch
Better access to primary health care and prevention programs could have kept thousands of California adults out of hospitals, according to a new statewide analysis.
According to new data released by the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, there were more than 335,000 adult hospitalizations in California that could have been avoided if the patient had seen a doctor sooner.
According to the state agency, so-called “preventable hospitalizations” are an indication of systemic shortcomings related to access to quality primary care.
“These are people going into the hospital that probably shouldn’t be if they were getting good primary care up front,” said Michael Kassis, a research specialist with the office.
Read the complete story at California Watch. California Watch, the state’s largest investigative reporting team, is part of the independent, nonprofit Center for Investigative Reporting. For more, visit www.californiawatch.org. For additional information on health care programs and preventive care, read “Healthy SF: Who Pays?” https://sfpublicpress.org/news/healthy-sf.
