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 Hospital 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 Service Planning Areas (SPAs).

Join us as we share findings from the study, including the areas with the highest rates of preventable hospitalizations and the connection to areas with higher proportions of adults insured by Medi-Cal.