Wednesday, May 10, 2023 | The Latest Research, Commentary, And News From Health Affairs
Dear John,
Health Affairs Scholar is now accepting submissions. Visit the Health Affairs Scholar site to find detailed information about the new
journal's scope and purpose, its open access model, and author guidelines.
Area Deprivation Index Limitations
The Area Deprivation Index (ADI) measures socioeconomic disadvantage by capturing social risk factors that are not available in typical clinical registries but affect health
outcomes.
The Neighborhood Atlas web portal makes the ADI available to researchers and policy makers in a readily accessible and usable format.
In their new Health Affairs paper, Edward Hannan and coauthors find that Neighborhood Atlas–computed ADI scores for New York block groups overweight median home value, potentially harming already disadvantaged communities.
"This can be especially problematic when considering quality assessment, funding, and resource allocation in regions with large variations in cost of living, and it may result in underresourcing for disadvantaged communities with high housing prices," the authors explain.
These issues "have significant implications but are not fatal flaws," write Hannan and coauthors. "Standardization could be remedied easily by conversion of all variables to standard normal before computing the ADI block group indices."
In their Perspective on Hannan and coauthors’ article, David Rehkopf and Robert Phillips recommend revising the Neighborhood Atlas ADI to standardize variable units. They also outline five steps to avoid future errors in the creation of area deprivation measures.
Jeremy Cantor and coauthors discuss the new policies implemented by multiple states requiring Medicaid managed care plans to reinvest a percentage of revenue or profit back into the communities they serve.
Health Affairs is launching a contest! The premise is simple. Finish the statement "You’re A Health Policy Wonk If…"
We'll share some of the submissions on Forefront in July, and the first-place winner of the contest will receive a Health Affairs tumbler and a free Unlimited membership for a year. Submit by May 31.
About Health Affairs
Health Affairs is the leading peer-reviewedjournalat the intersection of health, health care, and policy. Published monthly by Project HOPE, the journal is available in print and online. Late-breaking
content is also found through healthaffairs.org, Health Affairs Today, and Health Affairs Sunday Update.
Project HOPE is a global health and humanitarian relief organization that places power in the hands of local health care workers to save lives across the globe. Project HOPE has published Health Affairs since 1981.
