Use of Federally Qualified Health Centers and Potentially Preventable Hospital Utilization Among Older Medicare-Medicaid Enrollees.

Using Medicare claims data from 2007 to 2010, we sought to determine whether dual eligibles 65 years and older who utilize federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) have lower rates of ambulatory care-sensitive hospitalizations and emergency department visits compared with nonusers. We found that FQHC use is associated with increased ambulatory care-sensitive hospitalization rates for whites and other races, but a decrease among blacks. Depending on race, FQHC use is associated with an increase of 24 to 43 ambulatory care-sensitive emergency department visits per thousand persons annually. More research is needed to understand why FQHC use is associated with these outcomes among dual eligibles.