ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors systematically examine four indicators—hospitalization incidence, treatment procedure, readmission, and mortality—that intersect with public health and health care delivery. They use different measures—such as incidence of major diseases, procedures, readmission, and 1-year out-of-hospital mortality—to conduct socioeconomic status (SES)-based surveillance. The authors emphasize practical steps and considerations in constructing and presenting SES gradients around those measures. They provide a methodological introduction to set out an analytical framework using census tract SES variables and baseline estimates. The authors introduce their approach to conducting disparity surveillance using the census tract poverty variable—the percent of people living under the federal poverty line. Major steps of the surveillance include data collection and continued data updates, data improvements, data analysis of selected diseases, and in our case relating to SES, disparity detection and result dissemination. Normally, after disseminating results, the authors expect some public health actions to reduce disparities in in-depth data analysis, controlling for further disparity assessments.
