“Our data suggest that care fragmentation plays an independent role in increasing the frequency of disease-related morbidity damage in the SLE patients from an urban environment and worsens existing disparities already experienced by African-American patients and patients who are the beneficiaries of public insurance,” the authors write. “Combined with previous research suggesting that existing damage is a predictor of future damage accrual for SLE patients, our study suggests that improving care coordination and access to a more complete set of medical record data may be a key strategy for improving health outcomes for SLE patients.”
Walunas TL, Jackson KL, Chung AH, et al. Disease outcomes and care fragmentation among patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). 2017 Sep:69(8):1369–1376. doi: 10.1002/acr.23161. [Epub ahead of print]
