Region-Wide Achievement by Estimated Household Income Category

Figure 5 highlights the region’s overall achievement on our composite Outcomes and Care Processes standards, stratified by estimated household income category. Each practice organization provided estimates of each patient’s household income using information from the 2000 U.S. Census. Patients are divided into three categories in relation to household incomes of all Cuyahoga County residents, with approximately one-third categorized into low (less than $35,000), medium (between $35,000 and $48,000), and high (more than $48,000) income categories.

In all, Figure 5 displays achievement over the period of July 1, 2007 through June 30, 2008 across 42 practices within our 7 reporting health systems, describing the 23,793 diabetes patients with known Census tract or zip code leading to an estimated income level. Of those patients, 7371 (31%) live in High Income neighborhoods, 8043 (34%) live in Medium Income neighborhoods, and 8379 (35%) live in Low Income neighborhoods.

Figure 5.  Region-Wide Achievement on Better Health Greater Cleveland's Composite Standards, by Income Category, July 2007 - June 2008

Results stratified by income were similar to those described for race/ethnicity. Overall achievement on our composite Outcomes standard varied considerably, ranging from 45% in the highest income category to 33% in the lowest income category. As with our results by race, however, there was modest variation across income categories in the achievement of our composite Care Processes standard.