Evaluation of Screening and Referral Programs for Food Insecurity in Kaiser Permanente Colorado
Preliminary Report #4
March 2, 2017
Health Status, Functional Abilities, and Social Isolation among Elderly KPCO Members with Food Insecurity
Elderly Medicare Advantage members in Kaiser Permanente Colorado (KPCO) are offered an annual Medicare Total Health Assessment (MTHA) survey, which includes a screening question about food insecurity, “Do you always have enough money to buy the food you need?” In prior Preliminary Reports (Preliminary Report #1, Preliminary Report #2, and Preliminary Report #3), we described the process through which 50,131 elderly KPCO members were screened for food insecurity between 2012 and 2015.
We found that 2,863 (5.7%) of those members had experienced food insecurity, and identified socio-demographic and clinical differences between elderly KPCO members who reported food insecurity and those who did not. This report focuses on differences in health status, quality of life, functional capacity and social isolation between food-insecure elderly KPCO members and those who did not report food insecurity.
Is health status associated with food insecurity in elderly KPCO members?
Table 1 shows that elderly KPCO members with food insecurity rated their health status and quality of life less favorably than those without food insecurity.
Are impairments in activities of daily living associated with food insecurity?
Table 2 demonstrates that food insecurity was more prevalent in elderly KPCO members who reported problems with several activities of daily living.
Is food insecurity associated with social isolation in elderly KPCO members?
Table 3 shows that food insecurity is also more common among elderly KPCO members who feel socially isolated.
Conclusions:
In Preliminary Report #3, we found that few chronic health conditions were strongly associated with food insecurity. In contrast, poor health status, functional disabilities and social isolation were substantially more prevalent among elderly KPCO members with food insecurity than those without.
Identifying KP members with food insecurity requires us to assess characteristics beyond the information we obtain as part of clinical care. Self-reported surveys such as the MTHA play a critical role in our ability to identify the social needs of our members.
Our next report:
Our next preliminary report will assess our ability to use both clinical data and self-reported information to identify the subgroup of elderly KPCO members at highest risk of food insecurity.