Use of outpatient care in VA and Medicare among disability-eligible and age-eligible veteran patients

Table 1 Baseline Characteristics among VA and Medicare Dual Users in FY2000: Disability-versus Age-Eligible Veteran Patients¹

	Disability (n = 4,704)	Age (n = 10,816)	p-value
Patient Characteristics
Age, years	61.4	73.8	0.001
Age > 65 (%)	43.2%	100%	< 0.0001
Sex: female (%)	3.3%	3.4%	0.0297
Married (%)	59.3%	71.1%	< 0.0001
White (%)	87.1%	91.2%	< 0.0001
Medicaid eligibility (%)	7.9%	3.8%	< 0.0001
Receiving free VA care (%)	92.4%	76.8%	< 0.0001
Due to disability (%)	44.2%	33.1%	< 0.0001
Due to low income (%)	48.2%	43.7%	0.0007
Service-related disability percentage	28.1	13.4	0.001
Diagnostic cost group (DCG) Score²	0.98	0.95	0.104
Receiving primary care at VA community primary care clinic (%) (ref: hospital-based primary care users)	73.2%	77.6%	0.001
Distance from patient's residence to the closest VA facility³, miles	21.4	20.9	0.568
Community Characteristics
Per capita income in zip code	18,703	19,843	0.001
Population per sq mile in county	666	917	0.040
Percentage high school graduate in zip code	78.2	80.2	0.001

¹Disability- or age-eligible for Medicare was defined based on the original reason for entitlement. All comparisons were adjusted for sampling weights.
²Measured at FY2000 including diagnoses from both VA and Medicare.
³A VA hospital or a community clinic.

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