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Travis County health professionals face challenges navigating “historic” disparities in life expectancy throughout the eastern part of the county, hampered by slow delivery of state and federal data to local providers.
The big picture
Some parts of eastern Travis County see up to 15 years fewer of life expectancy than in western counterparts of the county, according to a report released in 2022 by nonprofit research organization Episcopal Health Foundation.
Though the data—collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—dates back nearly a decade, the numbers are expected to remain pretty consistent due to “historic dividing lines,” said Brian Sasser, chief communications officer for the Episcopal Health Foundation.
The analysis revealed that Travis County residents in low-income neighborhoods with high poverty rates, low education levels and significant minority populations have significantly shorter life expectancies than those in more affluent areas.
The foundation has plans to renew its research with more recent data, Sasser said, but added it could be years before receiving those figures from state and federal sources.
Zooming in
Dr. Nicholas Yagoda, the interim CEO of CommUnityCare Health Centers, called the slow data process a “stumbling block” for local providers tackling health disparities in their communities.
“Frankly, it makes it very hard for us as a community, as a state, as a nation, to be able to react in a timely fashion,” Yagoda said.
CommUnityCare is part of a national community health network that receives federal funding to provide care for uninsured or underinsured individuals. Serving nearly 130,000 patients in Central Texas annually, the organization is one of the largest Federally Qualified Health Center systems in the state.
Newer surveys conducted by CommUnityCare and other local health providers indicate that the differences between life expectancy between east and west Travis County is shrinking, but Yagoda says the data is complex.
CommUnityCare’s analysis of vulnerable population footprints examines education and income levels across the region, as these social determinants of health have proven to be an effective determinant of health outcomes, Yagoda said.
“It appears, at face value, that that gap is closing, but that may not be for the right reasons,” Yagoda said. “... When you do the analysis, it has everything to do with the change in demography within the county. We see that the net isn't disappearing, it's just being diluted.”
Yagoda explained that more affluent communities are moving east, with some of the original vulnerable populations either being displaced or getting buried behind the larger income levels of their new neighbors.
The community provider continues to evaluate areas for economic stability, environmental hazards, food deserts, safe housing, play space and other nonmedical health determinants.
“These are all key priorities that we as a public health system have to invest in to ensure that we're setting our vulnerable populations up for a healthy life trajectory,” Yagoda said.
Working to remove these long-standing life expectancy disparities, CommUnityCare integrates both medical and nonmedical aspects of health care, such as providing food classes, transportation and building connections to housing.
CommUnityCare also functions as a care provider of the county’s hospital district Central Health, which launched more than a dozen new specialty care and diagnostic lines of service over the last couple of years.
“Each of these specialties represent an opportunity to help our patients who have been accustomed to waiting for months or more to be seen by a specialist, to get the care they need now and begin their journey to better health right now,” Central Health CEO Dr. Patrick Lee said as the organization broke ground in November on a new clinic and headquarters planned for the old Sears building in the Hancock Center.
Central Health adopted its Healthcare Equity Plan in early 2022, planning a $700 million effort to increase direct care to patients.
The hospital district opened its first permanent specialty clinic at the Rosewood-Zaragosa center in East Austin in July and has plans for another health and wellness center in Del Valle.
Quote of note
“We know that 80% of what determines a person’s health doesn’t involve access to medical care; it’s about income, housing, community safety and more,” Former Episcopal Health Foundation CEO Elena Marks said. “These life expectancy numbers are further evidence that to improve Texans’ health and quality of life, we have to focus on the underlying causes of poor health that have nothing to do with going to a doctor or hospital. We have to change the conversation to improve ‘health,' not just ‘health care’ in Texas.”
