The care of chronically ill Minnesotans is still suffering from COVID-19's shock to the health care system, an influential clinical report shows.
While clinics are making gains in management of depression and diabetes, they are losing ground in other areas, according to MN Community Measurement's 2022 data, published Thursday. Only 55% of patients had their vascular disease adequately managed in 2022, down from 60% in 2019.
Clinic scores varied. Entira's Hugo clinic had nearly 67% of its vascular disease patients at optimal health, which means they had low blood pressure, refrained from smoking, and took daily aspirin and statin drugs. NorthPoint Health & Wellness Center in Plymouth only got 22% of its patients to that level last year.
Scores for vascular care generally worsened for the top and bottom clinics, said Julie Sonier, executive director of MN Community Measurement, a nonprofit agency that uses clinics' electronic records to calculate their performance.
"What I hoped we would see was sort of more consistent improvement back toward at least where we were before the pandemic," she said.
Thursday's report allows patients to look up their own clinics across several measures, including vascular disease, which can lead to heart attacks and strokes.
Sonier said the 2022 scores likely reflect the struggles for clinics since the pandemic with finances and a shortage of nurses and other caregivers.
Clinical quality "is just one of the many things on their plates," she said, "and some of the others are pretty urgent, like you have to stay in business."