PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Huguet, Nathalie
AU  - Schmidt, Teresa
AU  - Larson, Annie
AU  - O’Malley, Jean
AU  - Hoopes, Megan
AU  - Angier, Heather
AU  - Marino, Miguel
AU  - DeVoe, Jennifer
TI  - Prevalence of Pre-existing Conditions Among Community Health Center Patients With COVID-19: Implications for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
AID  - 10.3122/jabfm.2021.S1.200571
DP  - 2021 Feb 01
TA  - The Journal of the American Board of Family
                Medicine
PG  - S247--S249
VI  - 34
IP  - Supplement
4099  - http://www.jabfm.org/content/34/Supplement/S247.short
4100  - http://www.jabfm.org/content/34/Supplement/S247.full
SO  - J Am Board Fam Med2021 Feb 01; 34
AB  - Background: Short- and long-term effects of COVID-19 will likely be designated pre-existing conditions. We describe the prevalence of pre-existing conditions among community health center patients overall and those with COVID-19 by race/ethnicity.Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study used electronic health record data from OCHIN, a network of 396 community health centers across 14 states.Results: Among all patients with COVID-19, 33% did not have a pre-existing condition before the pandemic. Up to half of COVID-19-positive non-Hispanic Asians (51%), Hispanic (36%), and non-Hispanic black (28%) patients did not have a pre-existing condition before the pandemic.Conclusions: The future of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is uncertain, and the long-term health effects of COVID-19 are largely unknown; therefore, ensuring people with pre-existing conditions can acquire health insurance is essential to achieving health equity.