The health care-related variables in this analysis may be only the tip
of the iceberg of factors that can be changed and could potentially lead
to lower rates of mortality amenable to health care. Indeed, one could
argue that the variables included in this analysis, which were chosen
because they are ones that are currently available across the states, are
simply proxies for other variables that may be a better reflection of
the care that patients should experience to reduce their probability of
amenable mortality. One could speculate, for example, that if there
were data to link individual patient experiences over time to mortality
rates, there might prove to be a relationship between the effectiveness
of smoking cessation programs and/or obesity management programs
and lower rates of amenable mortality. Similarly, it is possible that if
one had data on drug and alcohol use and the effectiveness of substance
use programs, one might find a relationship with amenable mortality.