Medicaid

IMPORTANCE: In 2013, Medicare implemented payments for transitional care management (TCM) services, which provide increased reimbursement to clinicians providing ambulatory care to patients after discharge from medical facilities to the community. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the introduction of TCM payments was associated with an increase in timely postdischarge follow-up. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This cross-sectional interrupted time-series study assessed quarterly postdischarge visit rates before (2010-2012) and after (2013-2019) TCM implementation 100% sample of Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries discharged to the community after a hospital or skilled nursing facility stay...

Background: In 2014, the Affordable Care Act Medicaid Expansion (ME) increased Medicaid eligibility for adults with an income level up to 138% of the federal poverty level. In this study, we examined the impact of ME on mortality and amputation in patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD). Methods: The 100% MedPAR and Part-B Carrier files from 2011 to 2018 were queried to identify all fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries with PAD using International Classification of Diseases codes. Our primary exposure was whether a state had adopted the ME on January 1, 2014...

Prior studies have demonstrated that certain populations including older patients, racial/ethnic minority groups, and women are underrepresented in clinical trials. We performed a retrospective analysis of patients with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL) seen at MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC) to investigate the association between trial participation, race/ethnicity, travel distance and neighborhood socioeconomic status (nSES). Using patient addresses, we ascertained nSES variables on educational attainment, income, poverty, racial composition and housing at the census tract (CT) level...

OBJECTIVE: To investigate potential differences in new patient appointment wait times for otolaryngology care based on insurance types and explore factors influencing these wait times. STUDY DESIGN: A cross-sectional audit study, using a "mystery caller" approach, analyzed with a linear mixed Poisson model to adjust for confounding factors. SETTING: A total of 612 physicians across 49 states and the District of Columbia, representing 6 otolaryngology subspecialties, were included...

CONTEXT: Insurance coverage for abortion in states where care remains legal can alleviate financial burdens for patients and increase access. Recent policy changes in Illinois required Medicaid and some private insurance plans to cover abortion care. This study explores policy implementation from the perspectives of patients using their insurance to obtain early abortion care. METHODOLOGY: Between July 2021 and February 2022, we interviewed Illinois residents who recently sought abortion care at ≤11 weeks of pregnancy...

BACKGROUND: Cases of uveitis can necessitate long-term treatment resulting in recurrent follow-up appointments. Analysing the demographic distribution and patient factors influencing treatment and time spent with physicians in this population compared to other subspecialties of ophthalmology using the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) has not previously been studied. METHODS: Data were extracted from the NAMCS database, a large, nationally representative survey of office-based specialists, entered between 2012-2016 and 2018...

BACKGROUND: Medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) are effective in reducing opioid deaths, but access can be an issue. Relocating an outpatient pharmacist for weekly buprenorphine dispensing in an outpatient clinic may facilitate coverage for buprenorphine and mitigate access and counseling barriers. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate if staffing an outpatient resident pharmacist to dispense in the buprenorphine clinic had a positive impact on 1) mean cost-per-prescription charged to charity care and 2) basic elements of patient satisfaction with the on-site pharmacist...

OBJECTIVES: Medicare Home Health Care (HHC) services are integral to the care of homebound seriously ill older adults requiring ongoing specialized medical care. Although disparities in health outcomes are well documented in inpatient and primary care, disparities experienced by historically marginalized racial and ethnic groups underrepresented in HHC are understudied. This study aimed to examine the relationship between individual characteristics and differences in HHC health outcomes for seriously ill older adults...

OBJECTIVE: Avascular necrosis (AVN) is a devastating complication often necessitating arthroplasty, particularly common in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Limited research exists on arthroplasty trends since new steroid-sparing agents. We analyzed trends and characteristics associated with AVN and AVN-related arthroplasties among SLE and RA hospitalizations using two decades of data from the U.S. National Inpatient Sample (NIS). METHODS: This cross-sectional study used NIS (2000-2019) to identify hospitalized adults with SLE and RA, with or without AVN, using ICD codes...

(1) Delays in initial treatment have been a frequently used metric for assessing disparities in medicine; however, there has been sparse literature on treatment delays in thyroid cancer. We therefore aimed to assess disparities by investigating the association between race/ethnicity, insurance type, and socioeconomic status and time to surgical treatment of thyroid cancer. (2) A retrospective chart review was conducted to collect demographic and clinical data from 443 surgical thyroid cancer patients at Mount Sinai Hospital in 2018-2019...

INTRODUCTION: There has been a sharp climb in the Unites States' death rate among opioid and other substance abuse patients, as well as an increased prevalence in gun violence. We aimed to investigate the association between substance abuse and gun violence in a national sample of patients presenting to US emergency departments (EDs). METHODS: We queried the 2018-2019 Nationwide Emergency Department Sample for patients ≥18 years with substance abuse disorders (opioid and other) using International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, Clinical Modification codes...

BACKGROUND: Hospital segregation by race, ethnicity, and health insurance coverage is prevalent, with some hospitals providing a disproportionate share of undercompensated care. We assessed whether New York City (NYC) hospitals serving a higher proportion of Medicaid and uninsured patients pre-pandemic experienced greater critical care strain during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, and whether this greater strain was associated with higher rates of in-hospital mortality. METHODS: In a retrospective analysis of all-payer NYC hospital discharge data, we examined changes in admissions, stratified by use of intensive care unit (ICU), from the baseline period in early 2020 to the first COVID-19 wave across hospital quartiles (265,329 admissions), and crude and risk-adjusted inpatient mortality rates, also stratified by ICU use, in the first COVID wave across hospital quartiles (23,032 inpatient deaths), based on the proportion of Medicaid or uninsured admissions from 2017-2019 (quartile 1 lowest to 4 highest)...

Background: Telehealth can be defined as using remote technologies to provide health care. It may increase access to care among people with sickle cell disease (SCD). This study examined (1) telehealth use, (2) characteristics of telehealth use, and (3) differences between telehealth users and nonusers among people with SCD during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This was a retrospective analysis of Medicaid claims among four states [California (CA), Georgia (GA), Michigan (MI), Tennessee (TN)] participating in the Sickle Cell Data Collection program...

BACKGROUND: Understanding the trends and patterns of research funding can aid in enhancing growth and innovation in orthopaedic research. We sought to analyze financial trends in public orthopaedic surgery funding and characterize trends in private funding distribution among orthopaedic surgeons and hospitals to explore potential disparities across orthopaedic subspecialties. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of private and public orthopaedic research funding from 2015 to 2021 using the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Open Payments database and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) RePORTER through the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research, respectively...

The prevalence of cigarette smoking among U.S. adults enrolled in Medicaid is higher than among adults with private insurance; more than one in five adults enrolled in Medicaid smokes cigarettes. Smoking cessation reduces the risk for smoking-related disease and death. Effective treatments for smoking cessation are available, and comprehensive, barrier-free insurance coverage of these treatments can increase cessation. However, Medicaid treatment coverage and treatment access barriers vary by state. The American Lung Association collected and analyzed state-level information regarding coverage for nine tobacco cessation treatments and seven access barriers for standard Medicaid enrollees...

IMPORTANCE: Medicaid coverage loss can substantially compromise access to and affordability of health care for dual-eligible beneficiaries. The extent to which this population lost Medicaid coverage before and during the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) and the characteristics of beneficiaries more at risk for coverage loss are currently not well known. OBJECTIVE: To assess the loss of Medicaid coverage among dual-eligible beneficiaries before and during the first year of the PHE, and to examine beneficiary-level and plan-level factors associated with heightened likelihood of losing Medicaid...

BACKGROUND: To address the pandemic, the Defense Health Agency (DHA) expanded its TRICARE civilian provider network by 30.1%. In 2022, the DHA Annual Report stated that TRICARE's provider directories were only 80% accurate. Unlike Medicare, the DHA does not publicly reveal National Provider Identification (NPI) numbers. As a result, TRICARE's 9.6 million beneficiaries lack the means to verify their doctor's credentials. Since 2013, the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) has excluded 17,706 physicians and other providers from federal health programs due to billing fraud, neglect, drug-related convictions, and other offenses...

BACKGROUND: Hospitalizations involving opioid use disorder (OUD) are increasing. Medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) reduce mortality and acute care utilization. Hospitalization is a reachable moment for initiating MOUD and arranging for ongoing MOUD engagement following hospital discharge. Despite existing quality metrics for MOUD initiation and engagement, few hospitals provide hospital based opioid treatment (HBOT). This protocol describes a cluster-randomized hybrid type-2 implementation study comparing low-intensity and high-intensity implementation support strategies to help community hospitals implement HBOT...

Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) risks persistent pain and long-term opioid use (LTO). The role of social determinants of health (SDoH) in LTO is not well established. We hypothesized that SDoH would be associated with postsurgical LTO after controlling for relevant demographic and clinical variables. This study utilized data from the Veterans Affairs Surgical Quality Improvement Program, VA Corporate Data Warehouse, and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, including Veterans aged ≥ 65 who underwent elective TKA between 2013 and 2019 with no postsurgical complications or history of significant opioid use...

OBJECTIVE: Patients who miss screening mammogram (SM) appointments without notifying the healthcare system (no-show) risk care delays. We investigate sociodemographic characteristics of patients who experience SM no-shows at a community health center and whether and when the missed exams are completed. METHODS: We included patients with SM appointments at a community health center between 1/1/2021-12/31/2021. Language, race, ethnicity, insurance type, residential ZIP code tabulation area (ZCTA) poverty, appointment outcome (no-show, same-day cancellation, completed), and dates of completed SMs after no-show appointments with ≥ 1-year follow-up were collected...