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Early Medicaid Expansion In Connecticut Stemmed The Growth In Hospital Uncompensated Care.

ABSTRACT: As states continue to debate whether or not to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), a key consideration is the impact of expansion on the financial position of hospitals, including their burden of uncompensated care. Conclusive evidence from coverage expansions that occurred in 2014 is several years away. In the meantime, we analyzed the experience of hospitals in Connecticut, which expanded Medicaid coverage to a large number of childless adults in April 2010 under the ACA. Using hospital-level panel data from Medicare cost reports, we performed difference-in-differences analyses to compare the change in Medicaid volume and uncompensated care in the period 2007-13 in Connecticut to changes in other Northeastern states. We found that early Medicaid expansion in Connecticut was associated with an increase in Medicaid discharges of 7-9 percentage points, relative to a baseline rate of 11 percent, and an increase of 7-8 percentage points in Medicaid revenue as a share of total revenue, relative to a baseline share of 10 percent. Also, in contrast to the national and regional trends of increasing uncompensated care during this period, hospitals in Connecticut experienced no increase in uncompensated care. We conclude that uncompensated care in Connecticut was roughly one-third lower than what it would have been without early Medicaid expansion. The results suggest that ACA Medicaid expansions could reduce hospitals' uncompensated care burden.

SUBMITTER: Nikpay S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4579095 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Early Medicaid Expansion In Connecticut Stemmed The Growth In Hospital Uncompensated Care.

Nikpay Sayeh S Buchmueller Thomas T Levy Helen H

Health affairs (Project Hope) 20150701 7

As states continue to debate whether or not to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), a key consideration is the impact of expansion on the financial position of hospitals, including their burden of uncompensated care. Conclusive evidence from coverage expansions that occurred in 2014 is several years away. In the meantime, we analyzed the experience of hospitals in Connecticut, which expanded Medicaid coverage to a large number of childless adults in April 2010 under the ACA. Usin ...[more]

PMID: 26153312

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Project description:ImportanceMedicaid expansion under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is associated with gains in health insurance coverage, earlier stage diagnosis, and improved survival among patients with cancer.ObjectiveTo examine the association of Medicaid expansion with changes in early mortality among adults undergoing surgical resection of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), a setting in which access to care is a major determinant of survival.Design, setting, and participantsThis cohort study used the National Cancer Database to identify 14 984 adults 45 to 64 years of age who underwent surgical resection of NSCLC between 2008 and 2019. Analysis was conducted between March 28, 2021, and September 1, 2023.ExposureState of residence Medicaid expansion status.Main outcomes and measuresDescriptive statistics were used to compare study population characteristics by Medicaid expansion status of patients' state of residence. Difference-in-differences analyses were used to evaluate the association between Medicaid expansion and postoperative mortality before implementation of the ACA (2008-2013) vs after (2014-2019).ResultsAmong 14 984 adults included, the mean (SD) age was 56.3 (5.1) years, 54.6% were women, and 62.1% lived in Medicaid expansion states. Both 30-day (from 0.97% to 0.26%) and 90-day (from 2.63% to 1.32%) postoperative mortality decreased from before the ACA to after among patients residing in Medicaid expansion states (both P < .001) but not in nonexpansion states (30-day mortality before the ACA, 0.75% vs after the ACA, 0.68%; P = .74; and 90-day mortality before the ACA, 2.43% vs after the ACA, 2.20%; P = .57), leading to a difference-in-differences of -0.64 percentage points (95% CI, -1.19 to -0.08; P = .03) for 30-day mortality and -1.08 percentage points (95% CI, -2.08 to -0.08; P = .03) for 90-day mortality. The difference-in-differences for in-hospital mortality was not significant (P = .34) between expansion states (1.41% before the ACA to 0.77% after the ACA; 0.63 percentage point decrease; P = .004) and nonexpansion states (1.49% before the ACA to 1.20% after the ACA; 0.30 percentage point decrease; P = .29).Conclusions and relevanceIn this cohort study of patients with NSCLC, Medicaid expansion was associated with declines in 30- and 90-day postoperative mortality following hospital discharge. These findings suggest that Medicaid expansion may be an effective strategy for improving access to care and cancer outcomes in this population.

Project description:BackgroundMedicaid expansion substantially increased health insurance coverage, but its effect on the delivery of preventative health care is unclear.ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to assess the impact of Medicaid expansion on the receipt of 15 different measures of preventive care including cancer screening, cardiovascular risk reduction, diabetes care, and other primary care measures.Research designWe performed serial cross-sectional analysis of Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey data from 2012 to 2017. We used a quasi-experimental design with difference-in-differences (DiD) analyses to examine changes in preventative health care delivery over 3 time periods in Medicaid expansion compared with nonexpansion states.SubjectsWe included low-income (<138% federal poverty level) nonelderly (age younger than 65 y) adults residing in 46 US states.MeasuresOur predictor was residing in a Medicaid expansion state (24 states) versus nonexpansion state (19 states). Our primary outcomes were preventative health care services, which we categorized as cancer screening (breast cancer, cervical cancer, and colorectal cancer); cardiovascular risk reduction (serum cholesterol screening in low-risk groups, serum cholesterol monitoring in high-risk groups, and aspirin use); diabetes care (serum cholesterol monitoring, hemoglobin A1c monitoring, foot examination, eye examination, and influenza vaccination, and pneumonia vaccination); and other primary care measures [influenza vaccination, alcohol use screening, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) screening].ResultsSurvey responses from 500,495 low-income nonelderly adults from 2012 to 2017 were included in the analysis, representing 68.2 million US adults per year. Of the 15 outcomes evaluated, we did not detect statistically significant differences in cancer screening (3 outcomes), cholesterol screening or monitoring (2 outcomes), diabetes care (6 outcomes), or alcohol use screening (1 outcome) in expansion compared with nonexpansion states. Aspirin use (DiD 8.8%, P<0.001), influenza vaccination (DiD 1.4%, P=0.016), and HIV screening (DiD 1.9%, P=0.004) increased in expansion states compared with nonexpansion states.ConclusionsMedicaid expansion was associated with an increase in aspirin use, influenza vaccination, and HIV screening in expansion states. Despite improvements in access to care, including health insurance, having a primary care doctor, and routine visits, Medicaid expansion was not associated with improvements in cancer screening, cholesterol monitoring, diabetes care, or alcohol use screening. Our findings highlight implementation challenges in delivering high-quality primary care to low-income populations.

Project description:Importance:Medicaid expansion was widely expected to alleviate the financial stresses faced by hospitals by providing additional revenue in the form of Medicaid reimbursements from patients previously receiving uncompensated care. Among nonprofit hospitals, which receive tax-exempt status in part because of their provision of uncompensated care, Medicaid expansion could have released hospital funds toward other community benefit activities. Objective:To examine changes in nonprofit hospital spending on community benefit activities after Medicaid expansion. Design, Setting, and Participants:This cohort study used difference-in-differences analysis of 1666 US nonprofit hospitals that filed Internal Revenue Service Form 990 Schedule H detailing their community benefit expenditures between 2011 and 2017. The analysis was conducted from February to September 2019. Exposures:State Medicaid expansion between 2011 and 2017. Main Outcomes and Measures:Percentage of hospital operating expenditures attributable to charity care and subsidized care, bad debt (ie, unreimbursed spending for care of patients who did not apply for charity care), unreimbursed Medicaid spending, noncare direct community spending, and total community benefit spending. Results:Of 1478 hospitals in the sample in 2011, nearly half (653 [44.2%]) were small hospitals with fewer than 100 beds, and nearly 70% of hospitals (1023 [69.2%]) were in urban areas. Among the 1666 nonprofit hospitals, Medicaid expansion was associated with a decrease in spending on charity care and subsidized care (-0.68 [95% CI, -0.99 to -0.37] percentage points from a baseline mean [SD] of 3.6% [4.0%] of total hospital expenditures; P?<?.001) and in bad debt (-0.17 [95% CI, -0.32 to -0.01] percentage points). There was an increase in unreimbursed spending attributable to caring for Medicaid patients (0.85 [95% CI, 0.60 to 1.10] percentage points; P?=?.04), which canceled out uncompensated care savings from the expansion. Noncare direct community expenditures decreased overall (-0.24 [95% CI, -0.48 to 0.00] percentage points; P?=?.049). Direct community expenditures remained more stable in small hospitals (-0.07 [95% CI, -0.20 to 0.05] percentage points; P?=.26) compared with large hospitals (-0.37 [95% CI, -0.86 to 0.12] percentage points; P?=?.14) and in nonurban hospitals (0.02 [95% CI, -0.09 to 0.14] percentage points; P?=?.70) compared with urban hospitals (-0.36 [95% CI, -0.73 to 0.01] percentage points; P?=?.06). Conclusions and Relevance:In this study, Medicaid expansion was associated with a decrease in nonprofit hospitals' burden of providing uncompensated care, but this financial relief was not redirected toward spending on other community benefits.

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Early Medicaid Expansion In Connecticut Stemmed The Growth In Hospital Uncompensated Care.

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Early Medicaid Expansion In Connecticut Stemmed The Growth In Hospital Uncompensated Care.

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