Early Impact of the Affordable Care Act Coverage Expansion on Safety-Net Hospital Inpatient Payer Mix and Market Shares.
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ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVE:To examine the impact of the Affordable Care Act's coverage expansion on safety-net hospitals (SNHs). STUDY SETTING:Nine Medicaid expansion states. STUDY DESIGN:Differences-in-differences (DID) models compare payer-specific pre-post changes in inpatient stays of adults aged 19-64 years at SNHs and non-SNHs. DATA COLLECTION METHODS:2013-2014 Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project State Inpatient Databases. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:On average per quarter postexpansion, SNHs and non-SNHs experienced similar relative decreases in uninsured stays (DID = -2.2 percent, p = .916). Non-SNHs experienced a greater percentage increase in Medicaid stays than did SNHs (DID = 13.8 percent, p = .041). For SNHs, the average decrease in uninsured stays (-146) was similar to the increase in Medicaid stays (153); privately insured stays were stable. For non-SNHs, the decrease in uninsured (-63) plus privately insured (-33) stays was similar to the increase in Medicaid stays (105). SNHs and non-SNHs experienced a similar absolute increase in Medicaid, uninsured, and privately insured stays combined (DID = -16, p = .162). CONCLUSIONS:Postexpansion, non-SNHs experienced a greater percentage increase in Medicaid stays than did SNHs, which may reflect patients choosing non-SNHs over SNHs or a crowd-out of private insurance. More research is needed to understand these trends.
SUBMITTER: Wu VY
PROVIDER: S-EPMC6153150 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Oct
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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