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BACKGROUND Prior studies have found conflicting effects of Medicaid expansion on emergency department (ED) utilization but have not studied the reasons patients go to EDs. OBJECTIVES Examine the changes in reasons for ED use associated with Medicaid expansion. RESEARCH DESIGN Difference-in-difference analysis. SUBJECTS We included sample adults from the 2012 to 2017 National Health Interview Survey who were US citizens and reported a total family income below 138% federal poverty level (n=30,259). MEASURES We examined changes in the proportion of study subjects reporting: (1) any ED visits; (2) ED visits due to perceived illness severity; (3) office not open; and (4) barriers to outpatient care, comparing expansion and nonexpansion states. RESULTS Overall, 30.6% of low-income adults reported ED use in the past year, of which 74.1% reported illness acuity, 12.4% reported office not open, 9.5% reported access barriers, and 4.0% did not report any reason. Medicaid expansion was not associated with statistically significant changes in overall ED use [-2.2% (95% confidence interval-CI), -5.5% to 1.2%), P=0.21], ED visits due to perceived illness severity [0.5% (95% CI, -2.4% to 3.5%), P=0.73], or office not open [-0.9% (95% CI, -2.3% to 0.5%); P=0.22], but was associated with significant decrease in ED visits due to access barriers [-1.4% (95% CI, -2.6% to -0.2%), P=0.022]. CONCLUSIONS Medicaid expansion was associated with a decrease in low-income adults who reported outpatient care barriers as reasons for ED visits. There were no significant changes in overall ED utilization, likely because the majority of respondent reported ED use due to concerns with illness severity or outpatient office was closed.

ImportanceNew York City, an early epicenter of the pandemic, invested heavily in its COVID-19 vaccination campaign to mitigate the burden of disease outbreaks. Understanding the return on investment (ROI) of this campaign would provide insights into vaccination programs to curb future COVID-19 outbreaks.ObjectiveTo estimate the ROI of the New York City COVID-19 vaccination campaign by estimating the tangible direct and indirect costs from a societal perspective.Design, Setting, and ParticipantsThis decision analytical model of disease transmission was calibrated to confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 in New York City between December 14, 2020, and January 31, 2022. This simulation model was validated with observed patterns of reported hospitalizations and deaths during the same period.ExposuresAn agent-based counterfactual scenario without vaccination was simulated using the calibrated model.Main Outcomes and MeasuresCosts of health care and deaths were estimated in the actual pandemic trajectory with vaccination and in the counterfactual scenario without vaccination. The savings achieved by vaccination, which were associated with fewer outpatient visits, emergency department visits, emergency medical services, hospitalizations, and intensive care unit admissions, were also estimated. The value of a statistical life (VSL) lost due to COVID-19 death and the productivity loss from illness were accounted for in calculating the ROI.ResultsDuring the study period, the vaccination campaign averted an estimated $27.96 (95% credible interval [CrI], $26.19-$29.84) billion in health care expenditures and 315 724 (95% CrI, 292 143-340 420) potential years of life lost, averting VSL loss of $26.27 (95% CrI, $24.39-$28.21) billion. The estimated net savings attributable to vaccination were $51.77 (95% CrI, $48.50-$55.85) billion. Every $1 invested in vaccination yielded estimated savings of $10.19 (95% CrI, $9.39-$10.87) in direct and indirect costs of health outcomes that would have been incurred without vaccination.Conclusions and RelevanceResults of this modeling study showed an association of the New York City COVID-19 vaccination campaign with reduction in severe outcomes and avoidance of substantial economic losses. This significant ROI supports continued investment in improving vaccine uptake during the ongoing pandemic.

There is increased focus on identifying and addressing health-related social needs (HRSNs). Understanding how different HRSNs relate to different health outcomes can inform targeted, evidence-based policies, investments, and innovations to address HRSNs.To examine the association between self-reported HRSNs and acute care utilization among older adults enrolled in Medicare Advantage.This cross-sectional study used data from a large, national survey of Medicare Advantage beneficiaries to identify the presence of HRSNs. Survey data were linked to medical claims, and regression models were used to estimate the association between HRSNs and rates of acute care utilization from January 1, 2019, through December 31, 2019.Self-reported HRSNs, including food insecurity, financial strain, loneliness, unreliable transportation, utility insecurity, housing insecurity, and poor housing quality.All-cause hospital stays (inpatient admissions and observation stays), avoidable hospital stays, all-cause emergency department (ED) visits, avoidable ED visits, and 30-day readmissions.Among a final study population of 56 155 Medicare Advantage beneficiaries (mean [SD] age, 74.0 [5.8] years; 32 779 [58.4%] women; 44 278 [78.8%] White; and 7634 [13.6%] dual eligible for Medicaid), 27 676 (49.3%) reported 1 or more HRSNs. Health-related social needs were associated with statistically significantly higher rates of all utilization measures, with the largest association observed for avoidable hospital stays (incident rate ratio for any HRSN, 1.53; 95% CI, 1.35-1.74;In this cross-sectional study of older adults enrolled in Medicare Advantage, self-reported HRSNs were common and associated with statistically significantly increased rates of acute care utilization, with variation in which HRSNs were associated with different utilization measures. These findings provide evidence of the unique association between certain HRSNs and different types of acute care utilization, which could help refine the development and targeting of efforts to address HRSNs.

This cross-sectional study assesses compliance within a random sample of hospitals with a federal rule requiring hospitals to disclose the prices they negotiate with insurers.

As home-based care utilization rises, an exploration of potential unintended consequences is necessary. The authors focus on support gaps, informal caregiving, and failure to meaningfully engage clinicians.

The Medicare Advantage (MA) program has doubled in size during the past decade, and enrollment among adults with low income has increased rapidly. Such adults face significant barriers in accessing care, leading to poorer health outcomes. Therefore, understanding how health care access, preventive care, and care affordability compare for adults with low income who are enrolled in MA vs traditional Medicare (TM) is critically important.To compare measures of health care access, preventive care use, and affordability of care between adults with low income who are enrolled in MA vs TM.This nationally representative cross-sectional study used the 2019 National Health Interview Survey to compare 2622 adults aged 65 years or older with low income who were enrolled in MA vs TM. Data were analyzed from December 5, 2021, to April 10, 2022.Measures of health care access, preventive care use, and health care affordability.The study cohort included 2622 adults aged 65 years or older with low income, resulting in a weighted cohort of 14 222 243 adults, of whom 5 641 049 (39.7%) were enrolled in MA and 8 581 194 (60.3%) in TM. The overall age of the cohort was 74.6 years (95% CI, 74.3-74.9). Between the MA and TM groups, the mean age (74.5 years [95% CI, 74.1-75.0] vs 74.7 years [95% CI, 74.3-75.1]; P = .63) and sex distribution (63.6% women [95% CI, 59.8%-67.3%] vs 60.4% women [95% CI, 57.4%-63.3%]; P = .17) were similar, but adults with low income in MA were more likely to be non-Hispanic Asian (7.6% [95% CI, 5.0%-10.1%] vs 3.8% [95% CI, 2.4%-5.3%]; P = .01) or Hispanic (18.1% [95% CI, 14.3%-21.9%] vs 9.4% [95% CI, 7.2%-11.7%]; P .001). Adults with low income in MA compared with those enrolled in TM were more likely to have a usual place of care (97.7% vs 94.9%; adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 2.37 [95% CI, 1.38-4.07]), but similarly likely to have a recent physician visit (95.5% vs 93.5%; aOR, 1.39 [95% CI, 0.88-2.17]) and to delay medical care (5.3% vs 5.7%; aOR, 0.83 [95% CI, 0.56-1.24]) or not seek medical care (5.6% vs 5.9%; aOR, 0.86 [95% CI, 0.56-1.30]) due to costs. For preventive care measures, adults with low income in MA were more likely than those in TM to have undergone a recent cholesterol screening (98.7% vs 96.6%; aOR, 2.58 [95% CI, 1.27-5.22]). However, there were no significant differences between the MA and TM groups in the likelihood of diabetes screening (90.6% vs 87.6%; aOR, 1.21 [95% CI, 0.87-1.66]), blood pressure screening (96.8% vs 95.2%; aOR, 1.37 [95% CI, 0.84-2.23]), or receipt of an influenza vaccination in the past year (66.3% vs 63.8%; aOR, 1.16 [95% CI, 0.93-1.45]). Adults with low income in MA or TM were similarly likely to be concerned about paying medical bills (47.3% vs 44.2%; aOR, 1.09 [95% CI, 0.88-1.35]) or have problems paying medical bills (17.1% vs 17.2%; aOR, 0.94 [95% CI, 0.69-1.27]) and were also similarly likely to delay filling prescriptions (7.4% vs 6.2%; aOR, 1.22 [95% CI, 0.78-1.92]) or to not fill prescriptions (7.8% vs 7.4%; aOR, 1.01 [95% CI, 0.70-1.45]) due to costs.In this study of Medicare beneficiaries with low income, key measures of health care access, preventive care use, and health care affordability generally did not differ between those enrolled in MA vs TM.

IMPORTANCE: Rigorous evidence describing the relationship between private equity acquisition and changes in hospital spending and quality is currently lacking. OBJECTIVE: To examine changes in hospital income, use, and quality measures that may be associated with private equity acquisition. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This cohort study identified 204 hospitals acquired by private equity firms from 2005 to 2017 and 532 matched hospitals not acquired by private equity. Using a difference-in-differences design, this study evaluated changes in net income, charges, charge to cost ratios, case mix index (a measure of reported illness burden), share of discharges for patients with Medicare or Medicaid coverage, discharges per year, and aggregate hospital quality measures associated with private equity acquisition through 3 years after acquisition, adjusted for case mix, hospital beds, calendar year, and adjustment for multiple hypothesis testing. In subgroup analyses, changes in outcomes for private equity–owned Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) hospitals and non-HCA hospitals relative to matched controls were assessed. PRIMARY OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Eight hospital income and use measures and 3 aggregate hospital quality measures were examined. RESULTS: Relative to 532 control hospitals, the 204 private equity–acquired hospitals showed a mean increase of $2 302 391 (95% CI, $956 660-$3 648 123; P = .009) in annual net income, an increase of $407 (95% CI, $296-$518; P .99) and total hospital discharges (98; 95% CI, −54 to 250; P > .99) did not change differentially in a statistically significant manner. The aggregate quality score for acute myocardial infarction increased by 3.3% (95% CI, 1.6%-5.0%; P = .002), and the aggregate score for pneumonia increased by 2.9% (95% CI, 1.8%-3.9%; P .99) or pneumonia (0.2%; 95% CI, −1.4% to 1.7%; P > .99). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Hospitals acquired by private equity were associated with larger increases in net income, charges, charge to cost ratios, and case mix index as well as with improvement in some quality measures after acquisition relative to nonacquired controls. Heterogeneity in some findings was observed between HCA and non-HCA hospitals.

Physicians, nurses, and other health care providers initiated the #GetMePPE movement on Twitter to spread awareness of the shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Dwindling supplies, such as face masks, gowns and goggles, and inadequate production to meet increasing demand have placed health care workers and patients at risk. The momentum of the #GetMePPE Twitter hashtag resulted in the creation of a petition to urge public officials to address the PPE shortage through increased funding and production. Simultaneously, the GetUsPPE.org website was launched through the collaboration of physicians and software engineers to develop a digital platform for the donation, request, and distribution of multi-modal sources of PPE. GetUsPPE.org and #GetMePPE were merged in an attempt to combine public engagement and advocacy on social media with the coordination of PPE donation and distribution. Within 10 days, over 1800 hospitals and PPE suppliers were registered in a database that enabled the rapid coordination and distribution of scarce and in-demand materials. One month after its launch, the organization had distributed hundreds of thousands of PPE items and had built a database of over 6000 PPE requesters. The call for action on social media and the rapid development of this digital tool created a productive channel for the public to contribute to the health care response to COVID-19 in meaningful ways. #GetMePPE and GetUsPPE.org were able to mobilize individuals and organizations outside of the health care system to address the unmet needs of the medical community. The success of GetUsPPE.org demonstrates the potential of digital tools as a platform for larger health care institutions to rapidly address urgent issues in health care. In this paper, we outline this process and discuss key factors determining success.

Most patients receiving multimodality cancer care receive care from different practices. Therefore, episode-based payments in oncology must hold multiple providers accountable for costs and quality.

The authors propose that, through innovative and mutually beneficial partnerships between medical schools and local Emergency Medical Services (EMS) agencies, medical students can help mitigate EMS shortages in areas across the country. These partnerships, which we have seen very early signs of in some places, would create channels by which medical students get their emergency medical technician certifications in the summer before matriculating and volunteer with the agency’s ambulance service, either as an extracurricular clinical experience (which are very popular among medical students) or as a way to fulfill clinical or service requirements or earn elective credit. In the attached piece, the authors (1) establish, using data, that a key factor contributing to current and impending EMS shortages is a lack of certified personnel, and (2) propose why and how medical students could provide a novel source of additional volunteers for understaffed public ambulance services, explore some of the benefits and limitations of this proposal, and provide a road-map for how to form partnerships between medical schools and local EMS agencies.

We aim to understand how Medicaid expansion under the ACA has affected utilization of surgical services.The State Inpatient Databases were used to compare utilization of a broad array of surgical procedures among nonelderly adults (aged 19-64 years) in a multistate population that experienced ACA-related Medicaid expansion to one that did not. We performed a difference-in-differences (DID) analysis to determine the effect of Medicaid expansion on utilization of surgical services from 2012 to 2014.There were 259,061 cases identified in the Medicaid expansion population and 261,269 in the control population. In the expansion group, there was a smaller decrease in utilization - by a margin of 21.68 cases per 100,000 individuals (p 0.001). Percent of surgical patients covered by Medicaid increased among the expansion group from 12.00% to 15.48% (DID = 3.93%; p 0.001).Year one of Medicaid expansion under the ACA was associated with a modest but statistically significant difference in utilization of surgical services as well as an increase in percent of surgery patients covered by Medicaid.

States are increasingly enacting extreme risk protection order (ERPO) laws, also known as "red flag" or gun violence restraining order laws, as one part of a multidisciplinary approach to address the national gun violence epidemic. Passed into law in more than 10 states and under consideration by legislatures in approximately 30 others, ERPO laws create a legal process to temporarily remove firearms from people who may pose a risk to themselves or others. By enabling family or household members, law enforcement, and, in some cases, health care professionals to petition courts when they are concerned about a potential crisis, these laws can potentially prevent firearm-related violence and save lives. Most states with ERPO laws do not give health care professionals a direct role in filing petitions; still, physicians may serve as a resource for patients or their families by counseling on firearm safety and raising awareness of this legal pathway. In this way, the success of ERPO laws depends, in part, on the ability of physicians to accurately assess risk. However, physicians are often not proficient in making these types of risk assessments, largely because of insufficient training, particularly in the context of firearm-related violence. The authors review the literature on physician skill in violence-related risk assessment, medical education in gun violence prevention, and the capacity for training to improve such risk assessments. The authors then make recommendations for integrating focused gun violence prevention training into undergraduate, graduate, and continuing medical education, reviewing notable examples.

This cohort study uses data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results–Medicare Linked Database to assess the attribution of patients with newly diagnosed lung, breast, colorectal, or prostate cancer to care from multidisciplinary specialists—medical oncologists, surgeons, or radiation oncologists—within 6 months after diagnosis.

The United States is hailed as providing the most advanced health care the world has to offer. With cutting-edge medical devices, groundbreaking procedures, and innovative technologies, our hospitals and medical centers define what the global community sees as modern biomedicine. Engineers and clinicians continue to push and reshape this standard with new inventions enabled by a rapidly developing knowledge base. However, the fruit of this advancement has not benefited Americans equally. Millions still face significant obstacles to access health care, and our rural communities in particular have been left behind (see also "The Challenge of Rural Health Care").

Importance Insurers have increasingly adopted policies to reduce emergency department (ED) visits that they consider unnecessary. One common approach is to retrospectively deny coverage if the ED discharge diagnosis is determined by the insurer to be nonemergent. Objective To characterize ED visits that may be denied coverage if the ED coverage denial policy of a large national insurer, Anthem, Inc, is widely adopted. Design, Setting, and Participants A cross-sectional analysis of probability-sampled ED visits from the nationally representative National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey ED subsample occurring from January 1, 2011, to December 31, 2015, was conducted. Visits by commercially insured patients aged 15 to 64 years were examined. Those with ED discharge diagnoses defined by Anthem’s policy as nonemergent and therefore subject to possible denial of coverage were classified as denial diagnosis visits. The primary presenting symptoms among denial diagnosis visits were identified, and all visits by commercially insured adults presenting with these primary symptoms were classified as denial symptom visits. Main Outcomes and Measures Each visit cohort as a weighted proportion of commercially insured adult ED visits. The proportion of each visit cohort that received ED-level care, defined as visits where patients were triaged as urgent or emergent, received 2 or more diagnostic tests, or were admitted or transferred, was also examined. Results From 2011 to 2015, 15.7% (95% CI, 15.0%-16.4%) of commercially insured adult ED visits (4440 of 28 304) were denial diagnosis visits (mean [SD] patient age, 36.6 [14.0] years; 2592 [58.7%] female and 2962 [63.5%] white). Among these visits, 39.7% (95% CI, 37.1%-42.3%) received ED-level care: 24.5% (95% CI, 21.7%-27.4%) were initially triaged as urgent or emergent and 26.0% (95% CI, 23.8%-28.3%) received 2 or more diagnostic tests. These denial diagnosis visits shared the same presenting symptoms as 87.9% (95% CI, 87.3%-88.4%) of commercially insured adult ED visits (24 882 of 28 304) (mean [SD] patient age, 38.5 [14.1] years; 14 362 [57.9%] female and 17 483 [68.7%] white). Among these denial symptom visits, 65.1% (95% CI, 63.4%-66.9%) received ED-level care: 43.2% (95% CI, 40.2%-46.4%) were triaged as urgent or emergent, 51.9% (95% CI, 50.0%-53.9%) received 2 or more diagnostic tests, and 9.7% (95% CI, 8.8%-10.6%) were admitted or transferred. Conclusions and Relevance Anthem’s nonemergent ED discharge diagnoses were not associated with identification of unnecessary ED visits when assessed from the patient’s perspective. This cost-reduction policy could place many patients who reasonably seek ED care at risk of coverage denial.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is a global health threat, compounded by the emergence of drug-resistant strains. A hallmark of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) is the formation of hypoxic necrotic granulomas, which upon disintegration, release infectious Mtb. Furthermore, hypoxic necrotic granulomas are associated with increased disease severity and provide a niche for drug-resistant Mtb. However, the host immune responses that promote the development of hypoxic TB granulomas are not well described. Using a necrotic Mtb mouse model, we show that loss of Mtb virulence factors, such as phenolic glycolipids, decreases the production of the proinflammatory cytokine IL-17 (also referred to as IL-17A). IL-17 production negatively regulates the development of hypoxic TB granulomas by limiting the expression of the transcription factor hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF1α). In human TB patients, HIF1α mRNA expression is increased. Through genotyping and association analyses in human samples, we identified a link between the single nucleotide polymorphism rs2275913 in the IL-17 promoter (–197G/G), which is associated with decreased IL-17 production upon stimulation with Mtb cell wall. Together, our data highlight a potentially novel role for IL-17 in limiting the development of hypoxic necrotic granulomas and reducing disease severity in TB.