The Affordable Care Act: Disparities in emergency department use for mental health diagnoses in young adults

BACKGROUND: There is little consensus as to the effects of insurance expansion on emergency department(ED) utilization for mental health purposes. We aimed to study the race specifi c association between the dependent coverage provision of the Affordable Care Act(ACA) and changes in young adults' usage of emergency department services for psychiatric diagnoses.METHODS: We utilized a Quasi-Experimental analysis of ED use in California from 2009–2011 for behavioral health diagnoses of individuals aged 19 to 31 years. Analysis used a difference-indifferences approach comparing those targeted by the ACA dependent provision(19–25 years) and those who were not(27 to 31 years), evaluating changes in ED visit rates per 1 000 in California. Primary outcomes measured included the quarterly ED visit rates with any psychiatric diagnosis. Subgroups were analyzed for differences based on race and gender.RESULTS: The ACA dependent provision was associated with 0.05 per 1 000 people fewer psychiatric ED visits among the treatment group(19–25 years) compared to the control group(27–31 years). Hispanics and Asian/Pacific Islanders were the only racial subgroups who did not see this significant reduction and were the only racial subgroups that did not see significant gains in the proportion of psychiatric ED visits covered by private insurance.CONCLUSION: The ACA dependent provision was associated with a modest reduction in the growth rate of ED use for psychiatric reasons, however, racial disparities in the effect of this provision exist for patients of Hispanic and Asian/Pacifi c Islander racial groups.

Utilization of access to colorectal cancer screening modalities in low-income populations after medicaid expansion

BACKGROUND Colorectal cancer(CRC)remains a relevant public health problem.Current research suggests that racial,economic and geographic disparities impact access.Despite the expansion of Medicaid eligibility as a key component of the Affordable Care Act(ACA),there is a dearth of information on the utilization of newly gained access to CRC screening by low-income individuals.This study investigates the impact of the ACA’s Medicaid expansion on utilization of the various CRC screening modalities by low-income participants.Our working hypothesis is that Medicaid expansion will increase access and utilization of CRC screening by low-income participants.AIM To investigate the impact of the Affordable Care Act and in particular the effect of Medicaid expansion on access and utilization of CRC screening modalities by Medicaid state expansion status across the United States.METHODS This was a quasi-experimental study design using data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System,a large health system survey for participants across the United States and with over 2.8 million responses.The period of the study was from 2011 to 2016 which was dichotomized as pre-ACA Medicaid expansion(2011-2013)and post-ACA Medicaid expansion(2014-2016).The change in utilization of access to CRC screening strategies between the expansion periods were analyzed as the dependent variables.Secondary analyses included stratification of the access by ethnicity/race,income,and education status.RESULTS A greater increase in utilization of access to CRC screening was observed in Medicaid expansion states than in nonexpansion states[+2.9%;95%confidence interval(95%CI):2.12,3.69].Low-income participants showed a+4.02%(95%CI:2.96,5.07)change between the expansion periods compared with higher income groups+3.19%(1.70,4.67).Non-Hispanic Whites and Hispanics[+3.01%(95%CI:2.16,3.85)vs+5.51%(95%CI:2.81,8.20)]showed a statistically significant increase in utilization of access but not in Non-Hispanic Blacks,or Multiracial.There was an increase in utilization across all educational levels.This was significant among those who reported having a high school graduate degree or more+4.26%(95%CI:3.16,5.35)compared to some high school or less+1.59%(95%CI:-1.37,4.55).CONCLUSION Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act led to an overall increase in self-reported use of CRC screening tests by adults aged 50-64 years in the United States.This finding was consistent across all low-income populations,but not all races or levels of education.

A new role for primary care teams in the United States after“Obamacare:”Track and improve health insurance coverage rates

Maintaining continuous health insurance coverage is important.With recent expansions in access to coverage in the United States after“Obamacare,”primary care teams have a new role in helping to track and improve coverage rates and to provide outreach to patients.We describe efforts to longitudinally track health insurance rates using data from the electronic health record(EHR)of a primary care network and to use these data to support practice-based insurance outreach and assistance.Although we highlight a few examples from one network,we believe there is great potential for doing this type of work in a broad range of family medicine and community health clinics that provide continuity of care.By partnering with researchers through practice-based research networks and other similar collaboratives,primary care practices can greatly expand the use of EHR data and EHR-based tools targeting improvements in health insurance and quality health care.