Findings from University of Michigan Has Provided New Data on Medical Research (Trends In Hospital Utilization After Medicaid Expansion)

2019 APR 26 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Health Policy and Law Daily -- Current study results on Health and Medicine - Medical Research have been published. According to news reporting out of Ann Arbor, Michigan, by NewsRx editors, research stated, “Medicaid expansion was associated with an increase in hospitalizations funded by Medicaid. Whether this increase reflects an isolated payer shift or broader changes in case-mix among hospitalized adults remains uncertain.”

Funders for this research include National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institute on Aging.

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from the University of Michigan, “Reseearch Design: Difference-in-differences analysis of discharge data from 4 states that expanded Medicaid in 2014 (Arizona, Iowa, New Jersey, and Washington) and 3 comparison states that did not (North Carolina, Nebraska, and Wisconsin). All nonobstetric hospitalizations among patients aged 19-64 years of age admitted between January 2012 and December 2015. Outcomes included state-level per-capita rates of insurance coverage, several markers of admission severity, and admission diagnosis. We identified 6,516,576 patients admitted during the study period. Per-capita admissions remained consistent in expansion and nonexpansion states, though Medicaid-covered admissions increased in expansion states (274.6-403.8 per 100,000 people vs. 268.9-262.8 per 100,000; P< 0.001). There were no significant differences after Medicaid expansion in hospital utilization, based on per-capita rates of patients-designated emergent, admitted via the emergency department, admitted via clinic, discharged within 1 day, or with lengths of stay >= 7 days. Similarly, there were no differences in diagnosis category at admission, admission severity, comorbidity burden, or mortality associated with Medicaid expansion (P > 0.05 for all comparisons). Medicaid expansion was associated with a shift in payers among nonelderly hospitalized adults without significant changes in case-mix or in several markers of acuity.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “These findings suggest that Medicaid expansion may reduce uncompensated care without shifting admissions practices or acuity among hospitalized adults.”

For more information on this research see: Trends In Hospital Utilization After Medicaid Expansion. Medical Care, 2019;57(4):312-317. Medical Care can be contacted at: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Two Commerce Sq, 2001 Market St, Philadelphia, PA 19103, USA. (Lippincott Williams and Wilkins - www.lww.com; Medical Care - http://journals.lww.com/lww-medicalcare/pages/default.aspx)

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting A.J. Admon, University of Michigan, Dept. of Internal Medicine, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, United States. Additional authors for this research include T.S. Valley, T.J. Iwashyna, C.R. Cooke, J.Z. Ayanian and R. Tipirneni.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1097/MLR.0000000000001082. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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