Investigators at Brigham and Women’s Hospital Discuss Findings in Affordable Care Act (Early Impact of the Affordable Care Act on Uptake of…

Investigators at Brigham and Women's Hospital Discuss Findings in Affordable Care Act (Early Impact of the Affordable Care Act on Uptake of Long-acting Reversible Contraceptive Methods)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Weekly News -- Researchers detail new data in Affordable Care Act. According to news originating from Boston, Massachusetts, by VerticalNews correspondents, research stated, "The Affordable Care Act (ACA) required most private insurance plans to cover contraceptive services without patient cost-sharing as of January 2013 for most plans. Whether the ACA's mandate has impacted long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARC) use is unknown."

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from Brigham and Women's Hospital, "The aim of this article is to assess trends in LARC cost-sharing and uptake before and one year after implementation of the ACA's contraceptive mandate. A retrospective cohort study using Truven Health MarketScan claims data from January 2010 to December 2013. Women aged 18-45 years with continuous insurance coverage with claims for oral contraceptive pills, patches, rings, injections, or LARC during 2010-2013 (N = 3,794,793). Descriptive statistics were used to assess trends in LARC cost-sharing and uptake from 2010 through 2013. Interrupted time series models were used to assess the association of time, ACA, and time after the ACA on LARC cost-sharing and initiation rates, adjusting for patient and plan characteristics. The proportion of claims with $0 cost-sharing for intra-uterine devices and implants, respectively, rose from 36.6% and 9.3% in 2010 to 87.6% and 80.5% in 2013. The ACA was associated with a significant increase in these proportions and in their rate of increase (level and slope change both P< 0.001). LARC uptake increased over time with no significant change in level of LARC use after ACA implementation in January 2013 (P = 0.44) and a slightly slower rate of growth post-ACA than previously reported (beta coefficient for trend, -0.004; P< 0.001)."

According to the news editors, the research concluded: "The ACA has significantly decreased LARC cost-sharing, but during its first year had not yet increased LARC initiation rates."

For more information on this research see: Early Impact of the Affordable Care Act on Uptake of Long-acting Reversible Contraceptive Methods. Medical Care, 2016;54(9):811-817. 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 - journals.lww.com/lww-medicalcare/pages/default.aspx)

The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from & Women's Hospital, Dept. of Internal Med, Div Womens Hlth, Boston, MA 02120, United States. Additional authors for this research include S.B. Dusetzina and N.L. Keating.

Keywords for this news article include: Boston, Massachusetts, United States, North and Central America, Affordable Care Act, Brigham and Women's Hospital.

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