New Managed Care Study Findings Have Been Reported by Investigators at University of Massachusetts (Impacts of Health Insurance On Tympanostomy Tube Outcomes In the Pediatric Population): Managed Care

2023 OCT 23 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- A new study on Managed Care is now available. According to news originating from Worcester, Massachusetts, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Tympanostomy tube (TT) placement is a common surgical procedure for treating pediatric patients with chronic otitis media with effusion (COME) with or without recurrent acute otitis media (rAOM). Prior work suggests children from low-income families face significant disparities in access to care for rAOM or COME.”

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from the University of Massachusetts, “The impact of these health disparities in the care of children with rAOM or COME has yet to be investigated in a state with an expanded public health insurance model. We seek to examine differences in care for patients with rAOM and COME based on insurance status and socioeconomic status (SES) in Massachusetts. Retrospective review of 560 pediatric patients referred for TT insertion at a tertiary academic medical center between 2017 and 2019. Demographic data collected included age, ethnicity, insurance type (public, private, none) and zip code. Otologic history collected included prior AOM episodes, time to postoperative follow-up, postoperative ‘no-show’ appointments, and number of postoperative audiograms. Multinomial logistic regression was used to isolate the effects of race and ethnicity. We found no major differences in preoperative outcome measures between cohorts. Postoperatively, public insurance was independently associated with decreased odds of undergoing an audiogram (OR 0.35, 95% Cl 0.16-0.76) and increased odds of ‘no-showing’ for an appointment (OR 3.1, 95% CI 1.8-5.3). SES was not independently associated with differences in postoperative outcomes. In a state with an early expanded public health insurance model, access to care for rAOM and COME is comparable despite differences in insurance type and SES. However, enrollment in public health insurance is associated with worse measures of follow up care.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Despite improvements in access to care with expanded health insurance models, retention continues to be a challenge for vulnerable populations.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Impacts of Health Insurance On Tympanostomy Tube Outcomes In the Pediatric Population. International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology, 2023;173. International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology can be contacted at: Elsevier Ireland Ltd, Elsevier House, Brookvale Plaza, East Park Shannon, Co, Clare, 00000, Ireland. (Elsevier - www.elsevier.com; International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology - http://www.journals.elsevier.com/international-journal-of-pediatric-otorhinolaryngology/)

The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from Lindsay Sobin, University of Massachusetts, Memorial Medical Center, Chan Med Sch, Dept. of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Worcester, MA 01655, United States. Additional authors for this research include Cameron B. Fattahi, Ayan Purkayastha, Prithwijit Roychowdhury and Syed H. Kamil.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijporl.2023.111715. 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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