Reports Outline Emergency Medicine Study Findings from George Washington University (The Three-year Effect of Medicaid Expansion On Emergency Department Visits and Admissions)

2021 JAN 28 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Health Policy and Law Daily -- Research findings on Health and Medicine - Emergency Medicine are discussed in a new report. According to news originating from Washington, District of Columbia, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “We examine the effect of the Medicaid expansion in 2014 under in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on emergency department (ED) utilization and ED admission rates (fraction of ED visits that lead to hospital admission) during the first 3 postexpansion years (2014 to 2016). We compared ED utilization and ED admission rates in 151 EDs in 14 expansion states with those in 376 EDs in 14 nonexpansion states, using difference-in-differences methods with data from 3 national emergency medicine groups from 2013 to 2016.”

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from George Washington University, “In expansion states, the volume of Medicaid-paid ED visits increased 49% (95% confidence interval 34% to 65%), and the volume of uninsured visits decreased 44% (95% confidence interval -52% to -34%) relative to that of nonexpansion states. Both effects on payer mix leveled off during 2015. There was no significant relative change in overall ED utilization or overall ED admission rates in expansion versus nonexpansion states during the study. However, relative ED admission rates for uninsured patients declined 8% (95% confidence interval -18% to -2%) in expansion states. Large changes in payer mix in expansion versus nonexpansion states were observed but leveled off during 2015, with more Medicaid-paid visits and fewer uninsured visits in expansion states. Despite these large changes, during this 3-year period, there was no evidence that expansion affected either overall ED visit volume or ED admission rates.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “The relative decline in ED admission rates in expansion states among the uninsured may reflect a selection effect in which, among newly Medicaideligible persons, sicker persons were more likely to enroll than healthier ones.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: The Three-year Effect of Medicaid Expansion On Emergency Department Visits and Admissions. Annals of Emergency Medicine, 2021;77(1):76-81. Annals of Emergency Medicine can be contacted at: Elsevier, 360 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10010-1710, USA. (Elsevier - www.elsevier.com; Annals of Emergency Medicine - http://www.journals.elsevier.com/annals-of-emergency-medicine/)

The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from Ali Moghtaderi, George Washington University, Milken Institute School of Public Health, Washington, DC 20052, United States. Additional authors for this research include Bernard Black, Mark Zocchi, Kevin Klauer, Randy Pilgrim and Jesse M. Pines.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annemergmed.2020.07.021. 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.

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)