Researcher from Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion Reports Details of New Studies and Findings in the Area of Health Insurance (Presentation Acuity and Surgical Outcomes for Patients With Health Insurance Living in Highly Deprived …): Health Insurance

2024 FEB 22 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Health Policy and Law Daily -- A new study on health insurance is now available. According to news reporting out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, by NewsRx editors, research stated, “Importance: Insurance coverage expansion has been proposed as a solution to improving health disparities, but insurance expansion alone may be insufficient to alleviate care access barriers. To assess the association of Area Deprivation Index (ADI) with postsurgical textbook outcomes (TO) and presentation acuity for individuals with private insurance or Medicare.”

Our news reporters obtained a quote from the research from Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion: “Design, Setting, and Participants: This cohort study used data from the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (2013-2019) merged with electronic health record data from 3 academic health care systems. Data were analyzed from June 2022 to August 2023. Exposure: Living in a neighborhood with an ADI greater than 85. Main Outcomes and Measures: TO, defined as absence of unplanned reoperations, Clavien-Dindo grade 4 complications, mortality, emergency department visits/observation stays, and readmissions, and presentation acuity, defined as having preoperative acute serious conditions (PASC) and urgent or emergent cases. Among a cohort of 29 924 patients, the mean (SD) age was 60.6 (15.6) years; 16 424 (54.9%) were female, and 13 500 (45.1) were male. A total of 14 306 patients had private insurance and 15 618 had Medicare. Patients in highly deprived neighborhoods (5536 patients [18.5%]), with an ADI greater than 85, had lower/worse odds of TO in both the private insurance group (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 0.87; 95% CI, 0.76-0.99; P = .04) and Medicare group (aOR, 0.90; 95% CI, 0.82-1.00; P = .04) and higher odds of PASC and urgent or emergent cases. The association of ADIs greater than 85 with TO lost significance after adjusting for PASC and urgent/emergent cases.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Differences in the probability of TO between the lowest-risk (ADI 85, no PASC, and elective surgery) and highest-risk (ADI >85, PASC, and urgent/emergent surgery) scenarios stratified by frailty were highest for very frail patients (Risk Analysis Index 40) with differences of 40.2% and 43.1% for those with private insurance and Medicare, respectively. Conclusions and Relevance: This study found that patients living in highly deprived neighborhoods had lower/worse odds of TO and higher presentation acuity despite having private insurance or Medicare. These findings suggest that insurance coverage expansion alone is insufficient to overcome health care disparities, possibly due to persistent barriers to preventive care and other complex causes of health inequities.”

For more information on this research see: Presentation Acuity and Surgical Outcomes for Patients With Health Insurance Living in Highly Deprived Neighborhoods. JAMA Surgery, 2024. The publisher for JAMA Surgery is American Medical Association (AMA).

A free version of this journal article is available at https://doi.org/10.1001/jamasurg.2023.7468.

Our news journalists report that more information may be obtained by contacting Daniel E. Hall, Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion, Veterans Affairs Pittsburgh Healthcare System, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Additional authors for this research include Susanne Schmidt, Michael A. Jacobs, Jeongsoo Kim, Karyn B. Stitzenberg, Lillian S. Kao, Bradley B. Brimhall, Chen-Pin Wang, Laura S. Manuel, Hoah-Der Su, Jonathan C. Silverstein, Paula K. Shireman.

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