Researchers from Duke Cancer Institute Report Findings in Cancer (The Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid Expansion and Impact Along the Cancer-care Continuum: a Systematic Review)

2020 DEC 28 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Health Policy and Law Daily -- Investigators publish new report on Cancer. According to news originating from Durham, North Carolina, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Health reform and the merits of Medicaid expansion remain at the top of the legislative agenda, with growing evidence suggesting an impact on cancer care and outcomes. A systematic review was undertaken to assess the association between Medicaid expansion and the goals of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in the context of cancer care.”

Financial support for this research came from Duke University Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health.

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from Duke Cancer Institute, “The purpose of this article is to summarize the currently published literature and to determine the effects of Medicaid expansion on outcomes during points along the cancer care continuum. A systematic search for relevant studies was performed in the PubMed/MEDLINE, EMBASE, Scopus, and Cochrane databases. Three independent observers used an abstraction form to code outcomes and perform a quality and risk of bias assessment using predefined criteria. A total of 48 studies were identified. The most common outcomes assessed were the impact of Medicaid expansion on insurance coverage (23.4% of studies), followed by evaluation of racial and/or socioeconomic disparities (17.4%) and access to screening (14.5%). Medicaid expansion was associated with increases in coverage for cancer patients and survivors as well as reduced racial- and income-related disparities. Medicaid expansion has led to improved access to insurance coverage among cancer patients and survivors, particularly among low-income and minority populations.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “This review high-lights important gaps in the existing oncology literature, including a lack of studies evaluating changes in treatment and access to end-of-life care following implementation of expansion.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: The Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid Expansion and Impact Along the Cancer-care Continuum: a Systematic Review. JNCI Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 2020;112(8):779-791. JNCI Journal of the National Cancer Institute can be contacted at: Oxford Univ Press Inc, Journals Dept, 2001 Evans Rd, Cary, NC 27513, USA.

The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from Haley A. Moss, Duke Cancer Institute, Durham, NC, United States. Additional authors for this research include Jenny Wu, Samantha J. Kaplan and S. Yousuf Zafar.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1093/jnci/djaa043. 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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