Researchers from George Washington University Detail New Studies and Findings in the Area of Medicare and Medicaid (Medicaid Expansion And Grant…

Researchers from George Washington University Detail New Studies and Findings in the Area of Medicare and Medicaid (Medicaid Expansion And Grant Funding Increases Helped Improve Community Health Center Capacity)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Managed Care Weekly Digest -- Fresh data on Medicare and Medicaid are presented in a new report. According to news originating from Washington, District of Columbia, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, "Through the expansion of Medicaid eligibility and increases in core federal grant funding, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) sought to increase the capacity of community health centers to provide primary care to low-income populations. We examined the effects of the ACA Medicaid expansion and changes in federal grant levels on the centers' numbers of patients, percentages of patients by type of insurance, and numbers of visits from 2012 to 2015."

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from George Washington University, "In the period after expansion (2014-15), health centers in expansion states had a 5 percent higher total patient volume, larger shares of Medicaid patients, smaller shares of uninsured patients, and increases in overall visits and mental health visits, compared to centers in nonexpansion states. Increases in federal grant funding levels were associated with increases in numbers of patients and of overall, medical, and preventive service visits."

According to the news editors, the research concluded: "If federal grant levels are not sustained after 2017, there could be marked reductions in health center capacity in both expansion and nonexpansion states."

For more information on this research see: Medicaid Expansion And Grant Funding Increases Helped Improve Community Health Center Capacity. Health Affairs, 2017;36(1):49-56. Health Affairs can be contacted at: Project Hope, 7500 Old Georgetown Rd, Ste 600, Bethesda, MD 20814-6133, USA (see also Medicare and Medicaid).

The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from L.T. Ku, George Washington University, Center Hlth Policy Res, Washington, DC 20052, United States. Additional authors for this research include Q. Luo and L.T. Ku.

Keywords for this news article include: Washington, District of Columbia, United States, North and Central America, Medicare and Medicaid, Community Health, Health Policy, Medicaid, George Washington University.

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