Laura Skopec, Robert A Berenson, Benedikt Simon, Irene Papanicolas
{"title":"Variation in Processes of Care for Total Hip Arthroplasty across High-Income Countries","authors":"Laura Skopec, Robert A Berenson, Benedikt Simon, Irene Papanicolas","doi":"10.1093/haschl/qxae043","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/haschl/qxae043","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Total Hip Arthroplasty (THA) is among the most commonly performed elective surgeries in high-income countries, and wait times for THA have frequently been cited by US commentators as evidence that countries with universal insurance programs or national health systems “ration” care. This novel qualitative study explores processes of care for hip replacement in the US and six high-income countries with a focus on eligibility, wait-times, decision-making, post-operative care, and payment policies. We find no evidence of rationing or government interference in decision-making across high-income countries. Compared to the six other high-income countries in our study, the US has developed efficient care processes that often allow for a same-day discharge. In contrast, THA patients in Germany stay in the hospital 7-9 days and receive 2-3 weeks of inpatient rehabilitation. However, the payment per THA in the US remain far above other countries, despite far fewer inpatient days.","PeriodicalId":94025,"journal":{"name":"Health affairs scholar","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140660363","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Health affairs scholarPub Date : 2024-04-24eCollection Date: 2024-05-01DOI: 10.1093/haschl/qxae049
Jason B Gibbons, Samantha J Harris, Olivia K Sugarman, Eric G Hulsey, Julie Rwan, Esther M Rosner, Brendan Saloner
{"title":"Piloting racial bias training for hospital emergency department providers treating patients with opioid use disorder.","authors":"Jason B Gibbons, Samantha J Harris, Olivia K Sugarman, Eric G Hulsey, Julie Rwan, Esther M Rosner, Brendan Saloner","doi":"10.1093/haschl/qxae049","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/haschl/qxae049","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Racial disparities in opioid overdose have increased in recent years. Several studies have linked these disparities to health care providers' inequitable delivery of opioid use disorder (OUD) services. In response, health care policymakers and systems have designed new programs to improve equitable OUD care delivery. Racial bias training has been 1 commonly utilized program. Racial bias training educates providers about the existence of racial disparities in the treatment of people who use drugs and the role of implicit bias. Our study evaluates a pilot racial bias training delivered to 25 hospital emergency providers treating patients with OUDs in 2 hospitals in Detroit, Michigan. We conducted a 3-part survey, including a baseline assessment, post-training assessment, and a 2-month follow-up to evaluate the acceptability and feasibility of scaling the racial bias training to larger audiences. We also investigate preliminary data on changes in self-awareness of implicit bias, knowledge of training content, and equity in care delivery to patients with OUD. Using qualitative survey response data, we found that training participants were satisfied with the content and quality of the training and especially valued the small-group discussions, motivational interviewing, and historical context.</p>","PeriodicalId":94025,"journal":{"name":"Health affairs scholar","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11095526/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140961359","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Johanna Catherine Maclean, Ezra Golberstein, Bradley Stein
{"title":"State Paid Sick Leave Mandates Associated with Increased Mental Health Disorder Prescriptions among Medicaid Enrollees","authors":"Johanna Catherine Maclean, Ezra Golberstein, Bradley Stein","doi":"10.1093/haschl/qxae045","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/haschl/qxae045","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The United States does not have a federal paid sick leave policy. As a result, many workers, in particular lower wage workers, cannot take time off work to attend to health and family responsibilities. Fifteen states have adopted or announced paid sick leave mandates which offer employees approximately seven days of financially protected work-time each year. This time can facilitate health care use, including treatment related to mental health disorders, conditions for which treatment is time-consuming. We study the effect of state paid sick leave mandates on prescription medications dispensed for mental health disorders using the Medicaid State Drug Utilization Database 2011-2022. We find that medications dispensed for mental health disorders increased 6% per year following adoption of a state paid sick leave mandate.","PeriodicalId":94025,"journal":{"name":"Health affairs scholar","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140668551","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Re-envisioning contributory health schemes to achieve equity in the design of financial protection mechanisms in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs)","authors":"Muyiwa Tegbe, Kyle J. Moon, Saira Nawaz","doi":"10.1093/haschl/qxae044","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/haschl/qxae044","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Universal health coverage has emerged as a global health priority, requiring financing strategies that ensure low-income and medically and financially at-risk individuals, can access health services without the threat of financial catastrophe. Contributory financing schemes and social health insurance (SHI) schemes, in particular, predominate in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), despite evidence that suggests the most vulnerable remain excluded from such schemes. In this commentary, we discuss the need to re-envision schemes to prioritize equity, offering three concrete recommendations: adopt participatory designs for the co-design of schemes with beneficiaries, establish linkages between contributory financial protection schemes with economic empowerment initiatives, and prioritize the needs and preferences of beneficiaries over political expediency. Co-design alone does not necessarily translate into more equitable schemes, underscoring the need for greater monitoring and evaluation of these schemes that consider differential impacts across contexts and subgroups. In doing so, SHI schemes can be both attractive and accessible to populations that have long been excluded from financial protections in LMICs, acting as one channel in a broader financing strategy to achieve universal health coverage.","PeriodicalId":94025,"journal":{"name":"Health affairs scholar","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140690313","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Rachele M. Hendricks-Sturrup, Sandra Yankah, Christine Y Lu
{"title":"Social Determinants of Health Z Code Documentation Practices in Mental Health Settings: A Scoping Review","authors":"Rachele M. Hendricks-Sturrup, Sandra Yankah, Christine Y Lu","doi":"10.1093/haschl/qxae046","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/haschl/qxae046","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Mental health remains an urgent global priority, alongside efforts to address underlying social determinants of health (SDoH) that contribute to the onset or exacerbate mental illness. SDoH factors can be captured in the form of International Classification of Disease, Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification [ICD-10 CM] SDoH Z codes. In this scoping review, we describe current SDoH Z code documentation practices, with a focus on mental health care contexts. Among 2,743,061,374 health care encounters noted across 12 studies in the United States, SDoH Z code documentation rates ranged from 0.5% to 2.4%. Documentation often involved patients under 64 years of age who are publicly insured and experience comorbidities, including depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, chronic pulmonary disease, and substance abuse disorders. Documentation varied across hospital types, number of beds per facility, patient race/ethnicity, and geographic region. Variation was observed regarding patient sex/gender, although SDoH Z codes were more frequently documented for males. Documentation was most observed in government, nonfederal and private not-for-profit hospitals. From these insights, we offer policy and practice recommendations, as well as considerations for patient data privacy, security, and confidentiality, to incentivize more routine documentation of Z codes to better assist patients with complex mental health care needs.","PeriodicalId":94025,"journal":{"name":"Health affairs scholar","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140709449","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Life Cycle of Private Equity Investments in Physician Practices: An Overview of Private Equity Exits","authors":"Yashaswini Singh, Megha Reddy, Jane M. Zhu","doi":"10.1093/haschl/qxae047","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/haschl/qxae047","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Private equity firms acquire and grow physician practices through add-on consolidation, generating outsized returns on the sale of the acquisition in 3-8 years (“exit”). PE’s abbreviated investment timeline and exit incentives may deter long-term investments in care delivery and workforce needed for high quality care. To our knowledge, there has been no published analyses of the nature or duration of PE exits from physician practices. We address this knowledge gap by using novel data to characterize PE exits from dermatology, ophthalmology, and gastroenterology, physician specialties with the largest number of acquisitions between 2016-2020. Of 807 acquisitions, over half (51.6%) of PE-acquired practices underwent an exit within 3 years of initial investment. In nearly all instances (97.8%), PE firms exited investments through secondary buyouts, where physician practices were resold to other PE firms with larger investment funds. Between investment and exit, PE firms increased the number of physician practices affiliated with the PE firm by an average of 595% in 3 years. Findings highlight the rapid scale of ownership change and consolidation under PE ownership and motivate evaluations by policymakers on the effects of PE ownership over the life cycle of PE investments.","PeriodicalId":94025,"journal":{"name":"Health affairs scholar","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140716857","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Terrence Liu, Ziwei Zhu, A. J. Holmgren, Chad Ellimoottil
{"title":"National Trends in Billing Patient Portal Messages as E-Visit Services in Traditional Medicare","authors":"Terrence Liu, Ziwei Zhu, A. J. Holmgren, Chad Ellimoottil","doi":"10.1093/haschl/qxae040","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/haschl/qxae040","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":94025,"journal":{"name":"Health affairs scholar","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140750619","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Dunc Williams, Rahul Fernandez, David Stevenson, Mark Unruh, Robert Tyler Braun
{"title":"Nursing home finances associated with real estate investment trust and private equity investments","authors":"Dunc Williams, Rahul Fernandez, David Stevenson, Mark Unruh, Robert Tyler Braun","doi":"10.1093/haschl/qxae037","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/haschl/qxae037","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 In 2021, real estate investment trusts (REITs) and private equity (PE) held investments in 1915 (16%) and 1569 (13%) US nursing homes (NHs), respectively. We created a database of REIT and PE investments in NHs, merged it with Medicare Cost Report data (2011–2019), and used a difference-in-differences approach within an event-study framework to compare NH spending and financial performance before and after REIT or PE investment to NHs that did not receive REIT or PE investment. REIT investments were associated with higher total wages (3%), total nursing wages (3%; both logged, per resident day [PRD]), and current ratio (81%). PE investments were associated with lower net patient service revenue (7%), total expenses (7%), and total wages (8%; all logged, PRD). The impact of REIT and PE investments in NHs may vary in different market conditions, as may occur in the current environment of low, falling NH profits, potentially higher minimum staffing requirements, and rising interest rates. Therefore, it is important for stakeholders to understand the impact of these large, growing investments on the financial performance of NHs.","PeriodicalId":94025,"journal":{"name":"Health affairs scholar","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140768550","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jose Alejandro Soto-Moreno, Martha Coe, Cintia Parellada, Anupama Tantri, Maria Clara Angarita-Contreras, Paula Acosta
{"title":"Socioeconomic and fiscal returns of expanded investment in immunization: a case for life-course vaccination in Colombia","authors":"Jose Alejandro Soto-Moreno, Martha Coe, Cintia Parellada, Anupama Tantri, Maria Clara Angarita-Contreras, Paula Acosta","doi":"10.1093/haschl/qxae042","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/haschl/qxae042","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Despite the health, societal, and economic benefits of immunization, many countries focus primarily on childhood immunizations and lack robust policies and sufficient resources for immunizations that can benefit populations across the life course. While the benefits of childhood vaccination are well documented, there is limited evidence on the financial and social return on investment that policymakers can use to inform decisions around administering a life-course immunization program. We developed a cost-benefit model from a societal perspective to evaluate the inclusion of 5 vaccines across the life course in Colombia's national immunization program. This model estimated a return of US$1.3 per US$1.0 invested in the first 2 decades, increasing to US$3.9 after 60 years. Primary benefits were productivity gains, followed by fiscal savings and household averted expenditure on health care. Furthermore, vulnerable households are predicted to receive 3.2 times greater income protection than formally employed households under a life-course immunization program. Consequently, there is a potential to reduce Colombia's income inequality and poverty rate by increasing access to immunization for all ages.","PeriodicalId":94025,"journal":{"name":"Health affairs scholar","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140795660","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Health affairs scholarPub Date : 2024-03-27eCollection Date: 2024-03-01DOI: 10.1093/haschl/qxae030
Michal Horný, Daniel Chang, Eric W Christensen, Elizabeth Y Rula, Richard Duszak
{"title":"Decomposition of medical imaging spending growth between 2010 and 2021 in the US employer-insured population.","authors":"Michal Horný, Daniel Chang, Eric W Christensen, Elizabeth Y Rula, Richard Duszak","doi":"10.1093/haschl/qxae030","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/haschl/qxae030","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Medical imaging, identified as a potential driver of unsustainable US health care spending growth, was subject to policies to reduce prices and use in low-value settings. Meanwhile, the Affordable Care Act increased access to preventive services-many involving imaging-for employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) beneficiaries. We used a large insurance claims database to examine imaging spending trends in the ESI population between 2010 and 2021-a period of considerable policy and benefits changes. Nominal spending on imaging increased 35.9% between 2010 and 2021, but as a share of total health care spending fell from 10.5% to 8.9%. The 22.5% growth of nominal imaging prices was below inflation, 24.3%, as measured by the Consumer Price Index. Other key contributors to imaging spending growth were increased use (7.4 percentage points [pp]), shifts toward advanced modalities (4.0 pp), and demographic changes (3.5 pp). Shifts in care settings and provider network participation resulted in 2.5-pp and 0.3-pp imaging spending decreases, respectively. In sum, imaging spending decreased as a share of all health care spending and relative to inflation, as intended by concurrent cost-containment policies.</p>","PeriodicalId":94025,"journal":{"name":"Health affairs scholar","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10986240/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140961373","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}