Association of affordable care act-related medicaid expansion with variation in utilization of surgical services

Authors

Tyler R. McClintock, Harvard Business School, Boston, MA, USA
Suhas Gondi, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Ye Wang, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
David F. Friedlander, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Alexander P. Cole, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Maxine Sun, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Nelya Melnitchouk, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Steven L. Chang, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Adil H. Haider, Center for Surgery and Public Health, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USAFollow
Joel S. Weissman, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Quoc-Dien Trinh, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

Document Type

Article

Department

General Surgery

Abstract

Background: We aim to understand how Medicaid expansion under the ACA has affected utilization of surgical services.
Methods: The State Inpatient Databases were used to compare utilization of a broad array of surgical procedures among nonelderly adults (aged 19-64 years) in a multistate population that experienced ACA-related Medicaid expansion to one that did not. We performed a difference-in-differences (DID) analysis to determine the effect of Medicaid expansion on utilization of surgical services from 2012 to 2014.
Results: There were 259,061 cases identified in the Medicaid expansion population and 261,269 in the control population. In the expansion group, there was a smaller decrease in utilization - by a margin of 21.68 cases per 100,000 individuals (p < 0.001). Percent of surgical patients covered by Medicaid increased among the expansion group from 12.00% to 15.48% (DID = 3.93%; p < 0.001).
Conclusions: Year one of Medicaid expansion under the ACA was associated with a modest but statistically significant difference in utilization of surgical services as well as an increase in percent of surgery patients covered by Medicaid.

Publication (Name of Journal)

American journal of surgery

Recommended Citation

McClintock, T. R., Gondi, S., Wang, Y., Friedlander, D. F., Cole, A. P., Sun, M., Melnitchouk, N., Chang, S. L., Haider, A. H., Weissman, J. S., Trinh, Q. (2020). Association of affordable care act-related medicaid expansion with variation in utilization of surgical services. American journal of surgery, 220(2), 441-447.
Available at: https://ecommons.aku.edu/pakistan_fhs_mc_surg_gen/153