Mixed-methods study to examine the response of opioid addiction treatment programmes to COVID-19: a study protocol by Sugy Choi, Rhea Naik, Kamila Kiszko, Charles Neighbors, Thomas D’Aunno

“…For the quantitative aim, we will use the Client Data System and Medicaid claims data to examine the variation in clinical practices (ie, changes in telehealth, pharmacotherapy, group vs individual counselling and urine drug screening) and retention in treatment for OUD patients across 580 outpatient clinics in NYS during the pandemic. …”
Get full text

The impact of insurance type on listing status and wait‐list mortality of patients with left ventricular assist devices as bridge to transplantation by Alexandros Briasoulis, Emmanuel Akintoye, Chakradhari Inampudi, Aziz Hammoud, Paulino Alvarez

“…Patients were grouped based on the type of insurance private/self‐pay (PV), Medicare (MC), and Medicaid (MA) at the time of listing. We conducted multivariable competing risks regression analysis on listing status and mortality on the waiting list, stratified by insurance type at the time of listing. …”
Get full text

Prevalence and Risk Factors for Opioid-Induced Constipation in an Older National Veteran Cohort by Fern FitzHenry, Svetlana K. Eden, Jason Denton, Hui Cao, Aize Cao, Ruth Reeves, Guanhua Chen, Glenn Gobbel, Nancy Wells, Michael E. Matheny

“…This research describes the prevalence and covariates associated with opioid-induced constipation (OIC) in an observational cohort study utilizing a national veteran cohort and integrated data from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Methods. A cohort of 152,904 veterans with encounters between 1 January 2008 and 30 November 2010, an exposure to opioids of 30 days or more, and no exposure in the prior year was developed to establish existing conditions and medications at the start of the opioid exposure and determining outcomes through the end of exposure. …”
Get full text

Adherence to First-Line Intravesical Bacillus Calmette-Guérin Therapy in the Context of Guideline Recommendations for US Patients With High-Risk Non-muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer by Franklin D. Gaylis, Bruno Emond, Ameur M. Manceur, Anabelle Tardif-Samson, Laura Morrison, Dominic Pilon, Patrick Lefebvre, Lorie A. Ellis, Hiremagalur Balaji, Andrea Ireland

“…**Methods:** Adults with high-risk NMIBC treated with BCG were selected from de-identified MarketScan® Commercial, Medicare, and Medicaid Databases (1/1/2010-2/28/2021). Adequacy of BCG induction and maintenance was evaluated from the first BCG claim until the end of the patient’s observation, using a previously published claims-based algorithm (induction: ≥5 instillations within 70 days; induction and maintenance: ≥7 instillations within 274 days of first instillation) and a definition based on the landmark Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG) trial (induction: ≥5 instillations without gaps >7 days; followed by ≥2 instillations at month 3, 6, and every 6 months thereafter). …”
Get full text

Health Disparities in Rheumatology in the United States by Wright GC, Zueger PM, Copley-Merriman C, Khan S, Costello J, Krumbach A, Reddy P, Tanjinatus O, Wells AF

“…Existing disparities in care access, quality of care received, and treatment outcomes among patients with rheumatic disease are not well understood.Methods: We conducted a targeted literature review to understand disparities in health outcomes, treatment patterns, and healthcare management faced by rheumatology patients in the United States, with a focus on rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriatic arthritis (PsA), and ankylosing spondylitis (AS).Results: The findings of this review indicate that disparities in RA, PsA, and AS affect several historically underserved populations, including underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, persons with lower socioeconomic status (SES), persons experiencing homelessness, and patients with Medicare or Medicaid insurance types. The disparities experienced by these populations include greater disease activity and severity, decreased or delayed access to specialist care, decreased likelihood of receiving advanced therapeutics, and worse clinical outcomes.Conclusion: To provide equitable healthcare for all patients with RA, PsA, and AS, multiple closely linked health disparities must be addressed. …”
Get full text

ClimaWATCH: A new interactive tool for community heat-health vulnerability assessments by Aparna Keshaviah, Dheeya Rizmie, Huihua Lu, Mike Rudacille, Eric Morris, Colleen Psomas, Farid Qamar, Xindi C. Hu

“…Nationally in 2020, excess Medicaid spending amounted to $18 million on heat stress, $15 million on electrolyte imbalance, $25 million on acute myocardial infarction, and $133 million on acute renal failure. …”
Get full text

Differences in influenza testing and treatment in micropolitan versus metropolitan areas in the U.S. using medicare claims data from 2010 to 2016 by Alexia Couture, F. Scott Dahlgren, Hector S. Izurieta, Richard A. Forshee, Yun Lu, Carrie Reed

“…Methods Using billing data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for those aged 65 years and older, we estimated weekly rates of ordered rapid influenza diagnostic tests (RIDT) and antivirals (AV) among Medicare enrollees by core-based statistical areas (CBSAs) during 2010–2016. …”
Get full text

Validation of Mortality Data Sources Compared to the National Death Index in the Healthcare Integrated Research Database by Jamal-Allial A, Sponholtz T, Vojjala SK, Paullin M, Papazian A, Eshete B, Mahmoudpour SH, Verpillat P, Beachler DC

“…Mortality data sources, inpatient discharge, disenrollment, death master file (DMF), Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Utilization management data (U.M.), and online obituary data were compared to NDI.Results: Among 40,692 patients, 25,761 (63.3%) had a death date using NDI; the composite algorithm had a sensitivity of 88.9% (95% CI = 88.5%, 89.3%), specificity was 89.1% (95% CI = 88.6%, 89.6%). …”
Get full text

Racial disparities in acute care utilization among individuals with myasthenia gravis by Cynthia Qi, Pushpa Narayanaswami, Ashley E. L. Anderson, Deborah Gelinas, Yuebing Li, Jeffrey T. Guptill, Dakshinamoorthy Amirthaganesan, Charlotte Ward, Rupesh Panchal, Amit Goyal, Glenn Phillips

“…Among other covariates, Medicaid usage, exacerbation at index, and number of outpatient visits were significantly associated with acute care utilization.ConclusionRacial disparities significantly impacted acute care utilization in the first 2 years post-MG diagnosis. …”
Get full text

Hispanic Patients Undergoing Spinal Fusion for Neuromuscular Scoliosis Sustain Health Inequalities by Armando S. Martinez, David Momtaz, Travis Kotzur, Alexandra McLennan, Abdullah Ghali, Farhan Ahmad, Ebubechi Adindu, Alan C. Santiago-Rodriquez, Ali Seifi, Brian Smith

“…Additionally, Hispanic patients were more likely to be Medicaid users (67.2% vs. 46.0%, p<0.001). Hispanic patients undergoing spinal fusion with instrumentation had longer lengths of stay (LOS) (10.0 vs. 7.6 days, p<0.001), longer periods from admission to surgery (wait time) (1.6 vs. 1.0 days, p=0.046), and longer recovery times (8.5 vs. 6.7 days, p<0.001). …”
Get full text

Changes in payer mix of new and established trauma centers: the new trauma center money grab? by Patrick Kim, Elinore Kaufman, Jeremy W Cannon, Justin Hatchimonji, Patrick M Reilly, Satvika Kumar, Diane N Haddad

“…In multivariable analysis, patients presenting to new TCs were more likely to have Medicare (OR 2.0, 95% CI 1.9 to 2.1) and commercial insurance (OR 1.6, 95% CI 1.5 to 1.6) compared with Medicaid. Over time, fewer patients at established TCs and more patients at new TCs had private insurance.Conclusions With the opening of new centers, payer mix changed unfavorably at established TCs. …”
Get full text

Profiles and predictors of access to human and veterinary healthcare in multispecies households by Jennifer W. Applebaum, Courtney Dunn, Shelby E. McDonald, Kaylinn Escobar, Erin K. King, Rosalie Corona, Megan K. Mueller

“…The fifth subgroup, “Poor access” (18%), with the poorest healthcare access and highest probability of Medicaid or no insurance, highlighted significant inequalities in healthcare and veterinary care access. …”
Get full text

Cost Savings in Chronic Pain Patients Initiating Peripheral Nerve Stimulation (PNS) with a 60-Day PNS Treatment by David M. Dickerson, Hemant Kalia, Kevin E. Vorenkamp, Konstantin V. Slavin, Jonathan M. Hagedorn, Candace Gunnarsson, Eric L. Keuffel, Andrew J. Epstein, Mark Stultz, Nathan D. Crosby

“…Methods Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) fee-for-service (FFS) data were analyzed to identify patients with at least 12 months of follow-up (median 26.4 months) who initiated PNS treatment with: (1) 60-Day PNS or (2) PNS-BT. …”
Get full text

Sociodemographic factors associated with prenatal care utilization in Arkansas, United States by Pearl A. McElfish, Aaron Caldwell, Donya Watson, Jonathan Langner, Jennifer Callaghan-Koru, Austin Porter, Don E. Willis, Jennifer A. Andersen, Nicola L. Hawley, James P. Selig, Amir Forati, Maria R. Alcala, Lanita White, Enrique Gomez-Pomar, Clare C. Brown

“…Results: Mothers with a Medicaid-covered birth had 0.90 times fewer prenatal care visits and were 1.26 times more likely to have fewer than the recommended number of visits, 1.60 times more likely to initiate prenatal care late, and 1.46 times more likely to have reported no prenatal visits at all. …”
Get full text

How intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor initial dosing impacts patient outcomes in diabetic macular oedema by Rishi P. Singh, David Tabano, Blanche L. Kuo, Andrew LaPrise, Theodore Leng, Eunice Kim, Meghan Hatfield, Vincent Garmo

“…Asian, Black, and patients of other/unknown race were less likely (P < 0.01) to receive initial doses than White patients, as were Medicare/Medicaid-insured patients versus commercially insured patients (P < 0.01). …”
Get full text

A perinatal psychiatry access program to address rural and medically underserved populations using telemedicine by Courtney King, Marie Hayes, Lizmarie Maldonado, Elizabeth Monter, Rubin Aujla, Erin Phlegar, Claire Smith, Liz Parker, Kerry Blome, Amanda Sandford, Edie Douglas, Constance Guille

“…Treatment was provided to 881 perinatal patients (54.6% White, 26.1% Black, 6.2% Hispanic) of whom 51.8% were insured by Medicaid, 89.7% resided in counties designed as fully Medically Underserved Areas, and 38.9% lived in counties designed as fully rural. …”
Get full text

Peer-assisted telemedicine hepatitis-C treatment for people who use drugs in rural communities: a mixed methods study by Kim Hoffman, Gillian Leichtling, Sarah Shin, Andrew Seaman, Tonhi Gailey, Hunter C. Spencer, P. Todd Korthuis

“…., housing vouchers) (2) Key clinician-level factors such as capacity for unscheduled peer-facilitated appointments, having dedicated time for case consults with peers, and clinicians trained in working with PWUD and skilled in identifying related clinical concerns (3) Key systems-level elements such as standing lab orders, challenges related to specialty pharmacies and Medicaid managed care organizations, and streamlined communication strategies between peers and clinicians. …”
Get full text

Alternative psychopharmacologic treatments for pediatric catatonia: a retrospective analysis by Joshua R. Smith, Joshua R. Smith, Isaac Baldwin, Tasia York, Carina Anderson, Trey McGonigle, Simon Vandekar, Lee Wachtel, James Luccarelli, James Luccarelli

“…Most patients (N = 18; 58%) were insured by Medicaid. The mean age at the time of catatonia diagnosis was 13.5 years. …”
Get full text

Meaningfulness, feasibility, and usability of quality-of-care measures for maternal and infant health: A structured mixed-methods review by Ryan P. Theis, Rahma S. Mkuu, Hannah Marmol, Lauren Silva, Callie Reeder, Jessica Bahorski, Erica Smith, John C. Smulian, Tony S. Wen, Amanda Redinger, Tabresha Blake, Elizabeth A. Shenkman, Dominick J. Lemas

“…Study design: We conducted a structured, team-based qualitative review of 88 maternal and infant health measures indexed by the National Quality Forum (NQF), the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). …”
Get full text

Supporting primary care clinicians in caring for patients with alcohol use disorder: study protocol for Records for Alcohol Care Enhancement (RACE), a factorial four-arm randomized... by Kara M. Magane, Richard Saitz, Sarah Fielman, Marc R. LaRochelle, Christopher W. Shanahan, Christine A. Pace, Michael LaValley, Kaley Penington, Skylar Karzhevsky, Emily Hurstak

“…We will assess the primary outcome and the acute healthcare utilization secondary outcomes using Medicaid claims; the remaining secondary outcomes will be assessed using EHR data. …”
Get full text