Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34696801›Full record

ArticleBMC health services research2021

Comparing health care use and costs among new Medicaid enrollees before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Brad Wright, David Anderson, Rebecca Whitaker, Peter Shrader, Janet Prvu Bettger, Charlene Wong, Paul Shafer

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMC health services research, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
9citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

9 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Brad WrightDepartment of Family Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 590 Manning Dr, NC, CB 7595, Chapel Hill, United States. brad_wright@med.unc.edu.
David AndersonDuke-Margolis Center for Health Policy, Washington, USA.
Rebecca WhitakerDuke-Margolis Center for Health Policy, Washington, USA.
Peter ShraderDuke Clinical Research Institute, Durham, USA.
Janet Prvu BettgerDuke-Margolis Center for Health Policy, Washington, USA.
Charlene WongDuke-Margolis Center for Health Policy, Washington, USA.
Paul ShaferDepartment of Health Law, Policy, and Management, Boston University, Boston, USA.

Funding

Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust 2020-054
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND

objectiveTo characterize health care use and costs among new Medicaid enrollees before and during the COVID pandemic. Results can help Medicaid non-expansion states understand health care use and costs of new enrollees in a period of enrollment growth. RESEARCH

designRetrospective cross-sectional analysis of North Carolina Medicaid claims data (January 1, 2018 - August 31, 2020). We used modified Poisson and ordinary least squares regression analysis to estimate health care use and costs as a function of personal characteristics and enrollment during COVID. Using data on existing enrollees before and during COVID, we projected the extent to which changes in outcomes among new enrollees during COVID were pandemic-related. SUBJECTS: 340,782 new enrollees pre-COVID (January 2018 - December 2019) and 56,428 new enrollees during COVID (March 2020 - June 2020). MEASURES: We observed new enrollees for 60-days after enrollment to identify emergency department (ED) visits, nonemergent ED visits, primary care visits, potentially-avoidable hospitalizations, dental visits, and health care costs.

resultsNew Medicaid enrollees during COVID were less likely to have an ED visit (-46 % [95 % CI: -48 %, -43 %]), nonemergent ED visit (-52 % [95 % CI: -56 %, -48 %]), potentially-avoidable hospitalization (-52 % [95 % CI: -60 %, -43 %]), primary care visit (-34 % [95 % CI: -36 %, -33 %]), or dental visit (-36 % [95 % CI: -41 %, -30 %]). They were also less likely to incur any health care costs (-29 % [95 % CI: -30 %, -28 %]), and their total costs were 8 % lower [95 % CI: -12 %, -4 %]. Depending on the outcome, COVID explained between 34 % and 100 % of these reductions.

conclusionsNew Medicaid enrollees during COVID used significantly less care than new enrollees pre-COVID. Most of the reduction stems from pandemic-related changes in supply and demand, but the profile of new enrollees before versus during COVID also differed.

Indexed as

COVID-19PandemicsCross-Sectional StudiesEmergency Service, HospitalHealth Care CostsHumansMedicaidRetrospective StudiesSARS-CoV-2United StatesCostsCOVID-19Health Care UseMedicaidNorth Carolina

Identifiers

PMID34696801
PMCPMC8544632

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.