Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Attendance to Well-Child Visit Recommendations during COVID-19

OBJECTIVES

To measure the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on racial and ethnic disparities in attendance to well-child visit recommendations.

METHODS

We used the nationally representative Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) to compare pre-pandemic (2018-2019) and pandemic (2020 and 2021) ratios of well-child visits to age-based recommendations, presenting both unadjusted and adjusted attendance disparities over time. We also used the 1996-2021 MEPS to place the pandemic changes in an historical context.

RESULTS

Average attendance decreased from 66.6% in 2018-2019 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 64.1, 69.1) to 58.6% in 2020 (95% CI: 55.5, 61.6), rebounding to 65.1% in 2021 (95% CI: 61.5, 68.7). The unadjusted disparity in attendance between White non-Hispanic and Black non-Hispanic children widened from 9.6 percentage points in 2018-2019 (95% CI: 2.8, 16.4) to 24.8 percentage points in 2020 (95% CI: 17.5, 32.2) and 21.4 percentage points in 2021 (95% CI: 11.2, 31.5). The unadjusted disparity in attendance between White non-Hispanic and Hispanic children widened from 14.8 percentage points in 2018-2019 (95% CI: 9.7, 19.8) to 26.3 percentage points in 2020 (95% CI: 19.9, 32.7) and 24.9 percentage points in 2021 (95% CI: 17.5, 32.3). Changes in disparities were large even when we controlled for health status, demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, health insurance, and state of residence. Magnitudes of the racial and ethnic attendance disparities during the pandemic's first two years were unprecedented since before 1996.

CONCLUSIONS

Widening attendance disparities during the pandemic highlight the need to build a more equitable healthcare system for all children.

WHAT'S NEW

Using nationally representative household data we show that racial and ethnic disparities in attendance to well-child visit recommendations widened to unprecedented levels during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Well-Child Visit Adherence

This study examines trends of well-child care visits within key socioeconomic groups.

Changes in preventive service use by race and ethnicity after medicare eligibility in the United States

Use of recommended preventive care services in the United States is not universal and varies considerably by socio-economic status. We examine whether widespread eligibility for Medicare at age 65 narrows disparate preventive service use by race and ethnicity. Using data across 12 cycles of the Household Component of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (2005-2016), we employ a regression discontinuity design to assess changes in the use of preventive services. Our sample included: 8847 Hispanic respondents, 9908 non-Hispanic Black respondents, and 29,527 non-Hispanic White respondents. We examined six preventive services: routine check-ups, blood cholesterol screenings, receipt of the influenza vaccine, blood pressure screenings, mammograms, and colorectal cancer screenings. For non-Hispanic Black adults, we found that preventive service use increased after age 65 across a range of measures including a 4.8 percentage-point (95% confidence interval (CI)1.4, 8.2) increase in blood cholesterol screening, and a 9.1 percentage-point (95% CI 2.1, 15.9) increase in mammograms for Black women. For all four preventive health measures that were lower for Hispanic adults compared with non-Hispanic White adults prior to age 65, service use was indistinguishable (p > 0.10) between these groups after reaching the Medicare eligibility age. Medicare eligibility appeared to reduce most racial and ethnic disparities in preventive service use.

Trends in Differences Across Subgroups of Adults in Preventive Services Utilization

BACKGROUND

There were large differences across subgroups of adults in preventive services utilization before 2010. The Affordable Care Act had numerous provisions aimed at increasing utilization as well as at reducing disparities.

OBJECTIVE

This study examines whether preventive services utilization changed over time, across subgroups of adults defined by race/ethnicity, insurance coverage, poverty status, Census region, and urbanicity.

METHODS

Data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Household Component are used to examine service utilization before the passage of the Affordable Care Act (2008/2009), after the implementation of the preventive services mandate and the dependent coverage provision (2012/2013), and after Medicaid expansions (2015/2016). Four preventive services are examined for adults aged 19-64-general checkups, blood cholesterol screening, mammograms, and colorectal cancer screening. Multivariate logistic regression models are used to predict preventive services utilization of adult subgroups in each time period, and to examine how differences across subgroups changed between 2008/2009 and 2015/2016.

RESULTS

There were modest increases in utilization between 2008/2009 and 2015/2016 for blood cholesterol and colorectal cancer screenings. For 3 of 4 preventive services, differences between the Northeast and the Midwest regions narrowed. However, large gaps in utilization across income groups and between those with and without coverage persisted. Disparities across racial/ethnic groups in general checkups persisted over time as well.

CONCLUSION

While some differences have narrowed, large gaps in preventive service utilization across population subgroups remain.

Eligibility for and Enrollment in Medicaid Among Nonelderly Adults After Implementation of the Affordable Care Act

The Affordable Care Act's (ACA) Medicaid expansion resulted in substantial gains in coverage. However, little research has documented eligibility or participation rates among eligible adults in the post-ACA period in part because of the complexities involved in assigning eligibility status. We used simulation modeling to examine Medicaid eligibility and participation during 2014 to 2017. More than one in five adults were Medicaid eligible in expansion states in the post-ACA period. In contrast, about one in 30 adults were Medicaid eligible in nonexpansion states. While eligibility rates differed substantially by expansion status, participation rates among Medicaid-eligible adults were similar in both sets of states (44% to 46%). These estimates indicate that differences in eligibility rather than in participation rates explained differences in enrollment between expansion and nonexpansion states during the study period. Participation in Medicaid is expected to grow during the coronavirus pandemic. Our study provides baseline estimates for future analyses of enrollment trends.

The effects of Medicaid on access to care and adherence to recommended preventive services

OBJECTIVE

To quantify the impact of Medicaid enrollment on access to care and adherence to recommended preventive services.

DATA SOURCE

2005-2015 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Household Component.

STUDY DESIGN

We examined several access measures and utilization of several preventive services within the past year and within the time frame recommended by the United States Preventive Services Task Force, if more than a year. We estimated local average treatment effects of Medicaid enrollment using a new, two-stage regression model developed by Nguimkeu, Denteh, and Tchernis. This model accounts for both endogenous and underreported Medicaid enrollment by using a partial observability bivariate probit regression as the first stage. We identify the model with an exogenous measure of Medicaid eligibility, the simulated Medicaid eligibility rate by state, year, and parents vs childless adults. A wide range of changes in Medicaid eligibility occurred during the time period studied.

DATA COLLECTION/EXTRACTION METHODS

Sample of low-income, nonelderly adults not receiving disability benefits.

PRINCIPAL FINDINGS

Medicaid enrollment decreased the probability of having unmet needs for medical care by 7.5 percentage points and the probability of experiencing delays getting prescription drugs by 7.7 percentage points. Medicaid enrollment increased the probability of having a usual source of care by 16.5 percentage points, the probability of having a routine checkup by 17.1 percentage points, and the probability of having a flu shot in past year by 12.6 percentage points.

CONCLUSION

Medicaid enrollment increased access to care and use of some preventive services. Additional research is needed on impacts for subgroups, such as parents, childless adults, and the smaller and generally older populations for whom screening tests are recommended.

The role of plan choice in health care utilization of high-deductible plan enrollees

OBJECTIVE

To study whether the negative association between enrollment in high-deductible plans and health care utilization is driven by reverse moral hazard or favorable selection, by examining adults with and without a choice of plans.

DATA SOURCE

2011-2016 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Household Component data on nonelderly adults enrolled in employer-sponsored insurance.

STUDY DESIGN

Four types of plans were examined: high-deductible health plans (HDHPs), consumer-directed health plans (CDHPs), low-deductible health plans (LDHPs), and no-deductible health plans (NDHPs). Multivariate logistic regressions of various measures of health care utilization were conducted to estimate the differences in utilization across plan types among those who had a choice of plans and those who did not.

PRINCIPAL FINDINGS

Among adults with a choice of plans, HDHP enrollees had lower levels of utilization compared with those of the NDHP enrollees for any ambulatory visit, any specialist visit, and most preventive services. Among adults without any choice of plans, the differences between HDHP enrollees and NDHP enrollees were not statistically significant.

CONCLUSIONS

The differences between those with and without choice of plans in the relationship between HDHP enrollment and health care utilization might possibly be explained by favorable selection.

Decomposing changes in the growth of U.S. prescription drug use and expenditures, 1999-2016

OBJECTIVE

To analyze factors associated with changes in prescription drug use and expenditures in the United States from 1999 to 2016, a period of rapid growth, deceleration, and resumed above-average growth.

DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING

The Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), containing household and pharmacy information on over five million prescription drug fills.

STUDY DESIGN

We use nonparametric decomposition to analyze drug use, average payment per fill, and per capita expenditure, tracking the contributions over time of socioeconomic characteristics, health status and treated conditions, insurance coverage, and market factors surrounding the patent cycle.

DATA COLLECTION/EXTRACTION METHODS

Medical Expenditure Panel Survey data were combined with information on drug approval dates and patent status.

PRINCIPAL FINDINGS

Per capita utilization increased by nearly half during 1999-2016, with changes in health status and treated conditions accounting for four-fifths of the increase. In contrast, per capita expenditures more than doubled, with individual characteristics only explaining one-third of the change. Other drivers of spending during this period include the changing pipeline of new drugs, drugs losing exclusivity, and changes in generic competition.

CONCLUSIONS

Long-term trends in treated conditions were the fundamental drivers of medication use, whereas factors involving the patent cycle accelerated and decelerated spending growth relative to trends in use.

Financial Burden of Employer-Sponsored High-Deductible Health Plans for Low-Income Adults With Chronic Health Conditions

This cohort study examines the prevalence of high out-of-pocket health care spending across health plans with different deductible levels among adults in low-income families who have chronic conditions.

Association between Medicaid adult nonemergency dental benefits and dental services use and expenditures

BACKGROUND

Only some states provide coverage of nonemergency dental services for adult Medicaid enrollees. This study examined the association between coverage of Medicaid adult nonemergency dental services and dental services use and expenditures.

METHODS

The authors analyzed data from the 2000 through 2015 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Household Component for adults 21 years or older enrolled in Medicaid. The authors examined a range of outcomes such as dental visits, preventive and 5 other types of dental services, and total and out-of-pocket dental expenditures. Multivariate regression models were used to estimate the differences in outcomes for Medicaid enrollees between states that provided coverage of nonemergency dental services and states that did not, controlling for potentially confounding factors.

RESULTS

Compared with Medicaid enrollees in states that did not provide coverage, enrollees in states that provided coverage of nonemergency dental services were approximately 9 percentage points more likely to have a dental visit, approximately 7 percentage points more likely to have any preventive dental service, and more likely to have all other types of dental services except oral surgery services. Among enrollees with any visit, out-of-pocket share of dental expenditures was approximately 19 percentage points lower among those in covered states than those in uncovered states.

CONCLUSIONS

Medicaid adult nonemergency dental benefits were associated with higher use of preventive and other types of dental services and lower out-of-pocket share of dental costs.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

Our results may help inform policy makers as they consider ways of improving dental health of adults through Medicaid.

Growing Insurance Coverage Did Not Reduce Access To Care For The Continuously Insured

Recent expansions in health insurance coverage have raised concerns about health care providers' capacity to supply additional services and how that may have affected access to care for people who were already insured. When we examined data for the period 2008-14 from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, we found no consistent evidence that increases in the proportions of adults with insurance at the local-area level affected access to care for adults residing in the same areas who already had, and continued to have, insurance. This lack of an apparent relationship held true across eight measures of access, which included receipt of preventive care. It also held true among two adult subpopulations that may have been at greater risk for compromised access: people residing in health care professional shortage areas and Medicaid beneficiaries.

Adults Are More Likely To Become Eligible For Medicaid During Future Recessions If Their State Expanded Medicaid

Eligibility for and enrollment in Medicaid can vary with economic recessions, recoveries, and changes in personal income. Understanding how Medicaid responds to such forces is important to budget analysts and policy makers tasked with forecasting Medicaid enrollment. We simulated eligibility for Medicaid for the period 2005-14 in two scenarios: assuming that each state's eligibility rules in 2009, the year before passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), were in place during the entire study period; and assuming that the ACA's expanded eligibility rules were in place during the entire period for all states. Then we correlated the results with unemployment rates as a measure of the economy. Each percentage-point increase in the unemployment rate was associated with an increase in the share of people eligible for Medicaid of 0.32 percentage point under the 2009 eligibility rules and 0.77 percentage point under the ACA rules. Our simulations showed that the ACA expansion increased Medicaid's responsiveness to changes in unemployment. For states that have not expanded Medicaid eligibility, our analysis demonstrates that increased responsiveness to periods of high unemployment is one benefit of expansion.

Children's health insurance program premiums adversely affect enrollment, especially among lower-income children

Both Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which are run by the states and funded by federal and state dollars, offer health insurance coverage for low-income children. Thirty-three states charged premiums for children at some income ranges in CHIP or Medicaid in 2013. Using data from the 1999-2010 Medical Expenditure Panel Surveys, we show that the relationship between premiums and coverage varies considerably by income level and by parental access to employer-sponsored insurance. Among children with family incomes above 150 percent of the federal poverty level, a $10 increase in monthly premiums is associated with a 1.6-percentage-point reduction in Medicaid or CHIP coverage. In this income range, the increase in uninsurance may be higher among those children whose parents lack an offer of employer-sponsored insurance than among those whose parents have such an offer. Among children with family incomes of 101-150 percent of poverty, a $10 increase in monthly premiums is associated with a 6.7-percentage-point reduction in Medicaid or CHIP coverage and a 3.3-percentage-point increase in uninsurance. In this income range, the increase in uninsurance is even larger among children whose parents lack offers of employer coverage.

Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Services and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

OBJECTIVES

We examined prereform patterns in insurance coverage, access to care, and preventive services use by race/ethnicity in adults targeted by the coverage expansions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA).

METHODS

We used pre-ACA household data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey to identify groups targeted by the coverage provisions of the Act (Medicaid expansions and subsidized Marketplace coverage). We examined racial/ethnic differences in coverage, access to care, and preventive service use, across and within ACA relevant subgroups from 2005 to 2010. The study took place at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in Rockville, Maryland.

RESULTS

Minorities were disproportionately represented among those targeted by the coverage provisions of the ACA. Targeted groups had lower rates of coverage, access to care, and preventive services use, and racial/ethnic disparities were, in some cases, widest within these targeted groups.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings highlighted the opportunity of the ACA to not only to improve coverage, access, and use for all racial/ethnic groups, but also to narrow racial/ethnic disparities in these outcomes. Our results might have particular importance for states that are deciding whether to implement the ACA Medicaid expansions.

Adults in the income range for the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion are healthier than pre-ACA enrollees

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has dramatically increased the number of low-income nonelderly adults eligible for Medicaid. Starting in 2014, states can elect to cover individuals and families with modified adjusted gross incomes below a threshold of 133 percent of federal poverty guidelines, with a 5 percent income disregard. We used simulation methods and data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey to compare nondisabled adults enrolled in Medicaid prior to the ACA with two other groups: adults who were eligible for Medicaid but not enrolled in it, and adults who were in the income range for the ACA's Medicaid expansion and thus newly eligible for coverage. Although differences in health across the groups were not large, both the newly eligible and those eligible before the ACA but not enrolled were healthier on several measures than pre-ACA enrollees. Twenty-five states have opted not to use the ACA to expand Medicaid eligibility. If these states reverse their decisions, their Medicaid programs might not enroll a population that is sicker than their pre-ACA enrollees. By expanding Medicaid eligibility, states could provide coverage to millions of healthier adults as well as to millions who have chronic conditions and who need care.

Adherence with recommended well-child visits has grown, but large gaps persist among various socioeconomic groups

A goal of federal policy is to improve preventive health care for children. However, little is known about how adherence to recommendations by the American Academy of Pediatrics for well-child visits has changed over time. Using the 1996-2008 Medical Expenditure Panel Surveys, we examined trends in adherence and whether differences across population subgroups narrowed or widened over time. We found that the ratio of actual to recommended well-child visits rose from 46.3 percent during the 1996-98 time period to 58.9 percent during the 2007-08 time period. Although this increase in adherence is important, improvement occurred unevenly. We observed large differences in adherence at the start of the study period across income, race or ethnicity, parent education, region, insurance coverage, and having a usual source of care. None of these differences had narrowed significantly by the end of the study period. Indeed, differences widened across parent education, between those with and without insurance coverage, by usual source of care, and between the Northeast and the Midwest and West regions. Our results highlight the importance of provisions in the Affordable Care Act to expand coverage, strengthen incentives for preventive services, and improve the measurement of preventive services.

Longitudinal study of skeletal muscle adaptations during immobilization and rehabilitation

This study describes the metabolic, morphologic, neurologic, and functional adaptations observed in the plantar flexors during 8 weeks of lower leg immobilization and 10 weeks of physical therapy following ankle surgery. A combination of magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy, isokinetic and isometric muscle testing, and simple functional tests revealed many adaptive changes due to immobilization, including atrophy, loss of muscle strength, reduced central activation, increase in fatigue resistance, and an increase in inorganic phosphate content. After 10 weeks of physical therapy all alterations were reversed, with the exception of a remaining 5.5% deficit in total muscle cross-sectional area.