In recognition of the Medicaid program's 50th anniversary, the July issue of Health Affairs contains a cluster of papers focusing on how Medicaid is shaped by and has reshaped care delivery.
Several articles that examine issues pertaining to Medicaid at the state level include:
MetroHealth Care Plus: Effects Of A Prepared Safety Net On Quality Of Care In A Medicaid Expansion Population: Randall D. Cebul of Case Western Reserve University and his coauthors studied the effect of a Medicaid expansion for poor uninsured patients at three prepared safety net systems in northeast Ohio and found that quality of care improved for patients with chronic conditions at costs that were 29 percent lower than expected.
Study: MetroHealth Care Plus: Effects Of A Prepared Safety Net On Quality Of Care In A Medicaid Expansion Population, Randall D. Cebul, Thomas E. Love, Douglas Einstadter, Alice S. Petrulis and John R. Corlett, Health Affairs, doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2014.1380, published July 2015.
Early Medicaid Expansion In Connecticut Stemmed The Growth In Hospital Uncompensated Care: Sayeh Nikpay at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and her coauthors looked at data from Connecticut's 2010 expansion of Medicaid to childless adults and found that uncompensated care was about one-third lower than it would have been without expansion.
Study: Early Medicaid Expansion In Connecticut Stemmed The Growth In Hospital Uncompensated Care, Sayeh Nikpay, Thomas Buchmueller and Helen Levy, Health Affairs, doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2015.0107, published July 2015.
In California, Primary Care Continuity Was Associated With Reduced Emergency Department Use and Fewer Hospitalizations: Nadereh Pourat of University of California, Los Angeles and her coauthors found that recently insured California residents who adhered to their individual primary care provider or clinic once they gained health coverage were less likely to use emergency departments or have hospital stays.
Study: In California, Primary Care Continuity Was Associated With Reduced Emergency Department Use And Fewer Hospitalizations, Nadereh Pourat, Anna C. Davis, Xiao Chen, Shelley Vrungos and Gerald F. Kominski, Health Affairs, doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2014.1165, published July 2015.