State Medicaid Expansion and Changes in Hospital Volume According to Payer

• Published in: The New England journal of medicine Vol. 374; no. 2; pp. 196 - 198
• Main Authors: Hempstead, Katherine, Cantor, Joel C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Massachusetts Medical Society 14.01.2016
• Subjects: Court decisions; Emergency services; Hospitals - trends; Hospitals - utilization; Humans; Medicaid; Medicaid - trends; Medicaid - utilization; Patient Admission - trends; Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; State Health Plans; United States; United States; Washington DC; United States > US
• DOI: 10.1056/NEJMc1507366
• ISSN: 0028-4793

Eleven states with Medicaid expansion had a larger increase in Medicaid inpatient admissions and emergency department visits and a larger decrease in commercial insurance–paid inpatient admissions and self-paid emergency department visits than states without expansion. To the Editor: The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has many potential implications for the hospital industry. One of the most closely followed issues is the expansion of Medicaid, which became a state option as a result of the Supreme Court decision of 2012. 1 As of this writing, 31 states and Washington, D.C., have elected to expand Medicaid, and enrollment grew by 21% to more than 71 million persons between January 2014 and March 2015. 2 State decisions about Medicaid expansion potentially have important implications for hospital payment sources and revenue. A number of reports have shown a reduced volume of uninsured . . .