University of Massachusetts Medical School Faculty Publications
UMMS Affiliation
Department of Medicine, Division of Preventive and Behavioral Medicine; UMass Worcester Prevention Research Center
Publication Date
2015-07-01
Document Type
Article
Subjects
Adult; Female; *Health Care Reform; Humans; Insurance, Health; Male; Massachusetts; Medically Uninsured; New York; Retrospective Studies; Socioeconomic Factors; Survival Rate; Wounds and Injuries
Disciplines
Clinical Epidemiology | Epidemiology | Health Economics | Health Policy | Health Services Administration | Health Services Research | Surgery | Trauma
Abstract
IMPORTANCE: Massachusetts introduced health care reform (HCR) in 2006, expecting to expand health insurance coverage and improve outcomes. Because traumatic injury is a common acute condition with important health, disability, and economic consequences, examination of the effect of HCR on patients hospitalized following injury may help inform the national HCR debate.
OBJECTIVE: To examine the effect of Massachusetts HCR on survival rates of injured patients.
DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Retrospective cohort study of 1,520,599 patients hospitalized following traumatic injury in Massachusetts or New York during the 10 years (2002-2011) surrounding Massachusetts HCR using data from the State Inpatient Databases. We assessed the effect of HCR on mortality rates using a difference-in-differences approach to control for temporal trends in mortality.
INTERVENTION: Health care reform in Massachusetts in 2006.
MAIN OUTCOME AND MEASURE: Survival until hospital discharge.
RESULTS: During the 10-year study period, the rates of uninsured trauma patients in Massachusetts decreased steadily from 14.9% in 2002 to 5.0.% in 2011. In New York, the rates of uninsured trauma patients fell from 14.9% in 2002 to 10.5% in 2011. The risk-adjusted difference-in-difference assessment revealed a transient increase of 604 excess deaths (95% CI, 419-790) in Massachusetts in the 3 years following implementation of HCR.
CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Health care reform did not affect health insurance coverage for patients hospitalized following injury but was associated with a transient increase in adjusted mortality rates. Reducing mortality rates for acutely injured patients may require more comprehensive interventions than simply promoting health insurance coverage through legislation.
Rights and Permissions
Publisher PDF posted after 12 months as allowed by the publisher's author rights policy at http://archsurg.jamanetwork.com/public/instructionsForAuthors.aspx#SecEditorialPoliciesforAuthors.
DOI of Published Version
10.1001/jamasurg.2014.2464
Source
JAMA Surg. 2015 Jul;150(7):609-15. doi: 10.1001/jamasurg.2014.2464. Link to article on publisher's site.
Related Resources
Journal/Book/Conference Title
JAMA surgery
PubMed ID
25946316
Repository Citation
Osler, Turner; Glance, Laurent G.; Li, Wenjun; Buzas, Jeffery S.; and Hosmer, David W., "Survival Rates in Trauma Patients Following Health Care Reform in Massachusetts" (2015). University of Massachusetts Medical School Faculty Publications. 971.
https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/faculty_pubs/971
Included in
Clinical Epidemiology Commons, Epidemiology Commons, Health Economics Commons, Health Policy Commons, Health Services Administration Commons, Health Services Research Commons, Surgery Commons, Trauma Commons