Effect of Medicaid expansion on reductions in preventable hospitalizations

Editor's Note

This study, led by researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, examines whether Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion among Black, Hispanic, and White patients led to reductions in preventable hospitalizations.

Data on census population and hospitalizations for ambulatory care sensitive conditions from 2010 to 2018 in 14 expansion and 7 nonexpansion states were included in the analysis.

At baseline, the percentage share of hospitalizations for ambulatory care sensitive conditions in Medicaid expansion states was 19.0% for Blacks, 14.5% for Hispanics, 14.3% for Whites.

Over the 5 years after expansion, there was an annual reduction in hospitalizations of 5.3% for Hispanics and 8.0% for Whites. There was either no change or results were mixed for Blacks.

The researchers concluded that after Medicaid expansion, low-income Hispanics and Whites had a decrease in preventable hospitalizations.