Effect of Medicaid expansion on disparities in use of regionalized surgery at high-volume hospitals

Editor's Note

The Affordable Care Act’s (ACA’s) Medicaid expansion had no effect on the utilization rates of regionalized surgery at high-volume hospitals (HVHs) overall or on disparities in vulnerable populations, this study finds.

In this analysis of 166,558 adults at 468 hospitals who had one of four surgical procedures in three expansion (KY, MD, NJ) and two nonexpansion states (NC, FL), ACA’s expansion was not associated with increased rates of surgery at HVHs, and disparities in use of surgical procedures at HVHs among ethnic/racial minorities and low-income populations were unchanged.

Early findings from ACA’s Medicaid expansion show no effect on minority and low-income populations and highlight the limitations in ACA’s expansion in reducing disparities in surgical care, the researchers conclude.