Factors in Hand Surgery Access for Rheumatoid Arthritis Before vs After the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has severe functional and economic consequences. The implications of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) and demographic factors for access to surgical treatment are unclear.

Objective

To investigate factors associated with time to RA hand surgery, surgical incidence, and cost after implementation of the ACA.

Design, setting, and participants

This cross-sectional study used insurance data from the IBM MarketScan Research Databases from 2009 through 2020 to compare time to surgery, surgical incidence, and treatment cost for RA of the hand before and after ACA implementations. Included patients were 18 years or older with a new diagnosis for RA of the hand and at least 1 procedural code for arthroplasty, arthrodesis,

SUBMITTER: Dwivedi S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10831625 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature