Changes in Heart Transplant Listings by Insurance and Race During the COVID Public Health Emergency.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Socioeconomic inequities in access to heart transplantation, including those based on insurance coverage and race or ethnicity, are well documented. During the COVID pandemic, the federal government declared a Public Health Emergency (PHE), which prevented states from disenrolling people from Medicaid. We sought to determine whether this policy was associated with changes in the insurance or racial composition of the heart transplant waiting list.

Methods

Using the United Network for Organ Sharing thoracic data set, we conducted an observational cohort study that analyzed weekly counts of adults (aged >17 years) added to the heart transplant waitlist between January 1, 2018 and December 31, 2022. We obtained ratios of pre-PHE to PHE waitlisting rates by payer and

SUBMITTER: Fox DK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12576918 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature