Dataset Information

The impact of the Affordable Care Act on patient coverage and access to care: perspectives from FQHC administrators in Arizona, California and Texas.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) enabled millions of people to gain coverage that was expected to improve access to healthcare services. However, it is unclear the extent of the policy's impact on Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) and the patients they served. This study sought to understand FQHC administrators' views on the ACA's impact on their patient population and organization. It specifically explores FQHC administrators' perspective on 1) patients' experience with gaining coverage 2) their ability to meet patients' healthcare needs.

Methods

Twenty-two semi-structured interviews were conducted with administrators from FQHCs in urban counties in 2 Medicaid-expanded states (Arizona and California) and 1 non-expanded state (Texas). An inductive thematic analysis approach was used to analyze the interview data.

Results

All FQHC administrators reported uninsured patients were more likely to gain coverage from Medicaid than from private health insurance. Insured patients generally experienced an improvement in accessing healthcare services but depended on their plan's covered services, FQHCs' capacity to meet demand, and specialist providers' willingness to accept their coverage type.

Conclusion

Gaining coverage helped improved newly insured patients' access to care, but limitations remained. Additional policies are required to better address the gaps in the depth of covered services in Medicaid and the most affordable PHI plans and capacity of providers to meet demand to ensure beneficiaries can fully access the health care services they need.

SUBMITTER: Ercia A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8420058 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

The impact of the Affordable Care Act on patient coverage and access to care: perspectives from FQHC administrators in Arizona, California and Texas.

Ercia Angelo A

BMC health services research 20210906 1

<h4>Background</h4>The Affordable Care Act (ACA) enabled millions of people to gain coverage that was expected to improve access to healthcare services. However, it is unclear the extent of the policy's impact on Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) and the patients they served. This study sought to understand FQHC administrators' views on the ACA's impact on their patient population and organization. It specifically explores FQHC administrators' perspective on 1) patients' experience with ...[more]

PMID: 34488758

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Project description:BackgroundIn 2014, only 26 states and the District of Columbia chose to implement the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) Medicaid expansions for low-income adults.ObjectiveTo evaluate whether the state Medicaid expansions were associated with changes in insurance coverage, access to and utilization of health care, and self-reported health.DesignComparison of outcomes before and after the expansions in states that did and did not expand Medicaid.SettingUnited States.ParticipantsCitizens aged 19 to 64 years with family incomes below 138% of the federal poverty level in the 2010 to 2014 National Health Interview Surveys.MeasurementsHealth insurance coverage (private, Medicaid, or none); improvements in coverage over the previous year; visits to physicians in general practice and specialists; hospitalizations and emergency department visits; skipped or delayed medical care; usual source of care; diagnoses of diabetes, high cholesterol, and hypertension; self-reported health; and depression.ResultsIn the second half of 2014, adults in expansion states experienced increased health insurance (7.4 percentage points [95% CI, 3.4 to 11.3 percentage points]) and Medicaid (10.5 percentage points [CI, 6.5 to 14.5 percentage points]) coverage and better coverage than 1 year before (7.1 percentage points [CI, 2.7 to 11.5 percentage points]) compared with adults in nonexpansion states. Medicaid expansions were associated with increased visits to physicians in general practice (6.6 percentage points [CI, 1.3 to 12.0 percentage points]), overnight hospital stays (2.4 percentage points [CI, 0.7 to 4.2 percentage points]), and rates of diagnosis of diabetes (5.2 percentage points [CI, 2.4 to 8.1 percentage points]) and high cholesterol (5.7 percentage points [CI, 2.0 to 9.4 percentage points]). Changes in other outcomes were not statistically significant.LimitationObservational study may be susceptible to unmeasured confounders; reliance on self-reported data; limited post-ACA time frame provided information on short-term changes only.ConclusionThe ACA Medicaid expansions were associated with higher rates of insurance coverage, improved quality of coverage, increased utilization of some types of health care, and higher rates of diagnosis of chronic health conditions for low-income adults.Primary funding sourceNone.

Project description:ImportanceDental coverage for adults is a state option in Medicaid, and despite significant gains in coverage after the Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), dental outcomes among adults in expansion states remain unexplored.ObjectiveTo explore the association of state coverage of dental benefits through Medicaid expansion with clinical dental outcomes.Design, setting, and participantsThis cross-sectional study analyzed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2009 to 2018. Included participants were low-income adults aged 19 to 64 years with income up to 138% of the federal poverty level. The study used a difference-in-differences analysis to compare changes from before to after ACA expansion in expansion states vs in control states. Changes were examined in the full sample and separately in states that did and did not provide Medicaid adult dental benefits. We defined a state as providing Medicaid adult dental benefits if it covered services beyond emergency dental benefits in 2014. Data were analyzed from November 2020 to March 2021.ExposuresMedicaid expansion under the ACA.Main outcomes and measuresRates of health coverage, having a dental visit, affordability of dental care in the past year, poor oral health, and teeth flossing were obtained from self-reported data. Mean number of missing teeth and prevalence of untreated decayed teeth, filled teeth, and functional dentition were obtained from clinical examination data.ResultsAmong 7637 low-income adults, the mean (SD) age was 37.8 (13.4) years and 4153 (weighted percentage, 54.5 %) were women. At baseline, 1732 low-income adults in nonexpansion states compared with 2520 low-income adults in expansion states were more likely, as shown by weighted percentage, to be Black (473 individuals [21.0%] vs 508 individuals [15.1%]) and US born (1281 individuals [76.7%] vs 1613 individuals [69.6%]). In the full sample, Medicaid expansion, compared with nonexpansion, was associated with an increased rate of seeing a dentist in the prior year (12.4 percentage points; 95% CI 4.6 to 20.2 percentage points; P = .003). In expansion states that provided dental benefits, compared with nonexpansion states that provided dental benefits, the expansion was associated with increases in rates of Medicaid coverage (8.2 percentage points; 95%CI 0.5 to 15.8 percentage points; P = .04) and having seen a dentist in the previous year (11.4 percentage points, 95% CI, 3.7 to 19.1 percentage points; P = .006) and decreases in the uninsured rate (-12.6 percentage points, 95% CI -18.9 to -6.4 percentage points; P < .001) and prevalence of untreated decayed teeth (-16.8 percentage points; 95% CI, -25.5 to -8.0 percentage points; P = .001). In states without Medicaid dental benefits, the expansion was associated with an increase in the mean number of missing teeth (1.3 teeth; 95% CI 0.1 to 2.5 percentage points; P = .04) and a decrease in the prevalence of functional dentition (-8.7 percentage points; 95% CI, -14.1 to -3.3 percentage points; P = .003) compared with nonexpansion states.Conclusions and relevanceThis study found that the combination of Medicaid expansion and coverage of Medicaid dental benefits was associated with improved oral health among low-income adults.

Dataset Information

The impact of the Affordable Care Act on patient coverage and access to care: perspectives from FQHC administrators in Arizona, California and Texas.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Publications

The impact of the Affordable Care Act on patient coverage and access to care: perspectives from FQHC administrators in Arizona, California and Texas.

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