Clinical and public policy interventions to address food insecurity among children.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This article describes the impacts of food insecurity (FI) on child health, outlines clinical and public policy interventions to mitigate FI in children, and defines new paradigms in population health to ameliorate the harmful effects of FI in children. RECENT FINDINGS: Rates of FI among children have dramatically increased with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, with particular adverse impact on low-income children. Population health innovations in screening, referral, and social service integration offer new opportunities to address FI. SUMMARY: Despite advances in clinical practice and public policy, FI remains a persistent issue for many US children. Clinicians and policymakers have opportunities to leverage clinical and community-based integration to improve service delivery opportunities to ameliorate childhood hunger and racial and socioeconomic inequity in the United States.

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program participation and health care expenditures in children.

BACKGROUND: The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) has well-established positive impacts on child health outcomes, including increased birth weight and decreased likelihood of underweight status. Studies in adult populations suggest that SNAP is associated with lower health care costs, although less is known in children. METHODS: Retrospective analysis of U.S. children (age <18 years) living in low-income households (< 200% of the federal poverty level) in the 2013-2017 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. We used multivariable regression, adjusting for sociodemographic and clinical covariates, to model the effect of continuous SNAP enrollment on health expenditures as compared to non-enrollees at 12 and 24 months. RESULTS: The sample included 5,626 children, of whom 49.2% consistently received SNAP for the entire two-year survey period. Compared with SNAP non-recipients, SNAP-recipient households more often had incomes below 100% FPL (78.3% vs 37.9%), and children in SNAP-recipient households were more often publicly insured (94.9% vs 64.5%). Unadjusted expenditures were lower for children in SNAP-recipient households at 12 ($1222 vs $1603) and 24 months ($2447 vs $3009). However, when adjusting for sociodemographic and clinical differences, no statistically significant differences in health care expenditures, including emergency department, inpatient, outpatient, and prescription costs, were identified. CONCLUSION: SNAP participant children experience heightened social hardships across multiple domains. There were no differences in short term health care costs based on SNAP enrollment when accounting for differences in sociodemographic and clinical factors. Despite demonstrated child health benefits, we found that sustained enrollment in SNAP over a two-year period did not generate significant short- term health care cost reductions. Our findings suggest that although SNAP is intended to act as a benefit towards the health and well-being of its recipients, unlike among adults, it may not reduce health care costs among children.

Association of Clinical Guidelines and Decision Support with Computed Tomography Use in Pediatric Mild Traumatic Brain Injury.

OBJECTIVE: To examine whether the presence of clinical guidelines and clinical decision support (CDS) for mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) are associated with lower use of head computed tomography (CT). STUDY DESIGN: We conducted a cross-sectional study of 45 pediatric emergency departments (EDs) in the Pediatric Hospital Information System from 2015 through 2019. We included children discharged with mTBI and surveyed ED clinical directors to ascertain the presence and implementation year of clinical guidelines and CDS. The association of clinical guidelines and CDS with CT use was assessed, adjusting for relevant confounders. As secondary outcomes, we evaluated ED length of stay and rates of 3-day ED revisits and admissions after revisits. RESULTS: There were 216 789 children discharged with mTBI, and CT was performed during 20.3% (44 114/216 789) of ED visits. Adjusted hospital-specific CT rates ranged from 11.8% to 34.7% (median 20.5%, IQR 17.3%, 24.3%). Of the 45 EDs, 17 (37.8%) had a clinical guideline, 9 (20.0%) had CDS, and 19 (42.2%) had neither. Compared with EDs with neither a clinical guideline nor CDS, visits to EDs with CDS (aOR 0.52 [0.47, 0.58]) or a clinical guideline (aOR 0.83 [0.78, 0.89]) had lower odds of including a CT for mTBI. ED length of stay and revisit rates did not differ based on the presence of a clinical guideline or CDS. CONCLUSIONS: Clinical guidelines for mTBI, and particularly CDS, were associated with lower rates of head CT use without adverse clinical outcomes.

Global Tracheostomy Collaborative: data-driven improvements in patient safety through multidisciplinary teamwork, standardisation, education, and patient partnership.

There is growing recognition of the need for a coordinated, systematic approach to caring for patients with a tracheostomy. Tracheostomy-related adverse events remain a pervasive global problem, accounting for half of all airway-related deaths and hypoxic brain damage in critical care units. The Global Tracheostomy Collaborative (GTC) was formed in 2012 to improve patient safety and quality of care, emphasising knowledge, skills, teamwork, and patient-centred approaches. Inspired by quality improvement leads in Australia, the UK, and the USA, the GTC implements and disseminates best practices across hospitals and healthcare trusts. Its database collects patient-level information on quality, safety, and organisational efficiencies. The GTC provides an organising structure for quality improvement efforts, promoting safety of paediatric and adult patients. Successful implementation requires instituting key drivers for change that include effective training for health professionals; multidisciplinary team collaboration; engagement and involvement of patients, their families, and carers; and data collection that allows tracking of outcomes. We report the history of the collaborative, its database infrastructure and analytics, and patient outcomes from more than 6500 patients globally. We characterise this patient population for the first time at such scale, reporting predictors of adverse events, mortality, and length of stay indexed to patient characteristics, co-morbidities, risk factors, and context. In one example, the database allowed identification of a previously unrecognised association between bleeding and mortality, reflecting ability to uncover latent risks and promote safety. The GTC provides the foundation for future risk-adjusted benchmarking and a learning community that drives ongoing quality improvement efforts worldwide.

Well-Child Visits of Medicaid-Insured Children with Medical Complexity.

OBJECTIVE: Well-child visits (WCVs) help optimize children's health. We measured annual WCVs for children with medical complexity (CMC) and correlated WCVs with hospitalizations. STUDY DESIGN: This was a retrospective analysis of 93 121 CMC aged 1-18 years continuously enrolled in 10 state Medicaid programs in the Truven MarketScan Database between 2010 and 2014. CMC had a complex chronic condition or 3 or more chronic conditions of any complexity identified from International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision codes, and the use of 1 or more chronic medications. We measured the number of years with 1 or more WCVs. The χ2 test and logistic regression were used to assess the relationships of WCV-years with the children's characteristics and hospitalization. RESULTS: Over 5 years, 13.4% of CMC had 0 WCVs; 17.3% had WCVs in 1 year, 40.8% had WCVs in 2-3 years, and 28.5% had WCVs in 4-5 years. Fewer children received WCVs in 4-5 years when enrolled in Medicaid fee-for-service compared with managed care (20.9% vs 31.5%; P < .001) and when enrolled due to a disability compared with another reason (18.2% vs 32.2%; P < .001). The percentage of CMC hospitalized decreased as the number of years receiving WCV increased (21.5% at 0 years vs 16.9% at 5 years; P < .001). The adjusted odds of hospitalization were higher in CMC with WCVs in 0-4 years compared with CMC with WCVs in all 5 years (OR range across years, 1.1 [95% CI, 1.0-1.2] to 1.3 [95% CI, 1.3-1.4]). CONCLUSIONS: Most Medicaid-insured CMC do not receive annual WCVs consistently over time. Children with fewer annual WCVs have a higher likelihood of hospitalization. Further investigation is needed to improve the use of WCVs in CMC.

Assessing the accuracy of race-and-ethnicity data in the Outcome and Assessment Information Set.

BACKGROUND: Limitations in the quality of race-and-ethnicity information in Medicare's data systems constrain efforts to assess disparities in care among older Americans. Using demographic information from standardized patient assessments may be an efficient way to enhance the accuracy and completeness of race-and-ethnicity information in Medicare's data systems, but it is critical to first establish the accuracy of these data as they may be prone to inaccurate observer-reported or third-party-based information. This study evaluates the accuracy of patient-level race-and-ethnicity information included in the Outcome and Assessment Information Set (OASIS) submitted by home health agencies. METHODS: We compared 2017-2022 OASIS-D race-and-ethnicity data to gold-standard self-reported information from the Medicare Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems® survey in a matched sample of 304,804 people with Medicare coverage. We also compared OASIS data to indirect estimates of race-and-ethnicity generated using the Medicare Bayesian Improved Surname and Geocoding (MBISG) 2.1.1 method and to existing Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) administrative records. RESULTS: Compared with existing CMS administrative data, OASIS data are far more accurate for Hispanic, Asian American and Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, and White race-and-ethnicity; slightly less accurate for American Indian or Alaska Native race-and-ethnicity; and similarly accurate for Black race-and-ethnicity. However, MBISG 2.1.1 accuracy exceeds that of both OASIS and CMS administrative data for every racial-and-ethnic category. Patterns of inconsistent reporting of racial-and-ethnic information among people for whom there were multiple observations in the OASIS and Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) datasets suggest that some of the inaccuracies in OASIS data may result from observation-based reporting that lessens correspondence with self-reported data. CONCLUSIONS: When health record data on race-and-ethnicity includes observer-reported information, it can be less accurate than both true self-report and a high-performing imputation approach. Efforts are needed to encourage collection of true self-reported data and explicit record-level data on the source of race-and-ethnicity information.

Food Insecurity Was Associated With Greater Family Health Care Expenditures In The US, 2016-17.

Food insecurity has been associated with the health care expenditures of individuals, but it can affect the entire family. Evaluating the relationship between food insecurity and family expenditures provides a better understanding of the financial implications of food insecurity interventions. Our primary objective was to evaluate the association between food insecurity in one year (2016) and family health care expenditures-for all members, for children only, and for adults only-in the next year (2017). We also evaluated whether this association varied across types of insurance coverage within families: all private, all public, or mixed (including uninsured). Using nationally representative data, we found that food-insecure families had 20 percent greater total health care expenditures than food-secure families, for an annual difference of $2,456. Food insecurity was associated with greater expenditures across all family insurance patterns, including the 19.1 percent of families with mixed coverage. Our findings suggest that in families with mixed coverage, positive impacts of food insecurity interventions on health care use may accrue to family members other than the targeted beneficiaries and those who have different insurance, benefiting the entire family but potentially discouraging investments on the part of any one payer.

Measuring health disparities using a continuous social risk factor.

OBJECTIVE: To propose and evaluate a novel approach for measuring hospital-level disparities according to the effect of a continuous, polysocial risk factor on those outcomes. STUDY SETTING: Our cohort consisted of Medicare Fee-for-Service (FFS) patients 65 years and older admitted to acute care hospitals for one of six common conditions or procedures. Medicare administrative claims data for six hospital readmission measures including hospitalizations from July 2015 to June 2018 were used. STUDY DESIGN: We adapted existing methodologies that were developed to report hospital-level disparities using dichotomous social risk factors (SRFs). The existing methods report disparities within and across hospitals; we developed and tested modified approaches for both methods using the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Socioeconomic Status Index. We applied the adapted methodologies to six 30-day hospital readmission measures included in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program measures. We compared the within- and across-hospital results for each to those obtained from using the original methods and dichotomizing the AHRQ SES Index into "low" and "high" scores. DATA COLLECTION: We used Medicare FFS administrative claims data linked to U.S. Census data. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: For all six readmission measures we find that, when compared with the existing methods, the methods for continuous SRFs provide disparity results for more facilities though across a narrower range of values. Measures of disparity based on this approach are moderately to highly correlated with those based on a dichotomous version of the same risk factor, while reflecting a fuller spectrum of risk. This approach represents an opportunity for detection of provider-level results that more closely align with underlying social risk. CONCLUSION: We have demonstrated the feasibility and utility of estimating hospital disparities of care using a continuous, polysocial risk factor. This approach expands the potential for reporting hospital-level disparities while better accounting for the multifactorial nature of social risk on hospital outcomes.

Annual Variation in 30-Day Risk-Adjusted Readmission Rates in U.S. Children's Hospitals.

OBJECTIVE: Reducing pediatric readmissions has become a national priority; however, the use of readmission rates as a quality metric remains controversial. The goal of this study was to examine short-term stability and long-term changes in hospital readmission rates. METHODS: Data from the Pediatric Health Information System were used to compare annual 30-day risk-adjusted readmission rates (RARRs) in 47 US children's hospitals from 2016 to 2017 (short-term) and 2016 to 2019 (long-term). Pearson correlation coefficients and weighted Cohen's Kappa statistics were used to measure correlation and agreement across years for hospital-level RARRs and performance quartiles. RESULTS: Median (IQR) 30-day RARRs remained stable from 7.7% (7.0-8.3) in 2016 to 7.6% (7.0-8.1) in 2019. Individual hospital RARRs in 2016 were strongly correlated with the same hospital's 2017 rate (R2 = 0.89 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.80-0.94]) and moderately correlated with those in 2019 (R2 = 0.49 [95%CI 0.23-0.68]). Short-term RARRs (2016 vs 2017) were more highly correlated for medical conditions than surgical conditions, but correlations between long-term medical and surgical RARRs (2016 vs 2019) were similar. Agreement between RARRs was higher when comparing short-term changes (0.73 [95%CI 0.59-0.86]) than long-term changes (0.45 [95%CI 0.27-0.63]). From 2016 to 2019, RARRs increased by ≥1% in 7 (15%) hospitals and decreased by ≥1% in 6 (13%) hospitals. Only 7 (15%) hospitals experienced reductions in RARRs over the short and long-term. CONCLUSIONS: Hospital-level performance on RARRs remained stable with high agreement over the short-term suggesting stability of readmission measures. There was little evidence of sustained improvement in hospital-level performance over multiple years.

"Pick a Plan and Roll the Dice": A qualitative study of consumer experiences selecting a health plan in the non-group market.

Background: For consumers without access to employer-sponsored or public insurance, health plan choices in the non-group (individual) insurance market that do not meet consumer needs have the potential for negative downstream implications for health and financial well-being. Objective: This qualitative interview study sought to understand consumers' experiences and challenges with choosing a non-group health plan, among those who later had negative experiences with the plan they chose. Methods: We conducted semi-structured telephone interviews with a purposive sample of 36 participants from a large regional health insurance carrier in three states who enrolled in non-group plans in 2017 (21 in Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplace plans and 15 enrolled off-Marketplace). Participants were included if they reported negative experiences using their plan after enrollment, such as higher-than-expected medical costs. Interviews explored challenges choosing a plan; information needed for choosing; usefulness of available tools; and preferred format for interventions to improve plan choice experiences. We analyzed interview transcripts using thematic content analysis. Results: Study participants reported experiencing substantial challenges to choosing an insurance plan. Key barriers included understanding insurance terms, finding relevant information, and making comparisons across plans. Participants valued the ability to make comparisons across carriers when using the Marketplace websites but were less satisfied with customer service. Suggestions for improvement included greater standardization of plans and language and availability of customized one-on-one assistance. Conclusion: Findings from this study suggest that health plan selection in the non-group market presents challenges to consumers that may be addressed through enrollment assistance and improved presentation of information. Personalized assistance to find and choose coverage may lead to plan choices that better meet consumer needs and increase confidence choosing a plan in subsequent enrollment periods.

Racial and Ethnic Differences in Insurer Classification of Nonemergent Pediatric Emergency Department Visits.

Importance: Government and commercial health insurers have recently enacted policies to discourage nonemergent emergency department (ED) visits by reducing or denying claims for such visits using retrospective claims algorithms. Low-income Black and Hispanic pediatric patients often experience worse access to primary care services necessary for preventing some ED visits, raising concerns about the uneven impact of these policies. Objective: To estimate potential racial and ethnic disparities in outcomes of Medicaid policies for reducing ED professional reimbursement based on a retrospective diagnosis-based claims algorithm. Design, Setting, and Participants: This simulation study used a retrospective cohort of pediatric ED visits (aged 0-18 years) for Medicaid-insured children and adolescents appearing in the Market Scan Medicaid database between January 1, 2016, and December 31, 2019. Visits missing date of birth, race and ethnicity, professional claims data, and Current Procedural Terminology codes of billing level of complexity were excluded, as were visits that result in admission. Data were analyzed from October 2021 to June 2022. Main Outcomes and Measures: Proportion of ED visits algorithmically classified as nonemergent and simulated per-visit professional reimbursement after applying a current reimbursement reduction policy for potentially nonemergent ED visits. Rates were calculated overall and compared by race and ethnicity. Results: The sample included 8 471 386 unique ED visits (43.0% by patients aged 4-12 years; 39.6% Black, 7.7% Hispanic, and 48.7% White), of which 47.7% were algorithmically identified as potentially nonemergent and subject to reimbursement reduction, resulting in a 37% reduction in ED professional reimbursement across the study cohort. More visits by Black (50.3%) and Hispanic (49.0%) children were algorithmically identified as nonemergent when compared with visits by White children (45.3%; P < .001). Modeling the impact of the reimbursement reductions across the cohort resulted in expected per-visit reimbursement that was 6% lower for visits by Black children and 3% lower for visits by Hispanic children relative to visits by White children. Conclusions and Relevance: In this simulation study of over 8 million unique ED visits, algorithmic approaches for classifying pediatric ED visits that used diagnosis codes identified proportionately more visits by Black and Hispanic children as nonemergent. Insurers applying financial adjustments based on these algorithmic outputs risk creating uneven reimbursement policies across racial and ethnic groups.

Promoting Child Health Equity Through Medicaid Innovation.

Black, Latino/a/e, American Indian, and Alaska Native children often receive lower quality health care than White children. As the predominant health insurer for medically underserved populations, Medicaid plays a critical role in advancing socioeconomic and racial health equity. In this article, we focus on structural barriers to health equity in the Medicaid program and potential steps for improving long-standing socioeconomic and racial health inequities through programmatic innovation. We identify opportunities for expanding care models for holistically addressing the social determinants of health, aligning clinical care delivery around health equity principles, diversifying the clinical workforce, and promoting meaningful and consistent provider participation in Medicaid. Practitioners and policy makers can start to undertake many of these steps today to set the stage for more sweeping reforms that can help achieve national health equity goals for children. [Pediatr Ann. 2022;51(3):e118-e122.].

Understanding Consumer Experiences and Insurance Outcomes Following Plan Disenrollment in the Nongroup Insurance Market.

Disenrollment from health plans purchased on Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplaces is frequent; little is known whether disenrollment from off-Marketplace plans is as common or about the experiences and consequences of disenrollment. Using longitudinal administrative data on 2017-2018 nongroup plan enrollment linked with survey data, we analyze plan disenrollment in one regional insurance carrier servicing three states. Overall, 71% of enrollees disenrolled from their 2017 plan. Disenrollment was associated with purchasing through an ACA Marketplace, the carrier making significant changes to an enrollee's plan benefit design, being healthier, being younger, and paying a higher premium for their 2017 plan in 2018. Experiencing financial burden or poor access to preferred providers was not associated with disenrollment. Most disenrollees (93.2%) enrolled in other coverage, often at a lower premium, but lacked confidence that they could afford needed care. These results can inform policy to support enrollees through coverage transitions and foster stability in the nongroup market.

Affordability and Access Challenges Among US Subscribers to Nongroup Insurance Plans.

This cohort study assesses cost-related experiences in non-group plans purchased on or off Marketplace and variation by Marketplace enrollment, decision support use, and other characteristics.

Factors Associated With Disparities in Hospital Readmission Rates Among US Adults Dually Eligible for Medicare and Medicaid.

Importance: Low-income older adults who are dually eligible (DE) for Medicare and Medicaid often experience worse outcomes following hospitalization. Among other federal policies aimed at improving health for DE patients, Medicare has recently begun reporting disparities in within-hospital readmissions. The degree to which disparities for DE patients are owing to differences in community-level factors or, conversely, are amenable to hospital quality improvement, remains heavily debated. Objective: To examine the extent to which within-hospital disparities in 30-day readmission rates for DE patients are ameliorated by state- and community-level factors. Design Setting and Participants: In this retrospective cohort study, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Disparity Methods were used to calculate within-hospital disparities in 30-day risk-adjusted readmission rates for DE vs non-DE patients in US hospitals participating in Medicare. All analyses were performed in February and March 2019. The study included Medicare patients (aged ≥65 years) hospitalized for acute myocardial infarction (AMI), heart failure (HF), or pneumonia in 2014 to 2017. Main Outcomes and Measures: Within-hospital disparities, as measured by the rate difference (RD) in 30-day readmission between DE vs non-DE patients following admission for AMI, HF, or pneumonia; variance across hospitals; and correlation of hospital RDs with and without adjustment for state Medicaid eligibility policies and community-level factors. Results: The final sample included 475 444 patients admitted for AMI, 898 395 for HF, and 1 214 282 for pneumonia, of whom 13.2%, 17.4%, and 23.0% were DE patients, respectively. Dually eligible patients had higher 30-day readmission rates relative to non-DE patients (RD >0) in 99.0% (AMI), 99.4% (HF), and 97.5% (pneumonia) of US hospitals. Across hospitals, the mean (IQR) RD between DE vs non-DE was 1.00% (0.87%-1.10%) for AMI, 0.82% (0.73%-0.96%) for HF, and 0.53% (0.37%-0.71%) for pneumonia. The mean (IQR) RD after adjustment for community-level factors was 0.87% (0.73%-0.97%) for AMI, 0.67% (0.57%-0.80%) for HF, and 0.42% (0.29%-0.57%) for pneumonia. Relative hospital rankings of corresponding within-hospital disparities before and after community-level adjustment were highly correlated (Pearson coefficient, 0.98). Conclusions and Relevance: In this cohort study, within-hospital disparities in 30-day readmission for DE patients were modestly associated with differences in state Medicaid policies and community-level factors. This suggests that remaining variation in these disparities should be the focus of hospital efforts to improve the quality of care transitions at discharge for DE patients in efforts to advance equity.

The Role of Social Determinants of Health in the Use of Telemedicine for Asthma in Children.

Asthma is the most common chronic health condition among children in the United States. The adverse impacts of social determinants of health often manifest in unmet health-related social needs, potentially contributing to worse asthma outcomes. With the onset and rapid spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the identification of asthma as a potential risk factor for more severe disease, our asthma program quickly pivoted to a remote-access telemedicine asthma population management platform to best meet the needs of our most at-risk patients. Our practice provides care to a large proportion of Black and Latino/a/e children in urban areas insured by the State Medicaid Program and impacted by unmet social needs. As we pivoted to telemedicine, we consistently reached a greater number of patients and families than prepandemic and observed decreased emergency department visits and hospitalizations. About 1 in 5 families received resource touch points spanning categories of transportation, food and supplies, clothing, utilities, and rent. Overall, families reported positive experiences with telemedicine, including the ability to connect remotely with our social work and resource teams. Telemedicine may be an effective strategy for addressing both the medical and the social needs of children with asthma at risk for worse outcomes.

Variation in Condition-Specific Readmission Rates Across US Children's Hospitals.

OBJECTIVE: Despite extensive efforts, overall readmission rates at US children's hospitals have not materially declined over the past decade, raising questions about how to direct future efforts. Using measures of prevalence and performance variation we describe readmission rates by condition and identify priority conditions for future intervention. METHODS: Retrospective cohort study of 49 US children's hospitals in the Pediatric Health Information System in 2017. Conditions were classified using All Patients Refined Diagnosis Related Groups. 30-day unadjusted and risk-adjusted readmission rates were calculated for each hospital/condition using the Pediatric All Cause Readmission measure. We ranked the highest volume conditions by rate variation (RV, interquartile range divided by the median) for each condition across hospitals. RESULTS: The sample included 811,434 index hospitalizations with 50,196 (6.2%) 30-day readmissions. The RV across hospitals/conditions was between 0 and 2.8 (median = 0.7). Common reasons for admission had low RVs across hospitals, for example, bronchiolitis (readmission rate = 5.6%, RV = 0.4), seizure (readmission rate = 6.6%, RV = 0.3), and asthma (readmission rate = 3.1%, RV = 0.4). We identified 33 conditions with high variation in readmission rates across hospitals, which accounted for 18% of all discharges and 11% of all pediatric readmissions. These conditions may serve as candidates for future readmission reduction activities. CONCLUSIONS: Many common childhood conditions have little variation in readmission rates across children's hospitals, suggesting limited future improvement opportunities. Conditions with high rate variation may provide opportunities for quality improvement; however, these conditions account for a relatively small share of total discharges suggesting modest potential impacts on national rates.

Analysis of Racial and Ethnic Diversity of Population Served and Imaging Used in US Children's Hospital Emergency Departments.

Importance: Lower rates of diagnostic imaging have been observed among Black children compared with White children in pediatric emergency departments. Although the racial composition of the pediatric population served by each hospital differs, it is unclear whether this is associated with overall imaging rates at the hospital level, and in particular how it may be associated with the difference in imaging rates between Black and White children at a given hospital. Objective: To examine the association between the diversity of the pediatric population seen at each pediatric ED and variation in diagnostic imaging. Design, Setting, and Participants: Cross-sectional analysis of ED visits by patients younger than 18 years at 38 children's hospitals from January 1, 2016, through December 31, 2019, using data from the Pediatric Health Information System. Data were analyzed from April to September 2021. Exposures: Proportion of patients from minoritized groups cared for at each hospital. Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcome was receipt of an imaging test defined as radiography, ultrasonography, computed tomography, or magnetic resonance imaging; adjusted odds ratios (aORs) were calculated to measure differences in imaging by race and ethnicity by hospital, and the correlation between the proportion of patients from minoritized groups cared for at each hospital and the aOR for receipt of diagnostic imaging by race and ethnicity was examined. Results: There were 12 310 344 ED visits (3 477 674 [28.3%] among Hispanic patients; 3 212 915 [26.1%] among non-Hispanic Black patients; 4 415 747 [35.9%] among non-Hispanic White patients; 6 487 660 [52.7%] among female patients) by 5 883 664 pediatric patients (mean [SD] age, 5.84 [5.23] years) to the 38 hospitals during the study period, of which 3 527 866 visits (28.7%) involved at least 1 diagnostic imaging test. Diagnostic imaging was performed in 1 508 382 visits (34.2%) for non-Hispanic White children, 790 961 (24.6%) for non-Hispanic Black children, and 907 222 (26.1%) for Hispanic children (P < .001). Non-Hispanic Black patients were consistently less likely to receive diagnostic imaging than non-Hispanic White patients at each hospital, and for all imaging modalities. There was a significant correlation between the proportion of patients from minoritized groups cared for at the hospital and greater imaging difference between non-Hispanic White and non-Hispanic Black patients (correlation coefficient, -0.37; 95% CI, -0.62 to -0.07; P = .02). Conclusions and Relevance: In this cross-sectional study, hospitals with a higher percentage of pediatric patients from minoritized groups had larger differences in imaging between non-Hispanic Black and non-Hispanic White patients, with non-Hispanic White patients consistently more likely to receive diagnostic imaging. These findings emphasize the urgent need for interventions at the hospital level to improve equity in imaging in pediatric emergency medicine.

The Association of the Childhood Opportunity Index on Pediatric Readmissions and Emergency Department Revisits.

OBJECTIVE: Reutilization following discharge is costly to families and the health care system. Singular measures of the social determinants of health (SDOH) have been shown to impact utilization; however, the SDOH are multifactorial. The Childhood Opportunity Index (COI) is a validated approach for comprehensive estimation of the SDOH. Using the COI, we aimed to describe the association between SDOH and 30-day revisit rates. METHODS: This retrospective study included children 0 to 17 years within 48 children's hospitals using the Pediatric Health Information System from 1/1/2019 to 12/31/2019. The main exposure was a child's ZIP code level COI. The primary outcome was unplanned readmissions and emergency department (ED) revisits within 30 days of discharge. Primary outcomes were summarized by COI category and compared using chi-square or Kruskal-Wallis tests. Adjusted analysis used generalized linear mixed effects models with adjustments for demographics, clinical characteristics, and hospital clustering. RESULTS: Of 728,997 hospitalizations meeting inclusion criteria, 30-day unplanned returns occurred for 96,007 children (13.2%). After adjustment, the patterns of returns were significantly associated with COI. For example, 30-day returns occurred for 19.1% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 18.2, 20.0) of children living within very low opportunity areas, with a gradient-like decrease as opportunity increased (15.5%, 95% CI: 14.5, 16.5 for very high). The relative decrease in utilization as COI increased was more pronounced for ED revisits. CONCLUSIONS: Children living in low opportunity areas had greater 30-day readmissions and ED revisits. Our results suggest that a broader approach, including policy and system-level change, is needed to effectively reduce readmissions and ED revisits.

In New England, Partisan Differences In ACA Marketplace Participation And Potential Financial Harm.

Political orientation can be a powerful motivator of certain health care decisions. This study examines how political orientation was associated with decisions to use the Affordable Care Act Marketplaces to enroll in nongroup health insurance plans and whether it was also associated with adverse financial consequences. We used administrative records and surveys of nongroup Marketplace enrollees from a large insurer in New England. Enrollees were categorized as Republican, Democrat, or independent through self-identification or were assigned to one of the political parties after responding to a political preference question. Republican enrollees were less likely than Democratic enrollees of comparable subsidy eligibility to enroll through the Marketplaces and receive subsidies. Among income-eligible enrollees, Republican subscribers received $66 per month less in premium subsidies than Democratic subscribers, equivalent to roughly $800 per year. However, this result varied by subgroups in the parties, and our results suggest that party effects on decision making may inversely relate to the magnitude of the financial consequence. Navigating the ongoing political polarization in the United States requires optimizing public policies, as well as the associated education and outreach, to ensure maximal efficacy regardless of political orientation.