RESUMEN
SARS-CoV-2 can infect wildlife, and SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern might expand into novel animal reservoirs, potentially by reverse zoonosis. White-tailed deer and mule deer of North America are the only deer species in which SARS-CoV-2 has been documented, raising the question of whether other reservoir species exist. We report cases of SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity in a fallow deer population located in Dublin, Ireland. Sampled deer were seronegative in 2020 when the Alpha variant was circulating in humans, 1 deer was seropositive for the Delta variant in 2021, and 12/21 (57%) sampled deer were seropositive for the Omicron variant in 2022, suggesting host tropism expansion as new variants emerged in humans. Omicron BA.1 was capable of infecting fallow deer lung type-2 pneumocytes and type-1-like pneumocytes or endothelial cells ex vivo. Ongoing surveillance to identify novel SARS-CoV-2 reservoirs is needed to prevent public health risks during human-animal interactions in periurban settings.
Asunto(s)
COVID-19 , Ciervos , SARS-CoV-2 , Animales , SARS-CoV-2/inmunología , SARS-CoV-2/genética , COVID-19/epidemiología , COVID-19/veterinaria , Humanos , Ciervos/virología , Irlanda/epidemiología , Estudios Seroepidemiológicos , Población Urbana , Reservorios de Enfermedades/virología , Reservorios de Enfermedades/veterinaria , Animales Salvajes/virología , Anticuerpos Antivirales/sangre , Anticuerpos Antivirales/inmunología , Femenino , MasculinoRESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: To determine whether hospital system affiliation was associated with changes in surgical episode spending or postoperative outcomes. BACKGROUND: Over 70% of US hospitals are now part of a hospital system. The presumed benefits of hospital consolidation include concentrating volume and expertise, care integration, and investment in quality improvement. However, there is conflicting evidence as to whether expanding hospital systems are actually reducing health spending or improving quality. These observations call into question whether systems are leveraging their collective volume and experience to standardize care and maximize efficiencies. METHODS: The American Hospital Association Annual Survey was used to identify whether a hospital was part of a system and in which year a hospital joined the respective system. Using 100% Medicare claims data, we identified fee-for-service Medicare patients undergoing elective inpatient coronary artery bypass graft colon resection, lung resection, hip replacement, or knee replacement from 2010 to 2018. We used a difference-in-differences framework to evaluate hospital spending and outcomes before and after joining a system. The primary outcome was Medicare 30-day episode spending, with specific attention to the total episode payment, index hospitalization, and post-acute care components. Secondary outcomes included serious complications, 30-day mortality, and 30-day readmission. RESULTS: The cohort included 3,395,565 Medicare beneficiaries who underwent surgery between 2010 and 2018. Patients were treated at 3961 hospitals, of which 1097 (27.7%) were never in a system, 2262 (57.1%) were always in a system, and 602 (15.2%) joined a system during the study period. By 1 year after system affiliation, 30-day episode spending had decreased by $303 (95% CI: 63, 454, P=0.01), and after 5 years, 30-day episode spending decreased by $429 (95% CI: 5, 853, P=0.04). One year after system association, index hospitalization spending was not statistically different from before system affiliation ($-30, 95% CI: -160, 100, P=0.65). Conversely, 1 year after system association, postacute care spending decreased by $268 (95% CI: 107, 429, P<0.01) and remained lower for ≥5 years. There was no significant change in hospitals serious complications (-0.14, 95% CI: -0.40, 0.11, P=0.27), 30-day readmission (-0.14, 95% CI:-0.52, 0.25, P=0.48), or 30-day mortality (-0.08, 95% CI: -0.18, 0.03, P=0.17), 1 year after joining a system; similar patterns were observed at three and ≥5 years. CONCLUSIONS: system affiliation was associated with a small decrease in 30-day episode spending, driven by decreased spending in postacute care services. Notably, there was no difference in postoperative outcomes after system affiliation.
RESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate inter-hospital variation in 90-day total episode spending for sepsis, estimate the relative contributions of each component of spending, and identify drivers of spending across the distribution of episode spending on sepsis care. DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING: Medicare fee-for-service claims for beneficiaries (n=324,694) discharged from acute care hospitals for sepsis, defined by MS-DRG, between October 2014 and September 2018. RESEARCH DESIGN: Multiple linear regression with hospital-level fixed effects was used to identify average hospital differences in 90-day episode spending. Separate multiple linear regression and quantile regression models were used to evaluate drivers of spending across the episode spending distribution. RESULTS: The mean total episode spending among hospitals in the most expensive quartile was $30,500 compared with $23,150 for the least expensive hospitals ( P <0.001). Postacute care spending among the most expensive hospitals was almost double that of least expensive hospitals ($7,045 vs. $3,742), accounting for 51% of the total difference in episode spending between the most expensive and least expensive hospitals. Female patients, patients with more comorbidities, urban hospitals, and BPCI-A-participating hospitals were associated with significantly increased episode spending, with the effect increasing at the right tail of the spending distribution. CONCLUSION: Inter-hospital variation in 90-day episode spending on sepsis care is driven primarily by differences in post-acute care spending.
Asunto(s)
Planes de Aranceles por Servicios , Gastos en Salud , Medicare , Sepsis , Humanos , Sepsis/economía , Sepsis/terapia , Estados Unidos , Femenino , Masculino , Medicare/economía , Medicare/estadística & datos numéricos , Anciano , Planes de Aranceles por Servicios/economía , Gastos en Salud/estadística & datos numéricos , Anciano de 80 o más Años , Hospitales/estadística & datos numéricos , Costos de Hospital/estadística & datos numéricos , Episodio de AtenciónRESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) has been associated with several health outcomes, though few occupationally-exposed populations have been studied. We evaluated mortality and cancer incidence in a cohort of perfluorooctanesulfonyl fluoride-based specialty chemical manufacturing workers. METHODS: The cohort included any employee who ever worked at the facility from 1961 to 2010 (N = 4045), with a primary interest in those who had 365 cumulative days of employment (N = 2659). Vital status and mortality records were obtained through 2014 and the cohort was linked to state cancer registries to obtain incident cancer cases from 1995 to 2014. Cumulative exposure was derived from a comprehensive exposure reconstruction that estimated job-specific perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS)-equivalents (mg/m3 ) exposure. Overall and exposure-specific standardized mortality ratios (SMR) were estimated in reference to the US population. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for cumulative PFOS-equivalent exposure (log2 transformed) were estimated within the cohort for specific causes of death and incident cancers using a time-dependent Cox model. RESULTS: Death rates were lower than expected except for cerebrovascular disease (SMR = 2.42, 95% CI = 1.25-4.22) and bladder cancer (SMR = 3.91, 95% CI = 1.07-10.02) in the highest exposure quartile. Within the cohort, the incidence of bladder, colorectal, and pancreatic cancer were positively associated with exposure, however except for lung cancer (HR = 1.05, 95% CI = 1.00-1.11) the CIs did not exclude an HR of 1. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides some evidence that occupational exposure to PFOS is associated with bladder and lung cancers and with cerebrovascular disease.
Asunto(s)
Ácidos Alcanesulfónicos , Trastornos Cerebrovasculares , Fluorocarburos , Neoplasias Pulmonares , Enfermedades Profesionales , Exposición Profesional , Neoplasias de la Vejiga Urinaria , Humanos , Fluoruros , Estudios de Cohortes , Exposición Profesional/efectos adversos , Incidencia , Neoplasias de la Vejiga Urinaria/inducido químicamente , Neoplasias de la Vejiga Urinaria/epidemiología , Neoplasias Pulmonares/epidemiología , Enfermedades Profesionales/inducido químicamente , Enfermedades Profesionales/epidemiologíaRESUMEN
This Viewpoint discusses the proliferation of Medicare Advantage plans targeting specific groups of individuals and whether these plans will improve quality of care for beneficiaries.
Asunto(s)
Beneficios del Seguro , Medicare Part C , Calidad de la Atención de Salud , Planes de Aranceles por Servicios , Medicare Part C/economía , Medicare Part C/estadística & datos numéricos , Medicare Part C/tendencias , Indicadores de Calidad de la Atención de Salud , Calidad de la Atención de Salud/economía , Calidad de la Atención de Salud/normas , Estados Unidos/epidemiología , Cobertura del Seguro/economía , Cobertura del Seguro/estadística & datos numéricos , Cobertura del Seguro/tendencias , Beneficios del Seguro/economía , Beneficios del Seguro/estadística & datos numéricos , Beneficios del Seguro/tendenciasRESUMEN
Importance: Enrollee cost-sharing and health insurance premiums have grown alongside rising hospital prices. To control prices and price growth, the Oregon State Employee plan instituted a cap on hospital facility payments in October 2019 that was found to reduce hospital prices. Yet the program's association with out-of-pocket spending and use among enrollees is unknown. Objective: To assess the association of the Oregon State Employee Plan's hospital payment cap with out-of-pocket spending and changes in service use among state employees enrolled in higher cost-sharing plans. Design, Setting, and Participants: Using data from the Oregon All Payer All Claims database (January 2014 to December 2021), a difference-in-differences analysis was conducted to examine the association of Oregon's hospital payment cap with enrollee out-of-pocket spending and service use. The main analysis focused on the outpatient setting, where there were significant declines in hospital prices. Changes in a subpopulation of employees enrolled in higher cost-sharing plans were also examined. Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcome was outpatient out-of-pocket spending per procedure, which included the copayment, coinsurance, and/or deductible paid at the point of service. Changes in service use were also examined by counting the number of outpatient procedures received per enrollee per year. Results: The outpatient sample included 1 094 083 procedures from 92 523 Oregon educators and 4 510 342 procedures from 473 621 control enrollees. During the period before implementation, Oregon educators had higher out-of-pocket spending per outpatient procedure than the control group ($69.26 vs $41.87). The hospital payment cap was associated with a $6.60, or 9.5%, reduction in out-of-pocket spending per procedure (95% CI, -12.7 to -0.5) and a 0.24, or 4.8%, increase in the number of outpatient procedures received per enrollee per year (95% CI, 0.09-0.39) among those in higher cost-sharing plans. Enrollees receiving outpatient services from October 2019 through December 2021 saved an estimated $1.8 million. However, savings for the state were $10.3 million less than they would have been absent increases in service use. Conclusions and Relevance: The study findings suggest that enrollees may benefit from reduced out-of-pocket spending due to hospital price regulations, but states should be mindful that price regulations may inadvertently increase health care service use.
Asunto(s)
Gastos en Salud , Oregon , Humanos , Gastos en Salud/estadística & datos numéricos , Gastos en Salud/tendencias , Femenino , Masculino , Adulto , Seguro de Costos Compartidos/economía , Seguro de Costos Compartidos/estadística & datos numéricos , Persona de Mediana Edad , Planes de Asistencia Médica para Empleados/economía , Planes de Asistencia Médica para Empleados/estadística & datos numéricosRESUMEN
Preparing patients for posthospital care may improve readmission risk. Alternative payment models (APMs) incent hospitals to reduce readmissions by tying payment to outcomes. The impact of APMs on preparation for discharge is not well understood. We assessed whether patient-reported preparation for posthospital care was associated with reduced readmissions, and whether APM participation was associated with improved preparation for posthospital care. We used mixed-effects regression on retrospective (2013-2017) observational data for 2685 U.S. hospitals. We measured patient-reported preparation for posthospital care using the 3-Item Care Transition Measure and readmission using 30-day all-cause risk-adjusted readmissions from Hospital Compare. Participation in accountable care organizations (ACOs), Medical Homes, and Medicare's Bundled Payments for Care Improvement program was obtained from Medicare, the American Hospital Association's Annual Survey, and Leavitt Partner's ACO database. We found that APMs are not associated with improved preparation for posthospital care, even though it was associated with reduced readmissions (Marginal Effect: -0.012 percentage points). This may be because hospitals are not investing in patient engagement. This study has limited insight into causality and reduced generalizability among smaller, rural, and non-teaching hospitals.
RESUMEN
Existing evidence regarding the effects of Medicaid expansion, largely focused on aggregate effects, suggests health insurance impacts some health, healthcare utilization, and financial hardship outcomes. In this study we apply causal forest and instrumental forest methods to data from the Oregon Health Insurance Experiment (OHIE), to explore heterogeneity in the uptake of health insurance, and in the effects of (a) lottery selection and (b) health insurance on a range of health-related outcomes. The findings of this study suggest that the impact of winning the lottery on the health insurance uptake varies among different subgroups based on age and race. In addition, the results generally coincide with findings in the literature regarding the overall effects: lottery selection (and insurance) reduces out-of-pocket spending, increases physician visits and drug prescriptions, with little (short-term) impact on the number of emergency department visits and hospital admissions. Despite this, we detect quite weak evidence of heterogeneity in the effects of the lottery and of health insurance across the outcomes considered.
Asunto(s)
Cobertura del Seguro , Seguro de Salud , Estados Unidos , Humanos , Oregon , Medicaid , Gastos en SaludRESUMEN
Hospital prices for commercially insured people are high and vary widely, prompting states to seek ways to control hospital price growth. In October 2019, the Oregon state employee health insurance plan instituted a cap on hospital payments. Using 2014-21 data from the Oregon All Payer All Claims Reporting Program database, we performed a difference-in-differences analysis to test the impact of the cap on hospital facility prices for Oregon's state employee plan enrollees. We found that the cap was not associated with a significant reduction in inpatient facility prices across the post period (-$901.9 per admission) but was associated with a significant reduction in the second year after implementation (-$2,774.20). The cap was associated with a significant reduction in outpatient facility prices over the course of the first twenty-seven months of the policy (-$130.50 per procedure). We estimated $107.5 million (or 4 percent of total plan spending) in savings to the state employee plan during the first two years. The hospital payment cap successfully reduced hospital prices for enrollees in that plan.
Asunto(s)
Hospitalización , Hospitales , Humanos , Oregon , Bases de Datos Factuales , RentaRESUMEN
The Bundled Payments for Care Improvement Advanced Model (BPCI-A), a voluntary Alternative Payment Model for Medicare, incentivizes hospitals and physician group practices to reduce spending for patient care episodes below preset target prices. The experience of physician groups in BPCI-A is not well understood. We found that physician groups earned $421 million in incentive payments during BPCI-A's first four performance periods (2018-20). Target prices were positively associated with bonuses, with a mean reconciliation payment of $139 per episode in the lowest decile of target prices and $2,775 in the highest decile. In the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, mean bonuses increased from $815 per episode to $2,736 per episode. These findings suggest that further policy changes, such as improving target price accuracy and refining participation rules, will be important as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services continues to expand BPCI-A and develop other bundled payment models.
Asunto(s)
COVID-19 , Práctica de Grupo , Medicare , Paquetes de Atención al Paciente , Estados Unidos , Humanos , Medicare/economía , Paquetes de Atención al Paciente/economía , Práctica de Grupo/economía , COVID-19/economía , Reembolso de Incentivo/economía , Mecanismo de Reembolso , SARS-CoV-2 , Gastos en Salud/estadística & datos numéricosRESUMEN
Importance: Medicare Advantage (MA) has grown in popularity, but critics believe that insurers are overpaid, partially due to the quartile adjustment system that determines plan benchmarks. However, elimination of the quartile adjustments may be associated with less generous benefits and fewer plan offerings, which could slow MA enrollment growth. Objective: To examine whether the quartile adjustment system is associated with differences in county-level benefits, insurer offerings, and MA enrollment. Design, Setting, and Participants: The quartile adjustments create discontinuous jumps in county-level base payments based on historical traditional Medicare spending. Data from January 2017 to December 2021 and a regression discontinuity design were used to examine changes in insurer behavior and MA enrollment between quartiles. The analytic sample included 1557 county observations. Main Outcomes and Measures: Study outcomes included monthly premiums, the share of plans charging premiums, primary care copayments, the share of plans using rebates to reduce Part B premiums, supplemental benefits, plan and contract availability, and MA enrollment. Results: Discontinuities were found in the quartile adjustments and benchmarks. A 1-percentage point (pp) increase in the quartile adjustment was associated with a $6.36 increase in monthly benchmarks (95% CI, 5.10-7.62), a $0.51 decrease in monthly premiums (95% CI, -0.96 to -0.07), and a 0.68 pp decrease in the share of plans charging premiums (95% CI, -1.25 to -0.10). Significant changes were not found in primary care copayments (-$0.04; 95% CI, -0.17 to 0.09), the share of plans using rebates to reduce Part B premiums (-0.17 pp; 95% CI, -0.34 to 0.01), supplemental benefits (eg, preventive dental coverage; 0.17 pp; 95% CI, -0.25 to 0.0), the number of plans (1.06; 95% CI, -3.44 to 5.57) or contracts (0.31; 95% CI, -0.18 to 0.81), or the MA enrollment rate (0.16 pp; 95% CI, -0.61 to 0.94). Conclusions and Relevance: The study results suggest that MA plans are not very sensitive to modest changes in payment rates. Modifications to the quartile adjustment system may generate savings without substantially affecting MA beneficiaries.
Asunto(s)
Medicare Part C , Estados Unidos , BenchmarkingRESUMEN
OBJECTIVES: To assess whether hospitals participating in Medicare's Bundled Payments for Care Improvement (BPCI) program for joint replacement changed their referral patterns to favor higher-quality skilled nursing facilities (SNFs). STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective observational study using 2009-2015 inpatient and outpatient claims from a 20% sample of Medicare beneficiaries undergoing joint replacement in US hospitals (N = 146,074) linked with data from Medicare's BPCI program and Nursing Home Compare. METHODS: We ran fixed effect regression models regressing BPCI participation on hospital-SNF referral patterns (number of SNF discharges, number of SNF partners, and SNF referral concentration) and SNF quality (facility inspection survey rating, patient outcome rating, staffing rating, and registered nurse staffing rating). RESULTS: We found that BPCI participation was associated with a decrease in the number of SNF referrals and no significant change in the number of SNF partners or concentration of SNF partners. BPCI participation was associated with discharge to SNFs with a higher patient outcome rating by 0.04 stars (95% CI, 0.04-0.26). BPCI participation was not associated with improvements in discharge to SNFs with a higher facility survey rating (95% CI, -0.03 to 0.11), staffing rating (95% CI, -0.07 to 0.04), or registered nurse staffing rating (95% CI, -0.09 to 0.02). CONCLUSIONS: BPCI participation was associated with lower volume of SNF referrals and small increases in the quality of SNFs to which patients were discharged, without narrowing hospital-SNF referral networks.
Asunto(s)
Medicare , Mejoramiento de la Calidad , Derivación y Consulta , Instituciones de Cuidados Especializados de Enfermería , Instituciones de Cuidados Especializados de Enfermería/economía , Instituciones de Cuidados Especializados de Enfermería/estadística & datos numéricos , Humanos , Estados Unidos , Estudios Retrospectivos , Medicare/economía , Medicare/estadística & datos numéricos , Derivación y Consulta/estadística & datos numéricos , Derivación y Consulta/economía , Femenino , Paquetes de Atención al Paciente/economía , Masculino , Artroplastia de Reemplazo/economía , AncianoRESUMEN
Importance: The Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) is the largest and most important alternative payment model that has been implemented by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Its budgetary impact to CMS is not well understood. Objective: To evaluate the association between the MSSP and net savings to CMS for performance years 2013 to 2021. Design, Setting, and Participants: The economic evaluation used publicly reported data on the MSSP from April 1, 2012, to December 31, 2021, and estimates extracted from 2 prior studies. Main Outcomes and Measures: Net savings to CMS, calculated as the difference between incentive payments to MSSP accountable care organizations and gross spending reductions. Incentive payments were calculated using the publicly reported data. The association of the MSSP with gross medical spending in traditional Medicare was extracted from 2 prior studies. Spillovers of the MSSP to Medicare Advantage (MA) were estimated by evaluating how gross spending reductions from the MSSP impacted benchmark payments to MA plans. Savings from traditional Medicare and MA were then combined. Results: The MSSP was associated with net losses to traditional Medicare of between $584 million and $1.423 billion over the study period. Savings from MSSP-related reductions to MA benchmarks totaled between $4.480 billion and $4.923 billion. Across traditional Medicare and MA, the MSSP was associated with savings of between $3.057 billion and $4.339 billion. This represents approximately 0.075% of combined spending for traditional Medicare and MA over the study period. Conclusions and Relevance: This economic evaluation found that the MSSP was associated with net losses to traditional Medicare, net savings to MA, and overall net savings to CMS. The total budget impact of the MSSP to CMS was small and continues to be uncertain due to challenges in estimating the effects of the MSSP on gross spending, particularly in recent years.
Asunto(s)
Organizaciones Responsables por la Atención , Medicare Part C , Anciano , Estados Unidos , Humanos , Benchmarking , Presupuestos , Análisis Costo-BeneficioRESUMEN
Bullying is one of the most common forms of youth violence and is associated with myriad adverse consequences over the life course. There has been increasing interest in examining whether anti-bullying legislation is effective in preventing bullying victimization and its negative effects. However, a lack of data structures that comprehensively and longitudinally assess anti-bullying legislation and its provisions has hampered this effort. We provide 18 years of data (1999-2017) on anti-bullying legislation and amendments across 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, which we are making publicly available at LawAtlas.org. This article describes how the legal content analysis was conducted, provides information on the reliability of the coding, and details provisions of the legislation that were coded, such as funding provisions and enumerated groups (a total of 122 individual codes are provided). Over 90% of states had at least one amendment to their legislation during this 18-year period (range: 0-22; Mean = 6.1), highlighting both the evolving content of anti-bullying statutes and the importance of tracking these changes with longitudinal data. Additionally, we offer illustrative examples of the kinds of research questions that might be pursued with these new data. For instance, using survival analyses, we show that a variety of state characteristics (e.g., political leaning of state legislatures) predict time to adoption of key provisions of anti-bullying legislation (e.g., the comprehensiveness of legal provisions). Finally, we end with a discussion of how the dataset might be used in future research on the efficacy of anti-bullying legislation.
RESUMEN
Insulin resistance (IR) is a complex metabolic disorder that underlies several human diseases, including type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Despite extensive research, the precise mechanisms underlying IR development remain poorly understood. Previously we showed that deficiency of coenzyme Q (CoQ) is necessary and sufficient for IR in adipocytes and skeletal muscle (Fazakerley et al., 2018). Here, we provide new insights into the mechanistic connections between cellular alterations associated with IR, including increased ceramides, CoQ deficiency, mitochondrial dysfunction, and oxidative stress. We demonstrate that elevated levels of ceramide in the mitochondria of skeletal muscle cells result in CoQ depletion and loss of mitochondrial respiratory chain components, leading to mitochondrial dysfunction and IR. Further, decreasing mitochondrial ceramide levels in vitro and in animal models (mice, C57BL/6J) (under chow and high-fat diet) increased CoQ levels and was protective against IR. CoQ supplementation also rescued ceramide-associated IR. Examination of the mitochondrial proteome from human muscle biopsies revealed a strong correlation between the respirasome system and mitochondrial ceramide as key determinants of insulin sensitivity. Our findings highlight the mitochondrial ceramide-CoQ-respiratory chain nexus as a potential foundation of an IR pathway that may also play a critical role in other conditions associated with ceramide accumulation and mitochondrial dysfunction, such as heart failure, cancer, and aging. These insights may have important clinical implications for the development of novel therapeutic strategies for the treatment of IR and related metabolic disorders.
Asunto(s)
Diabetes Mellitus Tipo 2 , Resistencia a la Insulina , Enfermedades Mitocondriales , Humanos , Ratones , Animales , Ubiquinona , Transporte de Electrón , Diabetes Mellitus Tipo 2/metabolismo , Ceramidas/metabolismo , Ratones Endogámicos C57BL , Músculo Esquelético/metabolismo , Enfermedades Mitocondriales/patologíaRESUMEN
This cross-sectional study compares the beneficiary and plan characteristics and trends in enrollment, premiums, star ratings, and benefits of nonintegrated, nonlegacy-integrated, and legacy-integrated Medicare Advantage plans between 2011 and 2020.