Coverage mandates and market dynamics: employer, insurer and patient responses to parity laws.

Parity in coverage for mental health services has been a longstanding policy aim at the state and federal levels and is a regulatory feature of the Affordable Care Act. Despite the importance and legislative effort involved in these policies, evaluations of their effects on patients yield mixed results. I leverage the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and unique claims-level data that includes information on employers' self-insurance status to shed new light in this area after the implementation of two state parity laws in 2007 and federal parity a few years later. My empirics reveal evidence of strategic avoidance on behalf of insurers in both states prior to the passage of state parity, as well as positive increases in mental health care utilization after parity laws are implemented - but context matters. Policy heterogeneity across states and strategic behaviors by employers and commercial insurers substantively shape the benefits that ultimately flow to patients. Insights from this research have broad relevance to ongoing health policy debates, particularly as states retain great discretion over many health coverage decisions and as federal policy continues to evolve.

Surgical resection for recurrent retroperitoneal leiomyosarcoma and liposarcoma.

BACKGROUND: Retroperitoneal soft tissue sarcomas (STS) include a number of histologies but are rare, with approximately 3000 cases in the USA per year. Retroperitoneal STS have a high incidence of local and distant recurrence. The purpose of this study was to review the University of Maryland Medical Center's (UMMC) treatment experience of retroperitoneal STS, where the patient population served represents a diverse socioeconomic and ethnic catchment. METHODS: IRB approval was obtained. We constructed a de-identified database of patients diagnosed with retroperitoneal liposarcomas (LPS) or leiomyosarcomas (LMS) treated at UMMC between 2000 and 2013. A total of 49 patients (Pts) with retroperitoneal STS met our eligibility criteria. Kaplan-Meier plots were used to graphically portray progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). The log-rank test was used to compare time-to-event distributions. RESULTS: The median OS for all patients (Pts) was 6.3 years, and the 2-year OS rate was 81%. The median PFS for all Pts was 1.8 years, and the 2-year PFS rate was 45%. There was no difference in OS and PFS among LMS and LPS patients; the median OS for LMS was 3.8 years vs. LPS 6.4 years (p = 0.33), and the median PFS for LMS was 1.2 years vs. LPS 2.5 years (p = 0.28). There was a significant difference between histology and race (p = 0.001). LPS were primarily Caucasian 86% vs. 14% black, whereas LMS were primarily black 52% vs. 33% Caucasian. OS was influenced by functional status, gender, American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) stage, grade, histology, tumor size, and extent of resection. PFS was influenced by AJCC stage, grade, and extent of resection. Neither adjuvant chemotherapy (1 Pt) nor neoadjuvant/adjuvant radiation therapy (18 Pts) influenced OS or PFS. There was a non-significant difference that Pts who could undergo resection of local recurrence had improved 2-year OS, with 100% LMS and LPS compared to 2-year OS of 71% (LMS) and 78% (LPS) not undergoing resection of local recurrence. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests a higher incidence of leiomyosarcoma in the African-American population. This study confirms the prognostic importance of grade, tumor size, AJCC stage, histology, and extent of resection in patient outcomes, at a large substantially diverse academic medical center. Future research into the biological features of liposarcoma and leiomyosarcoma Pts imparting these characteristics will be important to define.

Do coverage mandates affect direct-to-consumer advertising for pharmaceuticals? Evidence from parity laws.

Direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) for prescription drugs is a relatively unique feature of the US health care system and a source of tens of billions of dollars in annual spending. It has also garnered the attention of researchers and policymakers interested in its implications for firm and consumer behavior. However, few economic studies have explored the DTCA response to public policies, especially those mandating coverage of these products. We use detailed advertising expenditure data to assess if pharmaceutical firms increase their marketing efforts after the implementation of relevant state and federal health insurance laws. We focus on mental health parity statutes and related drug therapies-a potentially ripe setting for inducing stronger consumer demand. We find no clear indication that firms expect greater value from DTCA after these regulatory changes. DTCA appears driven by other considerations (e.g., product debut); however, it remains a possibility that firms respond to these laws through other, unobserved channels (e.g., provider detailing).

The Transition to the Adult Health Care System Among Youths With Autism Spectrum Disorder.

OBJECTIVE: The study examined how health care utilization patterns among youths with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) change as they transition into the adult health care system. METHODS: Data came from the Clinformatics Data Mart Database, a nationally diverse, clinically rich, private insurance claims database. The analytic sample consisted of youths ages 16 to 23 who were diagnosed as having ASD (N=16,338). Cross-sectional multivariate linear regressions determined whether service usage in home, office or outpatient, inpatient, and emergency department (ED) settings differed by age. RESULTS: The proportion of youths with ASD who received services declined with age in each setting except the ED. A similar reduction existed in number of visits to office or outpatient settings and inpatient settings, while home and ED visits remained stable. Service utilization declined faster among youths with co-occurring intellectual disability. CONCLUSIONS: There is a notable decline in service utilization across multiple settings as youths with ASD transition from pediatric to adult health care.

Pediatric and Adult Physician Networks in Affordable Care Act Marketplace Plans.

OBJECTIVES: To describe and compare pediatric and adult specialty physician networks in marketplace plans. METHODS: Data on physician networks, including physician specialty and address, in all 2014 individual marketplace silver plans were aggregated. Networks were quantified as the fraction of providers in the underlying rating area within a state that participated in the network. Narrow networks included none available networks (ie, no providers available in the underlying area) and limited networks (ie, included <10% of the available providers in the underlying area). Proportions of narrow networks between pediatric and adult specialty providers were compared. RESULTS: Among the 1836 unique silver plan networks, the proportions of narrow networks were greater for pediatric (65.9%) than adult specialty (34.9%) networks (P < .001 for all specialties). Specialties with the highest proportion of narrow networks for children were infectious disease (77.4%) and nephrology (74.0%), and they were highest for adults in psychiatry (49.8%) and endocrinology (40.8%). A larger proportion of pediatric networks (43.8%) had no available specialists in the underlying area when compared with adult networks (10.4%) (P < .001 for all specialties). Among networks with available specialists in the underlying area, a higher proportion of pediatric (39.3%) than adult (27.3%) specialist networks were limited (P < .001 except psychiatry). CONCLUSIONS: Narrow networks were more prevalent among pediatric than adult specialists, because of both the sparseness of pediatric specialists and their exclusion from networks. Understanding narrow networks and marketplace network adequacy standards is a necessary beginning to monitor access to care for children and families.