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Objectives To understand the landscape of privacy preserving record linkage (PPRL) applications in public health, assess estimates of PPRL accuracy and privacy, and evaluate factors for PPRL adoption. Materials and Methods A literature scan examined the accuracy, data privacy, and scalability of PPRL in public health. Twelve interviews with subject matter experts were conducted and coded using an inductive approach to identify factors related to PPRL adoption. Results PPRL has a high level of linkage quality and accuracy. PPRL linkage quality was comparable to that of clear text linkage methods (requiring direct personally identifiable information [PII]) for linkage across various settings and research questions. Accuracy of PPRL depended on several components, such as PPRL technique, and the proportion of missingness and errors in underlying data. Strategies to increase adoption include increasing understanding of PPRL, improving data owner buy-in, establishing governance structure and oversight, and developing a public health implementation strategy for PPRL. Discussion PPRL protects privacy by eliminating the need to share PII for linkage, but the accuracy and linkage quality depend on factors including the choice of PPRL technique and specific PII used to create encrypted identifiers. Large-scale implementations of PPRL linking millions of observations—including PCORnet, National Institutes for Health N3C, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention COVID-19 project have demonstrated the scalability of PPRL for public health applications. Conclusions Applications of PPRL in public health have demonstrated their value for the public health community. Although gaps must be addressed before wide implementation, PPRL is a promising solution to data linkage challenges faced by the public health ecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Medicaid is a major funder of reproductive health services, including family planning and pregnancy‐related care, especially for people with limited income and people of color. Federal Medicaid funds cannot be used for abortion however 16 states allow state Medicaid funds to pay for abortion. In recent years, Illinois and Maine implemented, and West Virginia discontinued, state Medicaid coverage of abortion. Methodology: With retrospective procedure‐ and patient‐level data obtained from clinics in these three states, we used an interrupted time series design, multivariable regression models, and descriptive statistics to assess changes in procedure volume and patients' share of total procedure price (patient price). Results: In Maine and Illinois, implementing state Medicaid coverage of abortion contributed to an immediate overall increase in abortion access (as seen by a rise in monthly procedure volume at the time of the policy's implementation), a decrease in patient price (by 36% in Maine and 44% in Illinois) after policy implementation as compared to pre‐implementation, and overall improved access among people of color. Conversely, when West Virginia discontinued coverage, access to care decreased, patient price increased by 130%, and the share of abortion procedures among people of color decreased. Conclusions: In the fragmented abortion access landscape of the post‐Roe era, our study provides new evidence that financial assistance offered through state Medicaid policies that cover abortion may be most helpful to those facing traditional structural inequities to access, while discontinuation of Medicaid coverage of abortion further burdens those already economically marginalized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how reductions in carbon dioxide (2) emissions of Indian manufacturing would impact the export competitiveness of Indian manufacturing firms, by estimating production functions of alternate specifications using data on manufacturing companies for 2007-2008. The results indicate substantial scope for reduction in 2 emissions through factor substitution and reduction in technical inefficiency. The analysis presented in the paper indicates that a reasonable carbon tax of US$ 4-15 per tonne of 2would cause costs in industrial companies to increase, on average, by 0.36%-1.33% and the consequent loss of exports because of the carbon tax is likely to be small. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]