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ImportanceThe past decade saw rapid declines in opioids dispensed to patients with active cancer, with a concurrent increase in marijuana use among cancer survivors possibly associated with state medical marijuana legalization.ObjectiveTo assess the associations between medical marijuana legalization and opioid-related and pain-related outcomes for adult patients receiving cancer treatment.Design, Setting, and ParticipantsThis cross-sectional study used 2012 to 2017 national commercial claims data and a difference-in-differences design to estimate the associations of interest for patients residing in 34 states without medical marijuana legalization by January 1, 2012. Secondary analysis differentiated between medical marijuana legalization with and without legal allowances for retail dispensaries. Data analysis was conducted between December 2021 and August 2022. Study samples included privately insured patients aged 18 to 64 years who received anticancer treatment during the 6 months after a new breast (in women), colorectal, or lung cancer diagnosis.ExposuresState medical marijuana legalization that took effect between 2012 and 2017.Main Outcomes and MeasuresHaving 1 or more days of opioids, 1 or more days of long-acting opioids, total morphine milligram equivalents of any opioid dispensed to patients with 1 or more opioid days, and 1 or more pain-related emergency department visits or hospitalizations (hereafter, hospital events) during the 6 months after a new cancer diagnosis. Interaction terms were included between each policy indicator and an indicator of recent opioids, defined as having 1 or more opioid prescriptions during the 12 months before the new cancer diagnosis. Logistic models were estimated for dichotomous outcomes, and generalized linear models were estimated for morphine milligram equivalents.ResultsThe analysis included 38 189 patients newly diagnosed with breast cancer (38 189 women [100%]), 12 816 with colorectal cancer (7100 men [55.4%]), and 7190 with lung cancer (3674 women [51.1%]). Medical marijuana legalization was associated with a reduction in the rate of 1 or more opioid days from 90.1% to 84.4% (difference, 5.6 [95% CI, 2.2-9.0] percentage points; P = .001) among patients with breast cancer with recent opioids, from 89.4% to 84.4% (difference, 4.9 [95% CI, 0.5-9.4] percentage points; P = .03) among patients with colorectal cancer with recent opioids, and from 33.8% to 27.2% (difference, 6.5 [95% CI, 1.2-11.9] percentage points; P = .02) among patients with lung cancer without recent opioids. Medical marijuana legalization was associated with a reduction in the rate of 1 or more pain-related hospital events from 19.3% to 13.0% (difference, 6.3 [95% CI, 0.7-12.0] percentage points; P = .03) among patients with lung cancer with recent opioids.Conclusions and RelevanceFindings of this cross-sectional study suggest that medical marijuana legalization implemented from 2012 to 2017 was associated with a lower rate of opioid dispensing and pain-related hospital events among some adults receiving treatment for newly diagnosed cancer. The nature of these associations and their implications for patient safety and quality of life need to be further investigated.

The opioid epidemic in the United States has accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic. As of 2021, roughly a third of Americans now live in a state with a recreational cannabis law (RCL). Recent evidence indicates RCLs could be a harm reduction tool to address the opioid epidemic. Individuals may use cannabis to manage pain, as well as to relieve opioid withdrawal symptoms, though it does not directly treat opioid use disorder. It is thus unclear whether RCLs are an effective policy tool to reduce adverse opioid-related health outcomes. In this study, we examine the impact of RCLs on a key opioid-related adverse health outcome: opioid-related emergency department visit rates. We estimate event study models using nearly comprehensive emergency department data from 29 states from 2011 through 2017. We find that RCLs reduce opioid-related emergency department visit rates by roughly 7.6% for two quarters after implementation. These effects are driven by men and adults aged 25–44. These effects dissipate after six months. Our estimates indicate RCLs did not increase opioid-related emergency department visits. We conclude that, while cannabis liberalization may offer some help in curbing the opioid epidemic, it is likely not a panacea.

Establishing care with primary care and specialist clinicians is critical for Medicare beneficiaries with complex care needs. However, beneficiaries with disabilities may struggle to access ambulat...

BACKGROUND Substance use can exacerbate cancer-related morbidity and mortality in adolescent/young adult (AYA) cancer survivors and place them at increased risk for adverse health outcomes. The objective of this study was to assess substance use, misuse, and substance use disorders [SUDs], as well as receipt of treatment for SUDs, among AYA cancer survivors. METHODS The authors used data from the National Survey of Drug Use and Health (2015-2018) to identify a nationally representative sample of AYAs aged 12 to 34 years. Outcomes assessed past-year tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, and illicit drug use; misuse of prescription opioids; SUDs; and SUD treatment. Multiple logistic regression was estimated to compare outcomes between 832 AYAs who reported a cancer history (survivors) and 140,826 AYAs who did not, adjusting sequentially for sociodemographic characteristics and health status. RESULTS In regressions adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics, survivors were more likely than a noncancer comparison group of peers to use alcohol (6% relative increase; P = .048) and illicit drugs (34% relative increase; P = .012), to misuse prescription opioids (59% relative increase; P < .001), and to have a marijuana (67% relative increase; P = .011), illicit drug (77% relative increase; P < .001), or prescription opioid (67% relative increase; P = .048) SUD. When further adjusting for health status, survivors were still 41% more likely (P < .001) to misuse prescription opioids than noncancer peers. Among those with SUDs, survivors were more likely than peers to receive treatment (unadjusted, 21.5% vs 8.0%; adjusted, P < .05). CONCLUSIONS AYA survivors were as likely as or more likely than noncancer peers to report substance use problems. These findings underscore the importance of interventions to reduce substance use and improve SUD treatment among AYA cancer survivors. LAY SUMMARY The authors assessed substance use, misuse, and substance use disorders, as well as the receipt of treatment for substance use disorders, among adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer survivors. In a nationally representative AYA sample, cancer survivors, despite their increased risk for morbidity and early mortality, were as likely as or more likely than peers without cancer to experience substance use problems. In particular, survivors had a significantly higher rate of prescription opioid misuse than peers. However, only 1 in 5 AYA survivors who experienced substance use disorders received treatment. These findings underscore the importance of interventions toward reducing substance use and improving access to treatment among AYA survivors.

The Institutions for Mental Diseases (IMD) exclusion prohibits use of federal Medicaid funds to treat enrollees ages 21–64 in psychiatric residential treatment facilities that have more than sixtee...

BACKGROUND: Rural Americans have less access to care than urban Americans. Preventable acute care use is a marker of unmet ambulatory healthcare needs, but little is known about how such utilization has differed between rural and urban areas over time. OBJECTIVE: Compare preventable emergency department (ED) visit and hospitalization rates among rural versus urban residents over the past decade. DESIGN: Observational study using a validated algorithm to compute age-sex-adjusted rates per 100,000 individuals of preventable ED visits and hospitalizations. Differences in overall, annual, and condition-specific rates for rural versus urban residents were assessed and linear regression was used to assess 10-year trends. SETTING: Nationwide Emergency Department Sample, National Inpatient Sample, and US Census, 2008–2017. PARTICIPANTS: US adults, an annual average of 241.3 million individuals. MEASUREMENTS: Preventable ED visits and hospitalizations. RESULTS: Compared to urban residents, rural residents had 45% higher rates of preventable ED visits in 2008 (3003 vs. 2070 per 100,000, adjusted difference [AD]: 933; 95% CI: 928–938) and 44% higher rates of preventable ED visits in 2017 (3911 vs. 2708 per 100,000, AD: 1202; 95% CI: 1196–1208). Rural residents had 26% higher rates of preventable hospitalizations in 2008 (2104 vs. 1666 per 100,000, AD: 439; 95% CI: 434–443) and 13% higher rates in 2017 (1634 vs. 1440 per 100,000, AD: 194; 95% CI: 190–199). Preventable ED visits increased more in absolute terms in rural versus urban residents, but the percentage increase was similar (30% vs. 31%) because rural residents started at a higher baseline. Preventable hospitalizations decreased at a faster rate (22% vs. 14%) among rural versus urban residents. LIMITATIONS: Observational study; unable to infer causality. CONCLUSIONS: Rural disparities in acute care use are narrowing for preventable hospitalizations but have persisted for all preventable acute care use, suggesting unmet demand for high-quality ambulatory care in rural areas. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11606-020-06532-4.

BACKGROUND Since early 2016, an increasing number of states passed legislations that limit the duration and/or dosage of initial opioid prescriptions or opioids for acute pain. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to assess changes in the number of opioid prescriptions covered by Medicaid and received by Medicaid patients associated with state implementation of legislative limits on initial opioid prescriptions. RESEARCH DESIGN We explored the natural experiment resulting from the staggered implementation of state legislative limits. The analysis adopted a Difference-in-Differences framework and controlled for other major state policies bearing implications for prescription opioid use. The main analysis included 26 states that implemented limits from early 2016 to late 2018. A secondary analysis included all 50 states and the District of Columbia. MEASURES Population-adjusted state-quarter level counts of Schedule II and III opioid prescriptions received by Medicaid patients, based on data from the Medicaid State Drug Utilization Data and state Medicaid enrollment reports for 2013-2018. RESULTS Implementation of legislative limits on initial opioid prescriptions was associated with a 7% reduction in the number of opioid prescriptions per 100 Medicaid enrollees. Such reduction was largely attributable to a reduction in Schedule II opioid prescriptions. Secondary analysis by including all jurisdictions and sensitivity checks supported the robustness of results. CONCLUSION The recent implementation of state legislative limits on initial opioid prescriptions was associated with meaningful reductions in the volume of Schedule II opioid prescriptions received by Medicaid patients.

Self-help groups and medications (buprenorphine, methadone, and naltrexone) both play important roles in opioid addiction treatment. The relative use of these two treatment modalities has not been ...

Medicare beneficiaries with disabilities aged 18 to 64 years face barriers accessing ambulatory care. Past studies comparing Medicare Advantage (MA) with traditional Medicare (TM) have not assessed how well these programs meet the needs of beneficiaries with disabilities.To compare differences in enrollment rates, ambulatory care access, and ambulatory care quality for beneficiaries with disabilities in MA vs TM.This cohort study included a nationally representative, weighted sample of 7201 person-years for beneficiaries aged 18 to 64 years with disability entitlement in the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey from 2015 through 2018. Differences in program enrollment and in measures of access and quality by program enrollment were compared after adjusting for demographic, insurance, social, health, and area characteristics and after reweighting the sample by propensity to enroll in MA as estimated by observed confounders. Data analyses were conducted between November 1, 2020, and November 11, 2021.Medicare Advantage vs TM program enrollment.Six patient-reported measures of ambulatory care access (usual source of care, primary care usual source of care, specialist visit) and quality (cholesterol screening, influenza vaccination, colon cancer screening).The mean (SD) age of the overall study population was 52.1 (11.0) years; 49.5% were female and 50.5% were male; 1.6% were Asian/Pacific Islander; 17.4%, Black; 10.2% Hispanic; 1.4%, Native American; 65.1%, White, and 4.2%, multiracial. Among all beneficiaries living in the community, individuals with disability entitlement were less likely to enroll in MA than other beneficiaries (34.8% vs 41.2%). The final sample of beneficiaries with disabilities included 2444 person-years in MA and 4757 person-years in TM. Beneficiaries with disabilities in MA vs TM were more likely to be of a minority race or ethnicity (35.7% vs 27.6%) and less likely to be enrolled in private insurance (11.9% vs 25.0%). Comparing MA with TM among beneficiaries with disabilities, those in MA had significantly better rates of access to a usual source of care (90.2% vs 84.9%; adjusted propensity-weighted marginal difference [APWMD], 2.9%; 95% CI, 0.2%-5.7%), access to specialist visits (53.2% vs 44.8%; APWMD, 5.5%; 95% CI, 0.6%-10.5%), cholesterol screenings (91.1% vs 86.4%; APWMD, 3.8%; 95% CI, 0.9%-6.7%), influenza vaccinations (61.4% vs 51.5%; APWMD, 10.4%; 95% CI, 5.3%-15.5%), and colon cancer screenings (68.4% vs 54.6%; APWMD, 10.3%; 95% CI, 4.8%-15.8%).In this cohort study, Medicare beneficiaries with disabilities were enrolled in MA at significantly lower rates than those without disabilities. However, MA was associated with significantly better ambulatory care access and quality for these beneficiaries on 5 of 6 measures compared with TM.

Hospitalizations for ambulatory care–sensitive conditions indicate barriers to care outside of inpatient settings. We found that Medicaid expansions under the Affordable Care Act were associated wi...

BACKGROUND: Ambulatory care-sensitive condition (ACSC) hospitalizations are used to evaluate physicians’ performance in Medicare value-based payment programs. However, these measures may disadvantage physicians caring for vulnerable populations because they omit social, cognitive, and functional factors that may be important determinants of hospitalization. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether social, cognitive, and functional risk factors are associated with ACSC hospitalization rates and whether adjusting for them changes outpatient safety-net providers’ performance. DESIGN: Using data from the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey, we conducted patient-level multivariable regression to estimate the association (as incidence rate ratios (IRRs)) between patient-reported social, cognitive, and functional risk factors and ACSC hospitalizations. We compared outpatient safety-net and non-safety-net providers’ performance after adjusting for clinical comorbidities alone and after additional adjustment for social, cognitive, and functional factors captured in survey data. SETTING: Safety-net and non-safety-net clinics. PARTICIPANTS: Community-dwelling Medicare beneficiaries contributing 38,616 person-years from 2006 to 2013. MEASUREMENTS: Acute and chronic ACSC hospitalizations. RESULTS: After adjusting for clinical comorbidities, Alzheimer’s/dementia (IRR 1.30, 95% CI 1.02–1.65), difficulty with 3–6 activities of daily living (ADLs) (IRR 1.43, 95% CI 1.05–1.94), difficulty with 1–2 instrumental ADLs (IADLs, IRR 1.54, 95% CI 1.26–1.90), and 3–6 IADLs (IRR 1.90, 95% CI 1.49–2.43) were associated with acute ACSC hospitalization. Low income (IRR 1.28, 95% CI 1.03–1.58), lack of educational attainment (IRR 1.33, 95% CI 1.04–1.69), being unmarried (IRR 1.18, 95% CI 1.01–1.36), difficulty with 1–2 IADLs (IRR 1.30, 95% CI 1.05–1.60), and 3–6 IADLs (IRR 1.44, 95% CI 1.16–1.80) were associated with chronic ACSC hospitalization. Adding these factors to standard Medicare risk adjustment eliminated outpatient safety-net providers’ performance gap (p

Work requirements condition Medicaid eligibility on completing a specified number of hours of employment, work search, job training, or community service. Little is known about how behavioral health and other chronic health conditions intersect with employment status among Medicaid enrollees who may be subject to work requirements. Using data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health for the period 2014-16, we found that people with behavioral health and other chronic health conditions were more likely to be enrolled in Medicaid and subject to work requirements than those without any identified health conditions. Furthermore, among Medicaid enrollees, those with behavioral and other health conditions were also less likely to have worked twenty hours or more in the past week (and thus be more unlikely to meet work requirements). Our findings suggest that people who may be subject to the requirements have an elevated prevalence of behavioral and other chronic health conditions. If work requirements are to be a continued piece of Medicaid policy, policy changes must also be adopted to ensure that Medicaid covers a full continuum of evidence-based behavioral health services and that Medicaid enrollees with work-limiting conditions are given reasonable accommodations and exemptions.

This survey study uses publicly available data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health to evaluate school-based mental health (MH) service use among low-income and racial and ethnic minority adolescents.

Establishing care with primary care and specialist clinicians is critical for Medicare beneficiaries with complex care needs. However, beneficiaries with disabilities may struggle to access ambulatory care. This study uses the 2015-17 national Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey linked to claims and administrative data to explore these questions. Medicare beneficiaries (ages 21-64) with disabilities were 119 percent more likely to report difficulty accessing care and were 33 percent and 49 percent more likely to lack annual clinician evaluation and management visits for primary and specialty care, respectively, than those without disabilities. Beneficiaries (ages 21-64) with disabilities also had 42 percent, 67 percent, and 77 percent higher likelihood of having all-cause, nonemergent, and preventable emergency department (ED) visits. Furthermore, people with both a disability and a lack of specialist evaluation and management visits also had 21 percent, 48 percent, and 64 percent increased likelihood of all-cause, nonemergent, and preventable ED visits. Barriers to accessing ambulatory care may be a key contributor to the reliance of Americans with disabilities on ED services.

This paper uses the all-payer claims database (APCD) for Rhode Island to study three questions about the use of medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid use disorder (OUD): (1) Does MAT reduce the risk of opioid overdose; (2) are there systematic differences in the uptake of MAT by observable patient-level characteristics; and (3) how successful were federal policy changes implemented in 2016 that sought to promote increased use of buprenorphine, one of three medication options within MAT? Regarding the first question, we find that MAT as practiced in Rhode Island is associated with a reduced risk of repeated opioid overdose among patients who had an initial nonfatal opioid overdose, consistent with the strong endorsement of MAT by public health officials. Concerning the second, we find that factors such as age, gender, health insurance payer, and the poverty rate in one’s residential Zip code are associated with significant differences in the chance of receiving methadone and/or buprenorphine, suggesting that certain groups may face unwarranted disparities in access to MAT. About the third question, we find that a 2016 federal rule change enabled at least some experienced Rhode Island buprenorphine prescribers to reach more patients, and a separate 2016 policy aimed at recruiting new buprenorphine prescribers was also found to be effective. However, the data also suggest that many more patients in the state could be treated with buprenorphine if prescribers took full advantage of their prescribing limits.

The Institutions for Mental Diseases (IMD) exclusion prohibits use of federal Medicaid funds to treat enrollees ages 21-64 in psychiatric residential treatment facilities that have more than sixteen beds. In 2015 the federal government created a streamlined application pathway for state waivers of this rule to allow Medicaid coverage for substance use disorder (SUD) treatment in residential facilities. Nine states received IMD waivers during the period 2015-18. Using data from the 2010-18 National Survey of Substance Abuse Treatment Services, we examined changes in residential and outpatient SUD treatment facilities' acceptance of Medicaid and other types of health coverage, as well as self-pay arrangements and provision of charity care, after states' adoption of IMD waivers. Acceptance of Medicaid increased 34 percent at residential treatment facilities and 9 percent at intensive outpatient facilities two years after waiver implementation. Delivery of medications for opioid use disorder did not increase in residential facilities post waiver but did increase to some extent in outpatient facilities. Our findings suggest that IMD waivers may be an important tool for advancing access to a full continuum of SUD treatment for Medicaid enrollees.

Using data from Truven Health MarketScan Commercial Claims and Encounters Database between 2009 and 2015, we studied the effects of medical and recreational marijuana laws on opioid prescribing in employer-sponsored health insurance. We used a differences-in-differences (DD) approach and found that the implementation of medical marijuana laws (MMLs) and recreational marijuana laws (RMLs) reduced morphine milligram equivalents per enrollee by 7% and 13%, respectively. The reduction associated with MMLs was predominately in people aged 55-64, whereas the reduction associated with RMLs was largely in people aged 35-44 and aged 45-54. Our findings suggest that both MMLs and RMLs have the potential to reduce opioid prescribing in the privately insured population, especially for the middle-aged population.

Background Medicare uses the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Hierarchical Condition Category (CMS-HCC) model to predict patients' annualized Medicare costs in value-based payment programs. The CMS-HCC model does not include measures of frailty, and prior research shows that it systematically underpredicts costs for frail Medicare beneficiaries. Objective To determine whether a claims-based frailty index can improve Medicare cost prediction. Design Retrospective cohort study. Setting Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey linked to Medicare claims, 2006 to 2013. Participants 16 535 community-dwelling, fee-for-service beneficiaries representing 26 705 patient-years. Measurements Patient frailty status was classified using a validated claims-based frailty index. The association between the frailty index and annualized Medicare costs was examined, and regression methods were used to compare observed Medicare costs versus predictions based on the standard CMS-HCC model with and without the frailty index. Results Mean costs were $5724 for the 8910 patients classified as robust (46.4% of patient-years), $12 462 for the 8405 prefrail patients (41.6%), $26 239 for the 2215 mildly frail patients (9.6%), and $44 586 for the 593 patients classified as moderately to severely frail (2.5%). The frailty index addition to the CMS-HCC model predicted on average an additional $2712, $7915, and $16 449 in costs for prefrail, mildly frail, and moderately to severely frail patients, respectively, beyond the CMS-HCC model alone. On average, the model with the frailty index addition resulted in more accurate predictions of costs for patients at all 4 levels of frailty. However, observed costs remained more widely distributed than predictions from the enhanced model at all levels of frailty. Limitation The claims-based index is a proxy for frailty and is likely less accurate than an in-person examination. Conclusion The CMS-HCC model with the frailty index addition is an improvement over current Medicare cost prediction. Primary funding source None.

Marijuana liberalization policies are gaining momentum in the USA, coupled with limited federal interference and growing dispensary industry. This evolving regulatory landscape underscores the importance of understanding the attitudinal/perceptual pathways from marijuana policy to marijuana use behavior, especially for adolescents and young adults. Our study uses the restricted-access National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) 2004-2012 data and a difference-in-differences design to compare the pre-policy, post-policy changes in marijuana-related attitude/perception between adolescents and young adults from ten states that implemented medical marijuana laws during the study period and those from the remaining states. We examined four attitudinal/perception pathways that may play a role in adolescent and young adult marijuana use behavior, including (1) perceived availability of marijuana, (2) perceived acceptance of marijuana use, (3) perceived wrongfulness of recreational marijuana use, and (4) perceived harmfulness of marijuana use. We found that state implementation of medical marijuana laws between 2004 and 2012 was associated with a 4.72% point increase (95% CI 0.15, 9.28) in the probability that young adults perceived no/low health risk related to marijuana use. Medical marijuana law implementation is also associated with a 0.37% point decrease (95% CI - 0.72, - 0.03) in the probability that adolescents perceived parental acceptance of marijuana use. As more states permit medical marijuana use, marijuana-related attitude/perception need to be closely monitored, especially perceived harmfulness. The physical and psychological effects of marijuana use should be carefully investigated and clearly conveyed to the public.

Substance use figures prominently in criminal behavior. As such expanding public insurance and improving access to substance use disorder (SUD) treatment can potentially reduce substance use and reduce crime. We examine the crime-reduction effect of Medicaid expansions through the Health Insurance Flexibility and Accountability (HIFA) waivers. We find that HIFA-waiver expansion led to a sizeable reduction in the rates of robbery, aggravated assault and larceny theft. We also show that much of the crime-reduction effect likely occurred through increasing SUD treatment rate and reducing substance use prevalence. The implied benefit-cost ratio estimate of increased treatment on reducing crime ranges from 1.8 to 3.2.

People living in rural areas have worse health outcomes than their urban counterparts do. Understanding what factors account for this could inform policy interventions for reducing rural-urban disparities in health. We examined a nationally representative survey of Medicare beneficiaries with one or more complex chronic conditions, which represented 61 percent of rural and 57 percent of urban Medicare beneficiaries. We found that rural residence was associated with a 40 percent higher preventable hospitalization rate and a 23 percent higher mortality rate, compared to urban residence. Having one or more specialist visits during the previous year was associated with a 15.9 percent lower preventable hospitalization rate and a 16.6 percent lower mortality rate for people with chronic conditions, after we controlled for having one or more primary care provider visits. Access to specialists accounted for 55 percent and 40 percent of the rural-urban difference in preventable hospitalizations and mortality, respectively. Medicare should consider interventions for rural beneficiaries who lack access to specialist care to reduce rural-urban disparities in health outcomes.

Comprehensive mandates for prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) require state-licensed prescribers and dispensers both to register with and to use the programs in most clinical circumstances. Such mandates have the potential to improve providers' participation and reduce opioid-related adverse events. Using Medicaid prescription data and hospital utilization data across the US in the period 2011-16, we found that state implementation of comprehensive PDMP mandates was associated with a reduction in the opioid prescription rate from 161.47 to 147.07 per 1,000 enrollees per quarter, a reduction in the opioid-related inpatient stay rate from 97.50 to 93.34 per 100,000 enrollees per quarter, and a reduction in the opioid-related emergency department (ED) visit rate from 74.60 to 61.36 per 100,000 enrollees per quarter. Our estimated annual reductions of approximately 12,000 inpatient stays and 39,000 ED visits could save over $155 million in Medicaid spending, a fact that deserves policy attention when states attempt to strengthen and refine PDMPs to better tackle the opioid crisis.

OBJECTIVES Medicare value-based payment programs evaluate physicians' performance on their patients' annual Medicare costs and clinical outcomes. However, little is known about how geriatricians, who disproportionately provide care for medically complex older adults, perform on these measures. DESIGN A retrospective study using multivariable regression methods to estimate the association of geriatric risk factors with annualized Medicare costs and preventable hospitalization rates and to compare geriatricians' performance on these outcomes to other primary care physicians (PCPs) under standard Medicare risk adjustment and after adding additional adjustment for geriatric risk factors. SETTING Eight years (2006-2013) of cohort data from the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey. PARTICIPANTS Medicare beneficiaries, aged 65 years and older, with primary care services contributing 27 027 person-years of data. MEASUREMENTS Outcomes were costs and preventable hospitalization rates; geriatric risk factors were patient frailty, long-term institutionalization, dementia, and depression. RESULTS Geriatricians were more likely to care for patients with frailty (22.8% vs 14.1%), long-term institutionalization (12.0% vs 4.7%), dementia (21.6% vs 10.2%), and depression (23.6% vs 17.4%) than other PCPs (P

Office-based visits involving a buprenorphine prescription increased significantly among primary care and specialist physicians from 2006 to 2014. The growing involvement of nonpsychiatry physicians in buprenorphine prescribing has the potential to provide better access to care for people with opioid use disorders.

Expansions of eligibility for Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act may have increased the number of Medicaid drug prescriptions. However, the expansions did not drive Medicaid spending on prescription drugs overall in 2014.

Previous research has associated declines in health care resources such as hospitals and trauma centers with communities' racial composition. However, little is known about changes in the substance use disorder treatment infrastructure in recent years and the implications for black communities. We used data for the period 2002-10 from the National Survey of Substance Abuse Treatment Services to describe changes in the supply of public and private outpatient facilities for substance use disorder treatment, and to determine whether these trends had implications for the geographical availability of these facilities in counties with high percentages of black residents. During the study period the number of publicly owned facilities declined 17.2percent, whereas the number of private for-profit facilities grew 19.1percent. At baseline, counties with very high percentages of black residents (that is, more than one standard deviation above the mean) were more likely than counties with less than the mean percentage of black residents to be served by public facilities and were thus disproportionately affected by the overall decline in public facilities. Future research should examine the effect of expanding eligibility for Medicaid on the supply of substance use disorder treatment facilities across diverse communities.

7042 Background: Adolescent and young adult (AYA) survivors of cancer are at an elevated risk of early-life morbidity and mortality due to the disease trajectory and treatment. Engagement in risk behaviors, including substance use, can exacerbate survivors’ vulnerabilities and place them at further risk for adverse health outcomes. This study provides national estimates of the prevalence of substance use and misuse, substance abuse or dependence (i.e., substance use disorders [SUD]), and receipt of treatment for SUD among AYA cancer survivors. Methods: We used 2015-2018 National Survey of Drug Use and Health data to identify a nationally-representative AYA sample (aged 12-34 years). Outcomes included past-year alcohol use, marijuana use, other illicit drug use, misuse of any prescription psychotherapeutic drugs (including opioid analgesics, stimulants, sedatives, or tranquilizers), and misuse of prescription opioid analgesics. Outcomes also assessed past-year SUD in aforementioned drug classes. Among those with SUD, we evaluated past-year receipt of SUD treatment. Multiple logistic regressions were estimated to compare outcomes between 846 AYAs who reported a cancer history and 142,870 AYAs who did not, adjusting for sociodemographic and need-related characteristics. Results: In bivariate analyses, AYAs with a cancer history were more likely than noncancer peers to use alcohol (78.6% vs. 63.4%; p< 0.001) and illicit drugs other than marijuana (11.2% vs. 7.8%; p= 0.02), misuse any prescription psychotherapeutic drugs (16.9% vs. 10.6%; p< 0.001) and prescription opioid analgesics (12.0% vs. 5.9%; p< 0.001), and have an illicit drug (other than marijuana) SUD (3.7% vs. 1.3%; p< 0.01) in the past year. In regression analyses, differences in past-year misuse of any prescription psychotherapeutic drug and prescription opioid analgesics persisted ( p= 0.02, p< 0.01, respectively). Among AYAs with SUD, those with a cancer history were more likely than noncancer peers to receive SUD treatment (21.0% vs. 8.1%; p= 0.01) in the past year; this difference persisted in regression analyses ( p= 0.03). Conclusions: AYAs with a cancer history had an elevated risk for misusing prescription psychotherapeutic medications, which was driven by misuse of prescription opioids; yet, only one in five AYAs with a cancer history and SUD received treatment. Our findings underscore the need for future interventions designed to reduce substance use and misuse and improve access to SUD treatment in AYA cancer survivors.

Importance The rate of opioid-related emergency department (ED) visits and inpatient hospitalizations has increased rapidly in recent years. Medicaid expansions have the potential to reduce overall opioid-related hospital events by improving access to outpatient treatment for opioid use disorder. Objective To examine the association between Medicaid expansions and rates of opioid-related ED visits and inpatient hospitalizations. Design, Setting, and Participants A difference-in-differences observational design was used to compare changes in opioid-related hospital events in US nonfederal, nonrehabilitation hospitals in states that implemented Medicaid expansions between the first quarter of 2005 and the last quarter of 2017 with changes in nonexpansion states. All-payer ED and hospital discharges from 45 states in the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project FastStats were included. Exposures State implementation of Medicaid expansions between 2005 and 2017. Main Outcomes and Measures Rates of all opioid-related ED visits and inpatient hospitalizations, measured as the quarterly numbers of treat-and-release ED discharges and hospital discharges related to opioid abuse, dependence, and overdose, per 100 000 state population. Results In the 46 states and District of Columbia included in the study, 1524 observations of emergency department data and 2219 observations of opioid-related inpatient hospitalizations were analyzed. The post-2014 Medicaid expansions were associated with a 9.74% (95% CI, −18.83% to −0.65%) reduction in the rate of opioid-related inpatient hospitalizations. There appeared to be no association between the pre-2014 or post-2014 Medicaid expansions and the rate of opioid-related ED visits (post-2014 Medicaid expansions, −3.98%; 95% CI, −14.69% to 6.72%; and pre-2014 Medicaid expansions, 1.02%; 95% CI, −5.25% to 7.28%). Conclusions and Relevance Medicaid expansion appears to be associated with meaningful reductions in opioid-related hospital use, possibly attributable to improved care for opioid use disorder in other settings.

Importance Medicare is moving toward value-based payment. The Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) program judges outpatient clinicians’ performance on a measure of annual Medicare spending. However, this measure may disadvantage outpatient clinicians who care for vulnerable populations because the algorithm omits meaningful determinants of cost. Objectives To determine whether factors not included in Medicare risk adjustment, including patient neuropsychological and functional status, as well as local area health resources and economic conditions, are associated with Medicare total annual cost of care (TACC), and evaluate whether accounting for these factors is associated with improved TACC performance by outpatient safety-net clinicians. Design, Setting, and Participants In this retrospective observational study, we used the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) to examine patient-reported neuropsychological and functional status and the Area Health Resources File to obtain information on local area characteristics. Included were Medicare beneficiaries with annual physician or clinic visits to outpatient safety-net (federally qualified health centers and rural health clinics) and non–safety-net clinics, contributing 76 927 person-years of data to the MCBS from 2006 through 2013. We used patient-level multivariable regression models to estimate the association between each factor and annual Medicare spending, and compared outpatient safety-net performance under current risk adjustment and after adding additional adjustment for these factors. Main Outcomes and Measures Medicare TACC, measured as the total annual reimbursed amount per patient for Medicare Part A and Part B services, in all categories. Results Our study included 111 414 unique identifiable physicians, and the final weighted sample included 213 904 324 patient-years (unweighted, 76 927 patient-years) from 30 058 unique patients, of whom 17 478 (58.1%) were women. The mean (SD) patient age was 71.84 (12.48) years. The mean TACC was $9117. Those with higher than mean TACC included beneficiaries with depression ($14 436), dementia ($18 311), and difficulty with 3 or more activities of daily living (ADLs, $19 113) or instrumental ADLs ($17 443). After adjusting for comorbidities, depression and dementia were still associated with $2740 (95% CI, $2200-$2739) and $2922 (95% CI, $2399-$3445) higher TACC, respectively. Difficulty with 3 or more ADLs ($3121 higher; 95% CI, $2633-$3609) or instrumental ADLs ($895 higher; 95% CI, $452-$1337) was also associated with higher TACC. Adding these neuropsychological and functional factors, as well as local residence area factors, to risk adjustment calculations reduced outpatient safety-net clinicians’ underperformance on Medicare TACC relative to non-safety–net clinicians by 52% (from 0.098 to 0.047 difference in the observed to expected ratio). Conclusions and Relevance Neuropsychological and functional impairment are common in Medicare beneficiaries and are associated with increased annual Medicare spending. Failure to account for these factors may inappropriately penalize outpatient clinicians who care for these vulnerable groups, such as safety-net clinicians, for factors that are arguably beyond their control.

We estimate the effect of medical marijuana laws (MMLs) in ten states between 2004 and 2012 on adolescent and adult use of marijuana, alcohol, and other psychoactive substances. We find increases in the probability of current marijuana use, regular marijuana use and marijuana abuse/dependence among those aged 21 or above. We also find an increase in marijuana use initiation among those aged 12-20. For those aged 21 or above, MMLs further increase the frequency of binge drinking. MMLs have no discernible impact on drinking behavior for those aged 12-20, or the use of other psychoactive substances in either age group.

Prescription drug monitoring programs are promising tools to use in addressing the prescription opioid epidemic, yet prescribers' participation in these state-run programs remained low as of 2014. Statutory mandates for prescribers to register with their state's program, use it, or both are believed to be effective tools to realize the programs' full potential. Our analysis of aggregate Medicaid drug utilization data indicates that state mandates for prescriber registration or use adopted in 2011-14 were associated with a reduction of 9-10 percent in population-adjusted numbers of Schedule II opioid prescriptions received by Medicaid enrollees and amounts of Medicaid spending on these prescriptions. This effect was largely associated with mandates of registration, which were comprehensive in all adopting states, and not with mandates of use, which were largely limited in scope or strength before 2015. Our findings support the use of mandates of registration in prescription drug monitoring programs as an effective and relatively low-cost policy. Future research should further assess the value of strong mandates of use to ensure safer and more appropriate prescribing of opioids.

Buprenorphine has been proven effective in treating opioid use disorder. However, the high cost of buprenorphine and the limited prescribing capacity may restrict access to this effective medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder.To examine whether Medicaid expansion and physician prescribing capacity may have impacted buprenorphine utilization covered by Medicaid.We used a quasi experimental difference-in-differences design to compare the pre-post changes in Medicaid-covered buprenorphine prescriptions and buprenorphine spending between the 26 states that implemented Medicaid expansions under the Affordable Care Act in 2014 and those that did not.All Medicaid enrollees in the expansion states and the nonexpansion and late-expansion states.Quarterly Medicaid prescriptions for buprenorphine and spending on buprenorphine from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Medicaid Drug Utilization files 2011 to 2014.State implementation of Medicaid expansions in 2014 was associated with a 70% increase (P0.05) in Medicaid-covered buprenorphine prescriptions and a 50% increase (P0.05) in buprenorphine spending. Physician prescribing capacity was also associated with increased buprenorphine utilization.Medicaid expansion has the potential to reduce the financial barriers to buprenorphine utilization and improve access to medication-assisted treatment of opioid use disorder. Active physician participation in the provision of buprenorphine is needed for ensuring that Medicaid expansion achieves its full potential in improving treatment access.

The study examined the association between private health insurance and the receipt of specialty substance use disorder treatment.Weighted logistic regressions were estimated to examine the association between health insurance and the receipt of any specialty substance use disorder treatment in national samples of nonelderly adults with alcohol abuse or dependence (N=22,778), alcohol dependence (N=10,104), drug abuse or dependence (N=9,427), and drug dependence (N=6,736). Receipt of any specialty substance abuse treatment was compared among the uninsured and privately insured persons who reported known coverage, no coverage, or unknown coverage for alcohol and drug abuse treatment. Regressions adjusted for sociodemographic characteristics, treatment need, criminal justice involvement, and year of survey.Compared with being uninsured, private insurance was associated with greater use of any specialty substance use disorder treatment only among those with alcohol dependence with known coverage for alcohol treatment (p.05).Private insurance was associated with increased use of specialty treatment among persons with severe alcohol use disorders who knew they had coverage for alcohol abuse treatment.

This study uses National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey data to assess the percentage of psychiatrists who have accepted Medicaid-insured patients before and after Medicaid expansion.

Background and Objectives Daily smoking rates are decreasing while intermittent or nondaily smoking rates are increasing. Little is known about the association of depression, alcohol abuse and dependence, and illicit drug abuse and dependence with different patterns of smoking, particularly nondaily smoking. Thus, we examined these relationships among current smokers versus nonsmokers and among those who smoke daily versus less frequently. Methods We conducted a secondary analysis of 37,897 adults who participated in the 2008 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. We developed logistic regression models examining predictors of (i) current smoking and (ii) number of days smoking per month (1–10 days, 11–29 days, and ≥30 days) among current smokers, focusing on past-year major depression, alcohol abuse and dependence, and illicit drug abuse and dependence. Results Compared to nonsmokers, current smokers more frequently reported a major depressive episode (p