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Daniel G Whitney,1,2 Mary Schmidt,1 Sarah Bell,1 Hal Morgenstern,3– 5 Richard A Hirth2,6,7 1Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; 2Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; 3Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; 4Department of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; 5Department of Urology, School of Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; 6Department of Health Management and Policy, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; 7Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USACorrespondence: Daniel G Whitney Tel +1 734-936-7175Email dgwhit@umich.eduPurpose: Due to complex medical profiles, adults with neurodevelopmental disabilities (NDDs) may have a heightened risk for early development of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and accelerated CKD progression to advanced stages and kidney failure. The purpose of this study was to estimate the incidence rate of advanced CKD for adults with NDDs and compare the incidence rate to adults without NDDs.Patients and Methods: Data were used from the Optum Clinformatics® Data Mart to conduct this retrospective cohort study. The calendar year 2013 was used to identify eligible participants: individuals ≥ 18 years of age and without advanced CKD. Participants were followed from 01/01/2014 to advanced CKD, loss to follow-up, death, or end of the study period (12/31/2017), whichever came first. Diagnostic, procedure, and diagnosis-related group codes identified NDDs (intellectual disabilities, cerebral palsy, autism spectrum disorders), incident cases of advanced CKD (CKD stages 4+), diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and hypertension present in the year 2013. Crude incidence rates (IR) of advanced CKD and IR ratios (IRR), comparing adults with vs without NDDs (with 95% CI) were estimated. Then, Cox regression estimated the hazard ratio (HR and 95% CI) for advanced CKD, comparing adults with NDDs to adults without NDDs while adjusting for covariates.Results: Adults with NDDs (n=33,561) had greater crude IR of advanced CKD (IRR=1.32; 95% CI=1.24– 1.42) compared to adults without NDDs (n=6.5M). The elevated rate of advanced CKD among adults with NDDs increased after adjusting for demographics (HR=2.19; 95% CI=2.04– 2.34) and remained elevated with further adjustment for hypertension and diabetes (HR=2.01; 95% CI=1.87– 2.15) plus cardiovascular disease (HR=1.84; 95% CI=1.72– 1.97). Stratified analyses showed that the risk of advanced CKD was greater for all NDD subgroups.Conclusion: Study findings suggest that adults with NDDs have a greater risk of advanced CKD than do adults without NDDs, and that difference is not explained by covariates used in our analysis.Keywords: chronic kidney disease, neurodevelopmental disabilities, intellectual disabilities, cerebral palsy, autism spectrum disorders

Despite widespread availability of pain interventions in childbirth, for most women, childbirth is associated with labor pain that exceeds expectations. Although epidural is superior to other medical interventions, the choice to use epidural still remains a matter of patient and doctor preference. Whether racial or ethnic characteristics influence preference of physician use or interact with insurance coverage is still unknown. This study used a large national sample of women to measure significant determinants of epidural use in order to discuss disparities in pain management. The findings suggest the need for nurse leaders to foster health policies that are sensitive to diversity and economics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the Strategies to Assist Navy Recruits' Success (STARS) project, a prospective cluster-randomized intervention trial, was to determine the effects of the BOOT Camp Survival Training for Navy Recruits-A Prescription (BOOT STRAP) mental health intervention on divisions of Navy recruits. A total of 1,199 recruits participated in the study. The intervention was provided weekly during basic training to an entire division. The percentage of recruits separated from the Navy who did not receive the intervention was almost twice as large as compared to the recruits who did receive intervention (10.33% vs. 5.17%; p < 0.05) during surge training. The intervention group recruits developed significantly higher group cohesion, higher scores on problem-solving coping strategies, and higher perceived social support, while reporting lower scores on anger expression coping strategies than the control group recruits. Potential cost savings per year on recruit training were estimated to be $18.6 million. Training facilitators and conducting the group intervention would cost an estimated $1.5 million per year. Building on previous research, the results of this study have the potential to decrease attrition, improve recruit performance levels, and provide a cost-effective method of enhancing recruit retention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Importance: Air pollution is a recognized risk factor associated with chronic diseases, including respiratory and cardiovascular conditions, which can lead to physical and cognitive impairments in later life. Although these losses of function, individually or in combination, reduce individuals' likelihood of living independently, little is known about the association of air pollution with this critical outcome., Objective: To investigate associations between air pollution and loss of independence in later life., Design, Setting, and Participants: This cohort study was conducted as part of the Environmental Predictors Of Cognitive Health and Aging study and used 1998 to 2016 data from the Health and Retirement Study. Participants included respondents from this nationally representative, population-based cohort who were older than 50 years and had not previously reported a loss of independence. Analyses were performed from August 31 to October 15, 2023., Exposures: Mean 10-year pollutant concentrations (particulate matter less than 2.5 μm in diameter [PM2.5] or ranging from 2.5 μm to 10 μm in diameter [PM10-2.5], nitrogen dioxide [NO2], and ozone [O3]) were estimated at respondent addresses using spatiotemporal models along with PM2.5 levels from 9 emission sources., Main Outcomes and Measures: Loss of independence was defined as newly receiving care for at least 1 activity of daily living or instrumental activity of daily living due to health and memory problems or moving to a nursing home. Associations were estimated with generalized estimating equation regression adjusting for potential confounders., Results: Among 25 314 respondents older than 50 years (mean [SD] baseline age, 61.1 [9.4] years; 11 208 male [44.3%]), 9985 individuals (39.4%) experienced lost independence during a mean (SD) follow-up of 10.2 (5.5) years. Higher exposure levels of mean concentration were associated with increased risks of lost independence for total PM2.5 levels (risk ratio [RR] per 1-IQR of 10-year mean, 1.05; 95% CI, 1.01-1.10), PM2.5 levels from road traffic (RR per 1-IQR of 10-year mean, 1.09; 95% CI, 1.03-1.16) and nonroad traffic (RR per 1-IQR of 10-year mean, 1.13; 95% CI, 1.03-1.24), and NO2 levels (RR per 1-IQR of 10-year mean, 1.05; 95% CI, 1.01-1.08). Compared with other sources, traffic-generated pollutants were most consistently and robustly associated with loss of independence; only road traffic-related PM2.5 levels remained associated with increased risk after adjustment for PM2.5 from other sources (RR per 1-IQR increase in 10-year mean concentration, 1.10; 95% CI, 1.00-1.21). Other pollutant-outcome associations were null, except for O3 levels, which were associated with lower risks of lost independence (RR per 1-IQR increase in 10-year mean concentration, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.92-0.97)., Conclusions and Relevance: This study found that long-term exposure to air pollution was associated with the need for help for lost independence in later life, with especially large and consistent increases in risk for pollution generated by traffic-related sources. These findings suggest that controlling air pollution could be associated with diversion or delay of the need for care and prolonged ability to live independently.

Importance: Students who ride older school buses are often exposed to high levels of exhaust during their commutes, which may adversely affect health and school attendance. As a result, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded millions of dollars to school districts to replace older, highly polluting school buses with newer, cleaner buses., Objective: To leverage the EPA's randomized allocation of funding under the 2012-2016 School Bus Rebate Programs to estimate the association between replacing old, highly polluting buses and changes in district-average standardized test scores., Design, Setting, and Participants: This study examined changes in reading and language arts (RLA) and math test scores among US school district applicants to the EPA's 2012-2016 national School Bus Rebate Programs 1 year before and after each lottery by selection status. Data analysis was conducted from January 15 to July 30, 2023., Exposure: Selection to receive EPA funding to replace older school buses with newer, cleaner alternatives., Main Outcomes and Measures: School district changes in RLA and math test scores among students in grades 3 through 8 before and after the EPA funding lotteries by selection status were measured using an intention-to-treat approach., Results: This study included 1941 school district applicants to the 2012-2106 EPA School Bus Rebate Programs. These districts had a mean (SD) of 14.6 (33.7) schools per district, 8755 (23 776) students per district, and 41.3% (20.2%) of students with free lunch eligibility. Among the applicants, 209 districts (11%) were selected for the clean bus funding. District-average student test scores did not improve among selected districts overall. In secondary analyses, however, districts replacing the oldest, highest polluting buses (ie, pre-1990) experienced significantly greater improvements in district-average test scores in the year after the lottery for RLA and math (SD improvement in test scores, 0.062 [95% CI, 0.050-0.074] and 0.025 [95% CI, 0.011-0.039], respectively) compared with districts without replacements., Conclusions and Relevance: In this study, the EPA funding was not associated with student test scores overall, but in secondary analyses, the replacement of the oldest school buses was associated with improved educational performance. These findings support prioritizing clean bus replacement of the oldest buses as an actionable way for improving students' educational performance.

Importance: Fine particulate matter air pollution (PM2.5) has been consistently associated with cardiovascular disease, which, in turn, is associated with an increased risk of dementia. As such, vascular dysfunction might be a mechanism by which PM2.5 mediates dementia risk, yet few prior epidemiological studies have examined this potential mechanism., Objective: To investigate whether hypertension and stroke serve as mediators and modifiers of the association of PM2.5 with incident dementia., Design, Setting, and Participants: As part of the Environmental Predictors of Cognitive Health and Aging (EPOCH) Project, this cohort study used biennial survey data collected between 1998 and 2016 from respondents of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a nationally representative, population-based, cohort in the US. Eligible participants were those over 50 years of age who were free of dementia at baseline and had complete exposure, mediator, outcome, and demographic data from the HRS. Data analysis was conducted from August to November 2022., Exposures: Exposure to PM2.5, calculated for the 10 years preceding each person's baseline examination according to residential histories and spatiotemporal models., Main Outcomes and Measures: Incident dementia was identified using a validated algorithm based on cognitive testing and informant reports. The 4-way decomposition causal mediation analysis method was used to quantify the degree to which hypertension and stroke mediated or modified the association of PM2.5 with incident dementia after adjustment for individual-level and area-level covariates., Results: Among 27 857 participants (mean [SD] age at baseline, 61 [10] years; 15 747 female participants [56.5%]; 19 249 non-Hispanic White participants [69.1%]), 4105 (14.7%) developed dementia during the follow-up period (mean [SD], 10.2 [5.6] years). Among participants with dementia, 2204 (53.7%) had a history of hypertension at baseline and 386 (9.4%) received a diagnosis of hypertension during the follow up. A total of 378 participants (9.2%) had a history of stroke at baseline and 673 (16.4%) developed stroke over the follow-up period. The IQR of baseline PM2.5 concentrations was 10.9 to 14.9 μg/m3. In fully adjusted models, higher levels of PM2.5 (per IQR) were not associated with increased risk of incident dementia (HR, 1.04; 95% CI, 0.98 to 1.11). Although there were positive associations of prevalent stroke (HR, 1.67; 95% CI, 1.48 to 1.88) and hypertension (HR, 1.15; 95% CI, 1.08 to 1.23) with incident dementia compared with those free of stroke and hypertension during follow-up, there was no statistically significant association of PM2.5 with stroke (odds ratio per IQR increment in PM2.5, 1.08; 95%CI, 0.91 to 1.29) and no evidence of an association of PM2.5 with hypertension (odds ratio per IQR increment in PM2.5, 0.99; 95%CI, 0.92 to 1.07). Concordantly, there was no evidence that hypertension or stroke acted as mediators or modifiers of the association of PM2.5 with incident dementia. Although the nonmediated interaction between PM2.5 and hypertension accounted for 39.2% of the total excess association (95% CI, -138.5% to 216.9%), the findings were not statistically significant., Conclusions and Relevance: These findings suggest that although hypertension may enhance the susceptibility of individuals to air pollution, hypertension and stroke do not significantly mediate or modify the association of PM2.5 with dementia, indicating the need to investigate other pathways and potential mediators of risk.

Background: Health care claims have an inherent limitation in that noncovered services are unreported. This limitation is particularly problematic when researchers wish to study the effects of changes in the insurance coverage of a service. In prior work, we studied the change in the use of in vitro fertilization (IVF) after an employer added coverage. To estimate IVF use before coverage began, we developed and tested an Adjunct Services Approach that identified patterns of covered services cooccurring with IVF., Methods: Based on clinical expertise and guidelines, we developed a list of candidate adjunct services and used claims data after IVF coverage began to assess associations of those codes with known IVF cycles and whether any additional codes were also strongly associated with IVF. The algorithm was validated by primary chart review and was then used to infer IVF in the precoverage period., Results: The selected algorithm included pelvic ultrasounds and either menotropin or ganirelix, yielding a sensitivity of 93.0% and specificity of >99.9%., Discussion: The Adjunct Services Approach effectively assessed the change in IVF use postinsurance coverage. Our approach can be adapted to study IVF in other settings or to study other medical services experiencing coverage changes (eg, fertility preservation, bariatric surgery, and sex confirmation surgery). Overall, we find that an Adjunct Services Approach can be useful when (1) clinical pathways exist to define services delivered adjunct to the noncovered service, (2) those pathways are followed for most patients receiving the service, and (3) similar patterns of adjunct services occur infrequently with other procedures., Competing Interests: V.K.D.: Merck (expert witness, HPV vaccine litigation), Bind (Medical Advisory Committee), and Society of Family Planning (Course Faculty). H.G.L: academic advisory board of FAIR Health, a not-for-profit repository of private health insurance claims data. The remaining authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Rationale & Objective: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a profound impact on hospitalizations in general and on dialysis patients in particular. This study modeled the impact of COVID-19 on hospitalizations of dialysis patients in 2020., Study Design: Retrospective cohort study., Setting & Participants: Medicare patients on dialysis in calendar year 2020., Predictors: COVID-19 status was divided into 4 stages: COVID1 (first 10 days after initial diagnosis), COVID2 (extends until the Post-COVID stage), Post-COVID (after 21 days with no COVID-19 diagnosis), and Late-COVID (begins after a hospitalization with a COVID-19 diagnosis); demographic and clinical characteristics; and dialysis facilities., Outcome: The sequence of hospitalization events., Analytical Approach: A proportional rate model with a nonparametric baseline rate function of calendar time on the study population., Results: A total of 509,609 patients were included in the study, 63,521 were observed to have a SARS-CoV-2 infection, 34,375 became Post-COVID, and 1,900 became Late-COVID. Compared with No-COVID, all 4 stages had significantly greater adjusted risks of hospitalizations with relative rates of 18.50 (95% CI, 18.19-18.81) for COVID1, 2.03 (95% CI, 1.99-2.08) for COVID2, 1.37 (95% CI, 1.35-1.40) for Post-COVID, and 2.00 (95% CI, 1.89-2.11) for Late-COVID., Limitations: For Medicare Advantage patients, we only had inpatient claim information. The analysis was based on data from the year 2020, and the effects may have changed due to vaccinations, new treatments, and new variants. The COVID-19 effects may be somewhat overestimated due to missing information on patients with few or no symptoms and possible delay in COVID-19 diagnosis., Conclusions: We discovered a marked time dependence in the effect of COVID-19 on hospitalization of dialysis patients, beginning with an extremely high risk for a relatively short period, with more moderate but continuing elevated risks later, and never returning to the No-COVID level., (© 2022 The Authors.)

Background: Fractures represent a triple threat to adults with cerebral palsy (CP): common, accumulate early in adulthood, and are consequential to health. An economic evaluation of fractures in CP is needed to highlight priorities for allocating resources to clinical and public health programs aimed at preventing fractures and their disease sequela., Objective: To identify short-term healthcare costs associated with fractures among adults with CP., Methods: A retrospective cohort study was performed using Optum's de-identified Clinformatics® Data Mart Database from 01/01/2011-12/31/2017. The primary cohort included adults ≥ 18 years old with CP with an incident fracture (CP+Fx), and cost estimates were compared with: CP without fractures (CPw/oFx) and without CP+Fx (w/oCP+Fx). A difference-in-difference (DiD) analysis compared the change in pharmacy and medical costs between cohorts from the one-year baseline period through the one-year post-index period in three-month quarters., Results: CP+Fx (n = 855) had higher mean costs in the baseline and follow-up periods compared with CPw/oFx (n = 5667) and w/oCP+Fx (n = 588,042). The first post-index quarter DiD estimate suggests that CP+Fx accumulated an excess $6462 (95%CI = $3810-$9021) compared with w/oCP+Fx and $17,197 (95%CI = $14,418-$19,833) compared with CPw/oFx. The CP+Fx cohort had higher DiD estimates in the other follow-up quarters, but they were not statistically significant compared with CPw/oFx. When stratified by fracture site, vertebral column fractures for CP+Fx vs. w/oCP+Fx accumulated an excess $25,226 (95%CI = $12,639-$37,417)., Conclusions: Fractures, especially of the vertebral column, were associated with high healthcare costs among adults with CP. Studies are needed to identify cost-effective opportunities to utilize available resources to prevent fractures and their costly sequela for CP., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest All authors declare that there is no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The Comprehensive End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Care (CEC) Model was the first Medicare specialty-oriented accountable care organization (ACO) model. We examined whether this model provided better results for beneficiaries with ESRD than primary care-based ACO models. We found significant decreases in Medicare payments ($126 per beneficiary per month), hospitalizations (5 percent), and likelihood of readmissions (8 percent) among beneficiaries with ESRD during the first year of alignment with the CEC Model and no impacts on these measures among beneficiaries with ESRD who were aligned with primary care-based ACOs, relative to fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries. Neither the CEC nor primary care-based ACO models significantly reduced the likelihood of catheter use, but fistula use increased for CEC Model beneficiaries to levels just above statistical significance. Other populations with chronic conditions may benefit from the testing of a specialty-oriented ACO model. In addition, primary care-based ACOs may benefit from applying CEC Model strategies to high-need subpopulations. Last, the strategies that enabled ESRD Seamless Care Organizations to achieve reductions in hospitalizations and readmissions even without hospital participation as owners could inform physician-led ACOs' efforts to coordinate with hospitals in their areas.

Background: Recent investigations have shown that, on average, patients hospitalized with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have a poorer postdischarge prognosis than those hospitalized without COVID-19, but this effect remains unclear among patients with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) who are on dialysis., Methods: Leveraging a national ESKD patient claims database administered by the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, we conducted a retrospective cohort study that characterized the effects of in-hospital COVID-19 on all-cause unplanned readmission and death within 30 days of discharge for patients on dialysis. Included in this study were 436,745 live acute-care hospital discharges of 222,154 Medicare beneficiaries on dialysis from 7871 Medicare-certified dialysis facilities between January 1 and October 31, 2020. Adjusting for patient demographics, clinical characteristics, and prevalent comorbidities, we fit facility-stratified Cox cause-specific hazard models with two interval-specific (1-7 and 8-30 days after hospital discharge) effects of in-hospital COVID-19 and effects of prehospitalization COVID-19., Results: The hazard ratios due to in-hospital COVID-19 over the first 7 days after discharge were 95% CI, 1.53 to 1.65 for readmission and 95% CI, 1.38 to 1.70 for death, both with P <0.001. For the remaining 23 days, the hazard ratios were 95% CI, 0.89 to 0.96 and 95% CI, 0.86 to 1.07, with P <0.001 and P =0.50, respectively. Effects of prehospitalization COVID-19 were mostly nonsignificant., Conclusions: In-hospital COVID-19 had an adverse effect on both postdischarge readmission and death over the first week. With the surviving patients having COVID-19 substantially selected from those hospitalized, in-hospital COVID-19 was associated with lower rates of readmission and death starting from the second week., Competing Interests: X. Ding reports receiving research funding from Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceutical Inc. J. Du reports having ownership interest in Blue Cat Blue Cat LLC. G.W. Gremel reports having ownership interest in CVS. R.A. Hirth reports serving in an advisory or leadership role for the American Journal of Managed Care (as deputy editor of medical care and on the editorial board) and Association of University Programs in Health Administration (on the board of directors). J.D. Kalbfleisch reports serving on the editorial board of Lifetime Data Analysis. J.H. Segal reports serving in an advisory or leadership role for the ESRD Network 11 Medical Review/Executive Committees. All remaining authors have nothing to disclose., (Copyright © 2022 by the American Society of Nephrology.)

Background: Renal dialysis is a lifesaving but demanding therapy, requiring 3 weekly treatments of multiple-hour durations. Though travel times and quality of care vary across facilities, the extent to which patients are willing and able to engage in weighing tradeoffs is not known. Since 2015, Medicare has summarized and reported quality data for dialysis facilities using a star rating system. We estimate choice models to assess the relative roles of travel distance and quality of care in explaining patient choice of facility., Research Design: Using national data on 2 million patient-years from 7198 dialysis facilities and 4-star rating releases, we estimated travel distance to patients' closest facilities, incremental travel distance to the next closest facility with a higher star rating, and the difference in ratings between these 2 facilities. We fit mixed effects logistic regression models predicting whether patients dialyzed at their closest facilities., Results: Median travel distance was 4 times that in rural (10.9 miles) versus urban areas (2.6 miles). Higher differences in rating [odds ratios (OR): 0.56; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.50-0.62] and greater area deprivation (OR: 0.50; 95% CI: 0.48-0.53) were associated with lower odds of attending one's closest facility. Stratified models were also fit based on urbanicity. For rural patients, excess travel was associated with higher odds of attending the closer facility (per 10 miles; OR: 1.05; 95% CI: 1.04-1.06). Star rating differences were associated with lower odds of receiving care from the closest facility among urban (OR: 0.57; 95% CI: 0.51-0.63) and rural patients (OR: 0.18; 95% CI: 0.08-0.44)., Conclusions: Most dialysis patients have higher rated facilities located not much further than their closest facility, suggesting many patients could evaluate tradeoffs between distance and quality of care in where they receive dialysis. Our results show that such tradeoffs likely occur. Therefore, quality ratings such as the Dialysis Facility Compare (DFC) Star Rating may provide actionable information to patients and caregivers. However, we were not able to assess whether these associations reflect a causal effect of the Star Ratings on patient choice, as the Star Ratings served only as a marker of quality of care., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Importance: There are few population-level studies on ophthalmic conditions and services among North American Native individuals., Objective: To evaluate whether disparities in ophthalmic conditions and services exist between North American Native individuals and non-Hispanic White individuals in the US., Design, Setting, and Participants: This cross-sectional study used 100% Medicare fee-for-service (MFFS) enrollment data from the Vision and Eye Health Surveillance System (VEHSS) to examine ophthalmic conditions and service use in North American Native individuals and non-Hispanic White individuals in the US. In this study North American Native individuals included those who identified as American Indian, Native Alaskan, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander. Data were analyzed from August 2020 to April 2021., Interventions: Claims and sociodemographic characteristics were extracted and means computed for categories of ophthalmic conditions and select ophthalmic services. Ophthalmic conditions and services were defined in the VEHSS using International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM) codes. Logistic regression was used to model differences between age-adjusted mean ophthalmic condition and service claim rates among North American Native individuals and non-Hispanic White individuals for each age cohort. Matching ophthalmic condition claim rates and ophthalmic service claim rates was performed to examine disparities by racial group., Main Outcomes and Measures: Mean age-adjusted claim rates for ophthalmic conditions and services among North American Native individuals vs non-Hispanic White individuals per 100 persons., Results: Claims were identified for 177 100 Native American Native individuals and 24 438 000 non-Hispanic White individuals. In 16 of 17 ophthalmic condition categories and 6 of 9 service categories, North American Native individuals had significantly different claim rates from non-Hispanic White individuals. There were higher ophthalmic condition claim rates but lower service claim rates for North American Native individuals (vs non-Hispanic White individuals) for refractive errors (ophthalmic condition, 17.2 vs 11.1; service, 48.3 vs 49.6, respectively; P < .001); blindness and low vision (ophthalmic condition, 1.48 vs 0.75: service, 19.2 vs 20.1, respectively; P < .001); injury, burns, and surgical complications (ophthalmic condition, 1.8 vs 1.7; service, 19.2 vs 20.1, respectively; P < .001); and orbital and external disease (ophthalmic condition, 15.7 vs 13.3; service, 48.3 vs 49.6, respectively; P < .001). For diabetic eye diseases, North American Native individuals had higher ophthalmic condition claim rates (5.22 vs 2.20) but no difference in service claim rates (14.4 vs 14.8; P = .26) compared with non-Hispanic White individuals., Conclusions and Relevance: In this cross-sectional study, North American Native individuals had higher prevalence of ophthalmic conditions but no corresponding increase in services (treatment for most ophthalmic conditions) compared with non-Hispanic White individuals. These results suggest worse eye health and higher unmet eyecare needs for North American Native individuals with MFFS coverage compared with non-Hispanic White individuals with MFFS coverage.

Background: Poor adherence to scheduled dialysis treatments is common and can cause adverse clinical and economic outcomes. In 2015, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation launched the Comprehensive ESRD Care (CEC) Model, a novel modification of the Accountable Care Organization framework. Many model participants reported efforts to increase dialysis adherence and promptly reschedule missed treatments., Methods: With Medicare databases covering 2014-2019, we used difference-in-differences models to compare treatment adherence among patients aligned to 1037 CEC facilities relative to those aligned to matched comparison facilities, while accounting for their differences at baseline. Using dates of service, we identified patients who typically received three weekly treatments and the days when treatments typically occurred. Skipped treatments were defined as days when the patient was not hospitalized but did not receive an expected treatment, and rescheduled treatments as days when a patient who had skipped their previous treatment received an additional treatment before their next expected treatment date., Results: Patients in the CEC Model had higher odds of attending as-scheduled sessions relative to the comparison group, although the effect was only marginally significant (OR, 1.02; 95% CI, 1.00 to 1.04, P =0.08). Effects were stronger among females (OR, 1.03; 95% CI, 1.00 to 1.06, P =0.06) than males (OR, 1.01; 95% CI, 0.98 to 1.04, P =0.49), and among those aged <70 years (OR, 1.02; 95% CI, 1.00 to 1.05, P =0.04) than those aged ≥70 years (OR, 1.00; 95% CI, 0.96 to 1.04, P =0.96). The CEC was associated with higher odds of rescheduled sessions (OR, 1.09; 95% CI, 1.05 to 1.14, P <0.001). Effects were significant for both sexes, but were larger among males (OR, 1.11; 95% CI, 1.05 to 1.18, P <0.001) than females (OR, 1.07; 95% CI, 1.02 to 1.13, P =0.01), and effects were significant among those <70 years (OR, 1.12; 95% CI, 1.07 to 1.17, P <0.001), but not those ≥70 years (OR, 0.99; 95% CI, 0.92 to 1.07, P =0.80)., Conclusions: The CEC Model is intended to incentivize strategies to prevent costly interventions. Because poor dialysis adherence may precipitate hospitalizations or other adverse events, many CEC Model participants encouraged adherence and promptly rescheduled missed treatments as strategic priorities. This study suggests these efforts were a success, although the absolute magnitudes of the effects were modest., Competing Interests: A. Ackerman reports having an ownership interest in UnitedHealth Group. B. Negrusa reports having an ownership interest because Lewin employees are entitled to receive UnitedHealth Groups stock. C. Dahlerus reports being a scientific advisor or member through serving as a Guest Editor with the journal Medical Care for a 2019 supplement on patient-reported outcomes scoring methodologies. D. Strubler reports having an ownership interest in GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi. D. Ullman reports having an ownership interest in UnitedHealth Group. J. Segal reports being a scientific advisor or member of the ESRD Network 11 Medical Review/Executive Committees. J. Wiens reports having an ownership interest in UnitedHealth Group. R. Braun reports having an ownership interest in UnitedHealth Group. R. Hirth reports being a scientific advisor or member on the Board of Directors of the Association of University Programs in Health Administration, Deputy Editor of Medical Care, and the Editorial Board of the American Journal of Managed Care. All remaining authors have nothing to disclose., (Copyright © 2022 by the American Society of Nephrology.)

Policy Points Dissemination of Choosing Wisely guidelines alone is unlikely to reduce the use of low-value health services. Interventions by health systems to implement Choosing Wisely guidelines can reduce the use of low-value services. Multicomponent interventions targeting clinicians are currently the most effective types of interventions., Context: Choosing Wisely aims to reduce the use of unnecessary, low-value medical services through development of recommendations related to service utilization. Despite the creation and dissemination of these recommendations, evidence shows low-value services are still prevalent. This paper synthesizes literature on interventions designed to reduce medical care identified as low value by Choosing Wisely and evaluates which intervention characteristics are most effective., Methods: We searched peer-reviewed and gray literature from the inception of Choosing Wisely in 2012 through June 2019 to identify interventions in the United States motivated by or using Choosing Wisely recommendations. We also included studies measuring the impact of Choosing Wisely on its own, without interventions. We developed a coding guide and established coding agreement. We coded all included articles for types of services targeted, components of each intervention, results of the intervention, study type, and, where applicable, study quality. We measured the success rate of interventions, using chi-squared tests or Wald tests to compare across interventions., Findings: We reviewed 131 articles. Eighty-eight percent of interventions focused on clinicians only; 48% included multiple components. Compared with dissemination of Choosing Wisely recommendations only, active interventions were more likely to generate intended results (65% vs 13%, p < 0.001) and, among those, interventions with multiple components were more successful than those with one component (77% vs 47%, p = 0.002). The type of services targeted did not matter for success. Clinician-based interventions were more effective than consumer-based, though there is a dearth of studies on consumer-based interventions. Only 17% of studies included a control arm., Conclusions: Interventions built on the Choosing Wisely recommendations can be effective at changing practice patterns to reduce the use of low-value care. Interventions are more effective when targeting clinicians and using more than one component. There is a need for high-quality studies that include active controls., (© 2021 Milbank Memorial Fund.)

Importance: There is a need for studies to evaluate the risk factors for COVID-19 and mortality among the entire Medicare long-term dialysis population using Medicare claims data., Objective: To identify risk factors associated with COVID-19 and mortality in Medicare patients undergoing long-term dialysis., Design, Setting, and Participants: This retrospective, claims-based cohort study compared mortality trends of patients receiving long-term dialysis in 2020 with previous years (2013-2019) and fit Cox regression models to identify risk factors for contracting COVID-19 and postdiagnosis mortality. The cohort included the national population of Medicare patients receiving long-term dialysis in 2020, derived from clinical and administrative databases. COVID-19 was identified through Medicare claims sources. Data were analyzed on May 17, 2021., Main Outcomes and Measures: The 2 main outcomes were COVID-19 and all-cause mortality. Associations of claims-based risk factors with COVID-19 and mortality were investigated prediagnosis and postdiagnosis., Results: Among a total of 498 169 Medicare patients undergoing dialysis (median [IQR] age, 66 [56-74] years; 215 935 [43.1%] women and 283 227 [56.9%] men), 60 090 (12.1%) had COVID-19, among whom 15 612 patients (26.0%) died. COVID-19 rates were significantly higher among Black (21 787 of 165 830 patients [13.1%]) and Hispanic (13 530 of 86 871 patients [15.6%]) patients compared with non-Black patients (38 303 of 332 339 [11.5%]), as well as patients with short (ie, 1-89 days; 7738 of 55 184 patients [14.0%]) and extended (ie, ≥90 days; 10 737 of 30 196 patients [35.6%]) nursing home stays in the prior year. Adjusting for all other risk factors, residing in a nursing home 1 to 89 days in the prior year was associated with a higher hazard for COVID-19 (hazard ratio [HR] vs 0 days, 1.60; 95% CI 1.56-1.65) and for postdiagnosis mortality (HR, 1.31; 95% CI, 1.25-1.37), as was residing in a nursing home for an extended stay (COVID-19: HR, 4.48; 95% CI, 4.37-4.59; mortality: HR, 1.12; 95% CI, 1.07-1.16). Black race (HR vs non-Black: HR, 1.25; 95% CI, 1.23-1.28) and Hispanic ethnicity (HR vs non-Hispanic: HR, 1.68; 95% CI, 1.64-1.72) were associated with significantly higher hazards of COVID-19. Although home dialysis was associated with lower COVID-19 rates (HR, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.75-0.80), it was associated with higher mortality (HR, 1.18; 95% CI, 1.11-1.25)., Conclusions and Relevance: These results shed light on COVID-19 risk factors and outcomes among Medicare patients receiving long-term chronic dialysis and could inform policy decisions to mitigate the significant extra burden of COVID-19 and death in this population.

Background: Six states expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act have obtained waivers to incorporate cost-sharing., Objective: We describe the magnitude and distribution of cost-sharing imposed by the Healthy Michigan Plan and enrollees' propensity to pay., Research Design: Enrollees are followed for at least 18 months (6-mo baseline period for utilization and spending before receipt of first cost-sharing statement; ≥12 mo follow-up thereafter to ascertain obligations and payments). Analyses stratified by income, comparing enrollees with income less than Federal Poverty Level (FPL) who faced only utilization-based copayments and those greater than or equal to FPL who also faced premium contributions., Subjects: A total of 158,322 enrollees aged 22-62 who initially enrolled during the first year of the program and remained continuously enrolled ≥18 months., Results: Among those enrolled ≥18 months, 51.0% faced cost-sharing. Average quarterly invoices were $4.85 ($11.11 for those with positive invoices) for income less than FPL and $26.71 ($30.93 for those with positive invoices) for incomes greater than or equal to FPL. About half of enrollees with obligations made at least partial payments, with payments being more likely among those >100% FPL. Payment of the full obligation was highest in the initial 6 months., Conclusions: Many payment obligations go uncollected, suggesting that in a system without the threat of disenrollment, the impacts of cost-sharing may be muted. Similarly, the ability of cost-sharing to defray the program's budgetary impact may also be less than anticipated., (Copyright © 2021 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Peritoneal dialysis (PD), a home-based treatment for kidney failure, is associated with similar mortality, higher quality of life, and lower costs compared with hemodialysis. Yet <10% of patients receive PD. Access to this alternative treatment, vis-à-vis providers' supply of PD services, may be an important factor but has been sparsely studied in the current era of national payment reform for dialysis care. We describe temporal and regional variation in PD supply among Medicare-certified dialysis facilities from 2006 to 2013. The average proportion of facilities offering PD per hospital referral region increased from 40% (2006) to 43% (2013). PD supply was highest in hospital referral regions with higher percentage of facilities in urban areas ( p = .004), prevalence of PD use ( p < .0001), percentage of White end-stage renal disease patients ( p = .02), and per capita income ( p = .02). Disparities in PD access persist in rural, non-White, and low-income regions. Policy efforts to further increase regional PD supply should focus on these underserved communities.

Under the Comprehensive End-stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Care (CEC) Model, dialysis facilities and nephrologists form ESRD Seamless Care Organizations (ESCOs) to deliver high value care. This study compared the characteristics of patients and markets served and unserved by CEC and assessed its generalizability. ESCOs operated in 65 of 384 markets. ESCO markets were larger than non-ESCO markets, had fewer White patients, higher household income, and higher Medicare spending per patient. Patients in ESCOs were similar to eligible nonaligned patients in age and sex but differed in race/ethnicity and were more often treated in an urban area; comorbidity prevalence differed modestly. CEC is available to a meaningful share of the dialysis population and relatively few dialysis patients resided in a market where no provider could meet the participation threshold, so market size may not be the primary barrier for potential new participants in CEC or future kidney care models.

Nursing home (NH) care is arguably the most significant financial risk faced by the elderly without long-term care insurance or Medicaid coverage. Annual out-of-pocket expenditures for NH care can easily exceed $70,000. However, our understanding of private-pay prices is limited by data availability. Utilizing a unique data set on NH prices from 2005 through 2010 across eight states, we find that NH price growth has consistently outpaced growth in consumer and medical care prices. After adjusting for geographical and facility differences, for-profit chains charge the lowest prices, independently operated for-profit and nonprofit NHs have similar prices, and nonprofit chains charge the highest prices. Adjusted prices are also likely to be higher when NHs have higher occupancy rates and markets are more concentrated. The significant differences in price across organizational and market structures suggest private-pay prices can be an important factor when evaluating and comparing the value of NH care.

Objective: To examine which factors are driving improvement in the Dialysis Facility Compare (DFC) star ratings and to test whether nonclinical facility characteristics are associated with observed longitudinal changes in the star ratings., Data Sources: Data were collected from eligible patients in over 6,000 Medicare-certified dialysis facilities from three annual star rating and individual measure updates, publicly released on DFC in October 2015, October 2016, and April 2018., Study Design: Changes in the star rating and individual quality measures were investigated across three public data releases. Year-to-year changes in the star ratings were linked to facility characteristics, adjusting for baseline differences in quality measure performance., Data Collection: Data from publicly reported quality measures, including standardized mortality, hospitalization, and transfusion ratios, dialysis adequacy, type of vascular access for dialysis, and management of mineral and bone disease, were extracted from annual DFC data releases., Principal Findings: The proportion of four- and five-star facilities increased from 30.0% to 53.4% between October 2015 and April 2018. Quality improvement was driven by the domain of care containing the dialysis adequacy and hypercalcemia measures. Additionally, independently owned facilities and facilities belonging to smaller dialysis organizations had significantly lower odds of year-to-year improvement than facilities belonging to either of the two large dialysis organizations (Odds Ratio [OR]: 0.736, 95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 0.631-0.856 and OR: 0.797, 95% CI: 0.723-0.879, respectively)., Conclusions: The percentage of four- and five-star facilities has increased markedly over a three-year time period. These changes were driven by improvement in the specific quality measures that may be most directly under the control of the dialysis facility., (© 2020 Health Research and Educational Trust.)

Background: Prior studies have shown peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients to have lower or equivalent mortality to patients who receive in-center hemodialysis (HD). Medicare's 2011 bundled dialysis prospective payment system encouraged expansion of home-based PD with unclear impacts on patient outcomes. This paper revisits the comparative risk of mortality between HD and PD among patients with incident end-stage kidney disease initiating dialysis in 2006-2013., Research Design: We conducted a retrospective cohort study comparing 2-year all-cause mortality among patients with incident end-stage kidney disease initiating dialysis via HD and PD in 2006-2013, using data from the US Renal Data System and Medicare. Analysis was conducted using Cox proportional hazards models fit with inverse probability of treatment weighting that adjusted for measured patient demographic and clinical characteristics and dialysis market characteristics., Results: Of the 449,652 patients starting dialysis between 2006 and 2013, the rate of PD use in the first 90 days increased from 9.3% of incident patients in 2006 to 14.2% in 2013. Crude 2-year mortality was 27.6% for patients dialyzing via HD and 16.7% for patients on PD. In adjusted models, there was no evidence of mortality differences between PD and HD before and after bundled payment (hazard ratio, 0.96; 95% confidence interval, 0.89-1.04; P=0.33)., Conclusions: Overall mortality for HD and PD use was similar and mortality differences between modalities did not change before versus after the 2011 Medicare dialysis bundled payment, suggesting that increased use of home-based PD did not adversely impact patient outcomes., Competing Interests: M.L.M. reports ownership of Amgen stock due to his spouse’s employment. The remaining authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2020 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background and Objectives: Despite representing 1% of the population, beneficiaries on long-term dialysis account for over 7% of Medicare's fee-for-service spending. Because of their focus on care coordination, Accountable Care Organizations may be an effective model to reduce spending inefficiencies for this population. We analyzed Medicare data to examine time trends in long-term dialysis beneficiary alignment to Accountable Care Organizations and differences in spending for those who were Accountable Care Organization aligned versus nonaligned., Design, Setting, Participants, & Measurements: In this retrospective cohort study, beneficiaries on long-term dialysis between 2009 and 2016 were identified using a 20% random sample of Medicare beneficiaries. Trends in alignment to an Accountable Care Organization were compared with alignment of the general Medicare population from 2012 to 2016. Using an interrupted time series approach, we examined the association between Accountable Care Organization alignment and the primary outcome of total spending for long-term dialysis beneficiaries from prior to Accountable Care Organization implementation (2009-2011) through implementation of the Comprehensive ESRD Care model in October 2015. We fit linear regression models with generalized estimating equations to adjust for patient characteristics., Results: During the study period, 135,152 beneficiaries on long-term dialysis were identified. The percentage of long-term dialysis beneficiaries aligned to an Accountable Care Organization increased from 6% to 23% from 2012 to 2016. In the time series analysis, spending on Accountable Care Organization-aligned beneficiaries was $143 (95% confidence interval, $5 to $282) less per beneficiary-quarter than spending for nonaligned beneficiaries. In analyses stratified by whether beneficiaries received care from a primary care physician, savings by Accountable Care Organization-aligned beneficiaries were limited to those with care by a primary care physician ($235; 95% confidence interval, $73 to $397)., Conclusions: There was a substantial increase in the percentage of long-term dialysis beneficiaries aligned to an Accountable Care Organization from 2012 to 2016. Moreover, in adjusted models, Accountable Care Organization alignment was associated with modest cost savings among long-term dialysis beneficiaries with care by a primary care physician., (Copyright © 2020 by the American Society of Nephrology.)

Importance: Pain is a common symptom among patients with kidney disease. However, little is known about use of analgesics among patients aged 65 years or older with chronic kidney disease (CKD) who do not receive dialysis treatment., Objective: To assess national trends and geographic variations in use of opioids and prescription nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in older adults with and without CKD in the US (2006-2015) and examine associations between use of opioids and patient outcomes., Design, Setting, and Participants: This cohort study used the 5% Medicare claims data (2005-2015) to select 10 retrospective annual cohorts of Medicare Part D beneficiaries aged 65 years and older from 2006 to 2015 and a retrospective longitudinal cohort. Data were analyzed in August 2019., Exposures: CKD status and other comorbidities identified using International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification codes., Main Outcomes and Measures: Analgesic use was measured by overall use (proportion of ever used opioids/NSAIDs), long-term use (prescribed >90 days), and cumulative use (total annual days' supply). Patient outcomes included progression to end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) and all-cause mortality., Results: A total of 6 260 454 beneficiaries (9.6% identified with CKD by claims) were selected in the annual cohorts and 649 339 beneficiaries (8.3% identified with CKD) were selected in the longitudinal cohort. There was significant growth in opioid use (31.2%-42.4%) and NSAID use (10.7%-16.6%) among patients aged 65 years and older with CKD from 2006 to 2015. Long-term use of opioids increased during 2006 to 2014 (25.8%-36.7%) but decreased through 2015 at 35.6%, while long-term use of NSAIDs remained stable. Opioid use was higher in patients with CKD, particularly CKD stages 4 to 5 (odds ratio [OR], 1.35; 95% CI, 1.33-1.37; P < .001) compared with non-CKD. NSAID use was lower in patients with CKD stages 4 to 5 (OR, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.54-0.56; P < .001). Substantial geographic variations in analgesic use were observed across states (opioid use in CKD: 24.7%-54.3%; NSAID use in CKD: 11.2%-20.8%, 2012-2015). Opioid use was associated with progression to ESKD (hazard ratio [HR], 1.10; 95% CI, 1.04-1.16; P = .001) and death (HR, 1.19; 95% CI, 1.18-1.20; P < .001) independent of CKD status and other covariates. There was an inverse association between NSAID use and death (HR, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.83-0.85; P < .001)., Conclusions and Relevance: Among Medicare patients with CKD, use of prescription analgesics, both opioid and NSAID, increased from 2006 to 2015. Optimizing pain management in a complex condition such as kidney disease should remain a priority for clinicians and researchers alike.

Importance: Medicare beneficiaries with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) are a medically complex group accounting for less than 1% of the Medicare population but more than 7% of Medicare fee-for-service payments., Objective: To evaluate the association of the Comprehensive End-Stage Renal Disease Care (CEC) model with Medicare payments, health care use, and quality of care., Design, Setting, and Participants: In this economic evaluation, a difference-in-differences design estimated the change in outcomes for 73 094 Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries aligned to CEC dialysis facilities between the baseline (from January 2014 to March 2015) and intervention periods (from October 2015 to December 2017) relative to 60 464 beneficiaries at matched dialysis facilities. In the CEC model, dialysis facilities, nephrologists, and other providers partner to form ESRD Seamless Care Organizations (ESCOs), specialty-oriented accountable care organizations that coordinate care for beneficiaries with ESRD. ESCOs with expenditures below a benchmark set by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services are eligible to share in savings if they meet quality thresholds. A total of 685 dialysis facilities affiliated with 37 ESCOs participated in the CEC model as of January 2017. Thirteen ESCOs joined the CEC model on October 1, 2015 (wave 1), and 24 ESCOs joined on January 1, 2017 (wave 2). Patients with ESRD who were aligned with CEC dialysis facilities were compared with patients at matched dialysis facilities., Main Outcomes and Measures: Medicare total and service-specific payments per beneficiary per month; hospitalizations, readmissions, and emergency department visits; and select quality measures., Results: Relative to the comparison group (n = 60 464; 55% men; mean [SD] age, 63.5 [14.4] years), total Medicare payments for CEC beneficiaries (n = 73 094; 56% men; mean [SD] age, 63.0 [14.4] years) decreased by $114 in payments per beneficiary per month (95% CI, -$202 to -$26; P = .01), associated primarily with decreases in payments for hospitalizations and readmissions. Payment reductions were offset by shared savings payments to ESCOs, resulting in net losses of $78 in payments per beneficiary per month (95% CI, -$8 to $164; P = .07). Relative to the comparison group, CEC beneficiaries had 5.01 fewer hospitalizations per 1000 beneficiaries per month (95% CI, -8.45 to -1.56; P = .004), as well as fewer catheter placements (CEC beneficiaries with catheter as vascular access for periods longer than 90 days decreased by 0.78 percentage points [95% CI, -1.36 to -0.19; P = .01]) and fewer hospitalizations for ESRD complications (CEC beneficiaries were 0.11 percentage points less likely [95% CI, -0.20 to -0.02; P = .01] to be hospitalized in a given month). Total dialysis sessions and payments increased, suggesting improved adherence to dialysis treatments., Conclusions and Relevance: Early findings from the CEC model demonstrate that a specialty accountable care organization model focused on a particular population was associated with reduced payments and improved quality of care. Future research can assess the longer-term outcomes of the CEC model and its applicability to populations with other complex chronic conditions.

Background: Few studies have examined how adherence to antihypertensive medications varies across different regions or how neighborhood-level factors were related to individuals' medication-taking behaviors in patients., Objective: To explore local variation in medication adherence and examine environmental and individual influences on adherence to angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) and angiotensin-receptor blockers (ARBs) among elderly hypertensive patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) in the United States., Methods: The Medicare 5% sample claim data (2006-2013), American Community Survey 5-Year Data (2005-2009) and the Health Resources and Services Administration Primary Care Service Area data (2007). The primary outcome was medication adherence, measured by Proportion of Days Covered (PDC). Geographically weighted regression (GWR) and linear mixed-effects models were used to investigate the relationship between environmental factors, individual risk factors and medication adherence., Results: A total of 70,201 hypertensive CKD patients residing in 2,981 counties of the US were selected. Significant spatial autocorrelation was observed in ACEIs/ARBs PDC. The West North Central and New England regions demonstrated higher adherence compared to the East South Central and West South Central regions. Residing in Medically Underserved Areas, counties with high deprivation scores, and not receiving Part D Low-income Subsidy were associated with poor medication adherence., Conclusions: Medication adherence is geographically differentiated across the US. Environmental and individual factors identified may be helpful in the design of local interventions focused on improving patient outcomes from a population perspective., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background and Objectives: Peritoneal dialysis (PD) for ESKD is associated with similar mortality, higher quality of life, and lower costs compared with hemodialysis (HD), but has historically been underused. We assessed the effect of the 2011 Medicare prospective payment system (PPS) for dialysis on PD initiation, modality switches, and stable PD use., Design, Setting, Participants, & Measurements: Using US Renal Data System and Medicare data, we identified all United States patients with ESKD initiating dialysis before (2006-2010) and after (2011-2013) PPS implementation, and observed their modality for up to 2 years after dialysis initiation. Using logistic regression models, we examined the associations between PPS and early PD experience (any PD 1-90 days after initiation), late PD use (any PD 91-730 days after initiation), and modality switches (PD-to-HD or HD-to-PD 91-730 days after initiation). We adjusted for patient, dialysis facility, and regional characteristics., Results: Overall, 619,126 patients with incident ESKD received dialysis at Medicare-certified facilities, 2006-2013. Observed early PD experience increased from 9.4% before PPS to 12.6% after PPS. Observed late PD use increased from 12.1% to 16.1%. In adjusted analyses, PPS was associated with increased early PD experience (odds ratio [OR], 1.51; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 1.47 to 1.55; P <0.001) and late PD use (OR, 1.47; 95% CI, 1.45 to 1.50; P <0.001). In subgroup analyses, late PD use increased in part due to an increase in HD-to-PD switches among those without early PD experience (OR, 1.59; 95% CI, 1.52 to 1.66; P <0.001) and a decrease in PD-to-HD switches among those with early PD experience (OR, 0.92; 95% CI, 0.87 to 0.98; P =0.004)., Conclusions: More patients started, stayed on, and switched to PD after dialysis payment reform. This occurred without a substantial increase in transfers to HD., (Copyright © 2019 by the American Society of Nephrology.)

Objective: Individuals with paediatric-onset disabilities (PoDs) have complex healthcare needs and are susceptible to adverse health outcomes, which may impose a higher strain on healthcare resources. The burden of healthcare resource utilisation and costs attributed to the population of adults with PoDs is not clearly established. The objective here was to compare healthcare resource utilisation and costs between adults with versus without PoDs., Design: Cohort., Setting: Data were from the 2016 Optum Clinformatics Data Mart, a de-identified nationwide claims database of beneficiaries from a single private payer in the USA., Participants: International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification diagnosis codes were used to identify beneficiaries with PoDs that were between 18 and 64 years of age., Primary and Secondary Outcome Measures: Annual all-cause healthcare resource utilisation and total healthcare costs were compared between adults with and without PoDs before and after adjusting for sociodemographics and several costly non-communicable diseases., Results: Adults with PoDs (n=121 446) had greater annual mean counts of service utilisation for all service types (eg, inpatient, outpatient, emergency visits) compared with adults without PoDs (n=5 415 475) before and after adjustments (all p<0.001). Adults with PoDs had greater unadjusted total standardised reimbursement costs (US$26 702 vs US$8464; mean difference=US$18 238; cost ratio (CR)=3.16; 95% CI=3.13 to 3.18) and total patient out-of-pocket costs (US$2226 vs US$1157; mean difference=US$1069; CR=1.88; 95%CI=1.86 to 1.89). After adjustments, total standardised reimbursement costs were 2.32 times higher (95% CI=2.30 to 2.34) and total patient out-of-pocket costs were 1.65 times higher (95% CI=1.64 to 1.66) compared with adults without PoDs., Conclusion: Adults with PoDs had greater healthcare utilisation and costs, even after accounting for costly diseases. Future research is needed to identify the cost drivers for adults with PoDs., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2019. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

In late 2017, the 7 regional contractors responsible for paying dialysis claims in Medicare proposed new payment rules that would restrict payment for hemodialysis treatments in excess of 3 weekly to exceptional acute-care circumstances. Frequent hemodialysis is performed more frequently than the traditional thrice-weekly pattern, and many stakeholders-patients, providers, dialysis machine manufacturers, and others-have expressed concern that these payment rules will inhibit the growth of this treatment modality's use among US dialysis patients. In this Perspective, we explain the role of these contractors in the context of Medicare's in-center hemodialysis-centric dialysis payment system and assess how well this system accommodates the higher treatment frequencies of both peritoneal dialysis and frequent hemodialysis. Then, given the available evidence concerning the relative effectiveness of these modalities versus thrice-weekly in-center hemodialysis and trends in their use, we discuss options for modifying Medicare's payment system to support frequent dialysis., (Copyright © 2019 National Kidney Foundation, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The low uptake of private long-term care insurance (LTCI) by the elderly in the United States, despite visible risks, has left economists puzzled. Prior studies have hypothesized that home equity can be a substitute for LTCI and hence may partly explain the low uptake. We test this hypothesis empirically. We utilize exogenous variation in house prices at the level of the metropolitan statistical area (MSA) as an instrument for home equity for individuals residing in that MSA and data from the Health and Retirement Study. In the most robust specifications, we find no evidence that the elderly change their decision on LTCI based on variation in their home equity, and even specifications requiring stronger identification assumptions imply only small effect magnitudes. Home equity as a substitute for LTCI does not appear to be a major contributing factor to low LTCI take up.

Consistently accounting for more than 50% of the nursing homes in the United States, corporate chains have played an important role in the industry for several decades. However, few studies have explicitly considered the role of chains in measuring competition in nursing home markets. In this study, we use a newly developed database tracking common ownership over a period of nearly two decades to compare chain-adjusted and unadjusted measures of competition at the county and 25 km fixed-radius levels and explore how the differences would affect the assessment of local market structure. On average, the chain-adjusted Herfindahl-Hirschman Indexes (HHIs) are about 0.02 higher than the unadjusted HHIs. Each year, about 20% to 22% of the counties would appear more concentrated when recalculating HHIs accounting for common ownership. Evidence suggests that nursing home chains tend to focus more on expanding access to new markets within a state than to increasing market power within a smaller local market.

Increasing the use of high-value medical services and reducing the use of services with little or no clinical value are key goals for efficient health systems. Yet encouraging the use of high-value services may unintentionally affect the use of low-value services. We examined the likelihood of high- and low-value service use in the first two years after an insurance benefit change in 2011 for one state's employees that promoted use of high-value preventive services. In the intervention group, compared to a control sample with stable benefit plans, in year 1 the likelihood of high-value service use increased 11.0 percentage points, and the likelihood of low-value service use increased 7.9 percentage points. For that year we associated 74 percent of the increase in high-value services and 57 percent of the increase in low-value services with greater use of preventive visits. Our results imply that interventions aimed at increasing receipt of high-value preventive services can cause spillovers to low-value services and should include deterrents to low-value care as implemented in later years of this program.