Enrollment in Medicare is associated with fewer outpatient mental healthcare visits among those with mental health symptoms.

Objective: To test whether enrolling in traditional Medicare (TM) or Medicare Advantage (MA) at age 65 reduces mental healthcare utilization among individuals with mental health symptoms and low or moderate family incomes.

Study Setting And Design: We employ a fuzzy regression discontinuity design, comparing the likelihood of having an outpatient mental health visit or a psychotropic drug fill among individuals younger than or older than the age 65 Medicare eligibility threshold.

Data Sources And Analytic Sample: We analyze 2014-2021 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey data.

Recent cohorts aging into Medicare use more counseling and psychotherapy than past cohorts.

Objectives: Despite recent policy interest in improving access to mental health care in Medicare, little is known about how demand for care will change among the Medicare population as newer cohorts age into the program. We documented the growing rate of counseling and psychotherapy use in the decade prior to turning age 65 years among subsequent cohorts aging into Medicare. We characterized how this growth varied across demographic groups, income levels, and mental and physical health status.

Non-classical measurement error in instrumental variables estimation: An application to the medical care costs of obesity.

Estimates of the impact of body mass index and obesity on health and labor market outcomes often use instrumental variables estimation (IV) to mitigate bias due to endogeneity. When these studies rely on survey data that include self- or proxy-reported height and weight, there is non-classical measurement error due to the tendency of individuals to under-report their own weight. Mean reverting errors in weight do not cause IV to be asymptotically biased per se, but may result in bias if instruments are correlated with additive error in weight.

Comparison of Estimated No Surprises Act Qualifying Payment Amounts and Payments to In-Network and Out-of-Network Emergency Medicine Professionals.

Importance: The No Surprises Act (NSA), which took effect on January 1, 2022, applies a qualifying payment amount (QPA) as an out-of-network payment reference point. An understanding of how QPA measures compare with the in-network and out-of-network payments physicians received before the NSA implementation may be useful to policy makers and stakeholders.

Objective: To estimate the QPA for geographic and funding markets and compare QPA estimates with in-network and out-of-network payments for 2019 emergency medicine claims.

Methenamine hippurate compared with trimethoprim for the prevention of recurrent urinary tract infections: a randomized clinical trial.

Introduction And Hypothesis: The objective was to find an alternative treatment to a low-dose antibiotic for the prevention of recurrent urinary tract infections (UTI) and to evaluate the difference in rates of reinfection within 1 year when treated with methenamine hippurate for prophylaxis compared with trimethoprim.

Methods: We present a non-blinded randomized trial comparing methenamine hippurate with trimethoprim for the prevention of recurrent UTI at 12 months after starting treatment. Women over 18 who had at least two culture-positive UTI in the prior 6 months or three in the prior year were included.

Emergency Physicians Recover A Higher Share Of Charges From Out-Of-Network Care Than From In-Network Care.

Surprise medical bills occur when a patient unexpectedly or involuntarily receives care from an out-of-network provider and is billed for the amount not covered by insurance. Past studies were unable to observe whether bills for such care were sent to patients and, if so, how much patients paid directly to out-of-network providers. We used data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey to measure how much privately insured emergency patients paid when they likely received a surprise bill and how much physicians received in these situations.

Job Absenteeism Costs of Obesity in the United States: National and State-Level Estimates.

Objective: To estimate the causal effect of obesity on job absenteeism and the associated lost productivity in the United States, both nationwide and by state.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective pooled cross-sectional analysis using the 2001 to 2016 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey and estimated two-part models of instrumental variables.

Results: Obesity, relative to normal weight, raises job absenteeism due to injury or illness by 3.

Direct medical costs of obesity in the United States and the most populous states.

After a dramatic increase in prevalence over several decades, obesity has become a major public health crisis in the United States. Research to date has consistently demonstrated a correlation between obesity and higher medical costs for a variety of U.S.

The medical care costs of obesity and severe obesity in youth: An instrumental variables approach.

This paper is the first to use the method of instrumental variables to estimate the impact of obesity and severe obesity in youth. on U.S.

Do Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Mental Health Treatment Vary With Underlying Mental Health?

A long line of studies document substantial and persistent racial and ethnic disparities in the use of mental health services. Many recent studies follow the Institute of Medicine's definition of disparities, adjusting only for differences in health and mental health status across groups. However, controlling for mental health may mask important changes in the magnitudes of disparities at different levels of mental health need.

Annual Report on Children's Healthcare: Healthcare Access and Utilization by Obesity Status in the United States.

Objective: To examine access to care and utilization patterns across a set of healthcare measures by obesity status and socio-demographic characteristics among children.

Methods: Nationally representative data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (2010-2015) provides data on obesity status, well-child visits, access to a usual source of care provider, preventive dental visits, and prescription medication fills in the past year.

Results: Uninsured adolescents with obesity were less likely to have a usual source of care provider relative to children without obesity (73% vs 65%).

Do racial and ethnic disparities in health care use vary with health?

Objective: To determine the relationship between health status and the magnitude of black-white and Hispanic-white disparities in the likelihood of having any office-based or hospital outpatient department visits, as well as number of visits.

Data Source: 2010-2014 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey.

Study Design: The probability of having a visit is modeled using a Probit model, and the number of visits using a negative binomial model.

Public And Private Payments For Physician Office Visits.

We used data for 2014-15 from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey to estimate standardized payments for nonelderly adults' physician office visits by type of insurance. Adults with public insurance, especially Medicaid, had substantially lower provider payments, out-of-pocket spending, and third-party payments than their peers with employer-sponsored or Marketplace insurance. Quantifying public-private payment differences can help clarify choices for financing health care among low-income Americans.

The Impact of Obesity on Medical Care Costs and Labor Market Outcomes in the US.

Background: The prevalence of obesity has risen dramatically in most countries of the world, and the economic consequences of obesity are not well understood.

Methods: We analyzed data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) for 2001-2015 and estimated the percentage of healthcare costs that were associated with adult obesity, both for the US as a whole and for the most populous states. We also reviewed the literature on the impact of obesity on economic outcomes such as medical care costs, employment, and wages.

Impact of Recent Medicaid Expansions on Office-Based Primary Care and Specialty Care among the Newly Eligible.

Objective: To quantify the effect of Medicaid expansions on office-based care among the newly eligible.

Data Source: 2008-2014 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey.

Study Design: The main sample is adults age 26-64 with incomes ≤138% of poverty who were not eligible for Medicaid prior to the Affordable Care Act.

Savings in Medical Expenditures Associated with Reductions in Body Mass Index Among US Adults with Obesity, by Diabetes Status.

Background: The prevalence of obesity has more than doubled in the USA in the past 30 years. Obesity is a significant risk factor for diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and other clinically significant co-morbidities. This paper estimates the medical care cost savings that can be achieved from a given amount of weight loss by people with different starting values of body mass index (BMI), for those with and without diabetes.