The impact of the affordable care act on surgeon selection amongst colorectal surgery patients

Background: It is unclear how the Affordable Care Act's state-based Medicaid Expansion (ME) has impacted surgeon selection for colorectal resections (CRS). Methods: We performed a risk-adjusted DID analysis on state discharge data of CRS patients aged 26-64 from NY (Expansion) and FL (non-Expansion) before (2012-2013) and after (2016-2017) ME. Primary outcome was use of a high-volume or colorectal-boarded surgeon. Subset analysis performed on insurance status. Results: Among 78,866 CRS patients, ME was associated with a 5.9% increase in Medicaid enrollment. ME was associated with a 0.73 (95%CI: 0.67-0.69; p < 0.001) reduced odds of high-volume surgeon usage by commercially insured patients when compared to usage by commercially insured patients in the non-expansion state. No statistically significant difference was noted in the use of a colorectal-boarded surgeon following reform. Conclusions: ME was associated with an increase in Medicaid enrollment and a decrease in the use of high-volume surgeons by the commercially insured. (C) 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The study found that Medicaid Expansion was associated with an increase in Medicaid enrollment and a decrease in the likelihood of commercially insured patients using high-volume surgeons. However, there was no statistically significant difference in the use of colorectal-boarded surgeons following the reform.