Affiliates' Research in Medical Journals, Spring 2023

Changes in the Public Charge Rule and Health of Mothers and Infants Enrolled in New York State’s Medicaid Program, 2014‒2019 
Wang SS, Glied S, Babcock C, Chaudry A. American Journal of Public Health 112(12), December 2022, pp. 1747−1756.

In January 2017, the press reported that the federal government was considering an expansion of the public charge rule that would make participation in Medicaid a barrier to citizenship. The prior definition deemed immigrants a public charge only when the use of programs represented their primary source of economic support. Though implementation of the less generous policy was stayed by the courts and did not end up legally affecting immigrants, it had a chilling effect on the use of programs by low-income immigrant families. This study examined the effect of this policy memo leak on noncitizen mothers and newborns in New York State. Using state Medicaid data from 2014 to 2019, the researchers examined immediate effects of the leak using a comparative interrupted time series and difference-in-difference (DID), and the overall effect using a traditional DID model, post- versus pre- and noncitizens versus citizens, adjusting for age, race, county, and infant’s birth month. They found both immediate and overall statewide delays in prenatal Medicaid enrollment by immigrant mothers (odds ratios 1.49/1.16). They also observed significantly fewer prenatal visits (OR 0.70/0.85), greater maternal morbidity (1.21/1.04), and larger declines in birth weight (−37 g) among infants of mothers reporting as noncitizens. Using measures of predicted citizenship, most of these effects were larger. While Medicaid receipt by pregnant immigrant women would not, under the rule, have been considered in a public charge determination, these findings showed declines in Medicaid coverage occurred beyond those directly targeted by the rule, with significant health effects on mothers and their babies.

Trends in Inequalities in the Prevalence of Dementia in the United States 
Hudomiet P, Hurd MD, Rohwedder S. PNAS 119(46), November 2022, e2212205119.

This paper estimates the prevalence of dementia in the United States from 2000 to 2016 by age, sex, race, ethnicity, education, and a measure of lifetime earnings using data on 21,442 individuals aged 65 years and older from the nationally representative longitudinal Health and Retirement Study. The survey includes a range of cognitive tests, and a subsample of respondents underwent clinical assessment for dementia. The researchers developed a longitudinal, latent-variable model of cognitive status estimated using the Markov Chain Monte Carlo method, which provides more accurate estimates of dementia prevalence in population subgroups than did previously used methods in these data. The age-adjusted prevalence of dementia decreased from 12.2 percent in 2000 to 8.5 percent in 2016 in the 65+ population. The prevalence was higher among females but the sex difference has narrowed. Inequalities decreased between education, income, and race and ethnicity groups, especially among men. However women, racial and ethnic minority groups, and those with lower education still face substantially higher chances of living with dementia. The increase in the education level of the sample statistically explained about 40 percent of the reduction in dementia prevalence among men and 20 percent among women, whereas compositional changes in the older population by age, race and ethnicity, and cardiovascular risk factors mattered less.

Pandemic and Recession Effects on Mortality in the US during the First Year of COVID-19 
Ruhm CJ. Health Affairs 41(11), November 2022, pp. 1550−1558.

There were almost 700,000 excess deaths in the US from March 1, 2020, through February 28, 2021, resulting from two often counterbalancing mechanisms: those predicted by changes in unemployment rates occurring during this period, referred to here as the “recession effect,” and those predicted by the “pandemic effect,” which reflects direct consequences of COVID-19, accompanying impacts on health and medical care, and other changes in mortality not caused by greater joblessness. This study decomposed total mortality during this period into pandemic and recession effects, with additional estimates by sex, race and ethnicity, age, and 14 causes. Using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the analysis found that without the recession effect, there would have been nearly 40,000 more deaths than actually occurred. However, there were disparate impacts, particularly for external causes. Vehicular and alcohol-related fatalities and homicides rose because of strong pandemic effects. In contrast, the recession effect accounted for a greater share of the rise in drug mortality. Offsetting pandemic and recession effects resulted in a decrease in the number of suicides.

Associating Health-Related Quality-of-Life Score with Time Uses to Inform Productivity Measures in Cost-Effectiveness Analysis 
Jiao B, Basu A. PharmacoEconomics, March 2023.

Real-World Calibration and Transportability of the Disease Recovery Evaluation and Modification (DREaM) Randomized Clinical Trial in Adult Medicaid Beneficiaries with Recent-Onset Schizophrenia 
Basu A, Patel C, Fu AZ, Brown B, Mavros P, Benson C. Journal of Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy 29(3), March 2023, pp. 293−302.

Mandatory Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs and Overlapping Prescriptions of Opioids and Benzodiazepines: Evidence from Kentucky 
Nguyen T, Meille G, Buchmueller T. Drug and Alcohol Dependence 243(1), February 2023.

Coverage Parity and Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Mental Health and Substance Use Care among Medicare Beneficiaries 
Fung V, Price M, McDowell A, Nierenberg AA, Hsu J, Newhouse JP, Lê Cook B. Health Affairs 42(1), January 2023, pp. 83−93.

Quantification of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Binding Antibody Levels to Assess Infection and Vaccine-Induced Immunity Using WHO Standards 
Pernet O, Balog S, Kawaguchi ES, Lam CN, Anthony P, Simon P, Kotha R, Sood N, Hu H, Kovacs A. Microbiology Spectrum 11(1), January 2023, e0370922.

Effects of Welfare Reform on Positive Health and Social Behaviors of Adolescents 
Reichman NE, Corman H, Dave D, Kalil A, Schwartz-Soicher O. Children 10(2), January 2023, 260.

Organization and Performance of US Health Systems 
Beaulieu ND, Chernew ME, McWilliams JM, Landrum MB, Dalton M, Gu AY, Briskin M, Wu R, El Amrani El Idrissi Z, Machado H, Hicks AL, Cutler DM. JAMA 329(4), January 2023, pp. 325−335.

The Effects of Medicaid Expansions on Dental Services at Federally Qualified Health Centers 
Lyu W, Wehby GL. Journal of the American Dental Association 154(3), January 2023, pp. 215−224.

Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Opioid Access and Urine Drug Screening among Older Patients with Poor-Prognosis Cancer near the End of Life 
Enzinger AC, Ghosh K, Keating NL, Cutler DM, Clark CR, Florez N, Landrum MB, Wright AA. Journal of Clinical Oncology, January 2023.

Relative Productivity of For-Profit Hospitals: A Big or a Little Deal? 
Sloan FA, Valdmanis VG. Medical Care Research and Review, January 2023.

The Role of State Policy in Fostering Health Information Exchange in the United States 
Bronsoler A, Doyle JJ, Schmit C, Van Reenen J. NEJM Catalyst Innovations in Care Delivery 4(1), January 2023.

A Randomized Trial of Letters to Encourage Prescription Monitoring Program Use and Safe Opioid Prescribing 
Sacarny A, Avilova T, Powell D, Williamson I, Merrick W, Jacobson M. Health Affairs 42(1), January 2023, pp. 140−149.

Medicaid Expansion Led to Reductions in Postpartum Hospitalizations 
Steenland MW, Wherry LR. Health Affairs 42(1), January 2023, pp. 18−25.

Child Flourishing, School Engagement, Physical Activity and Screen Time during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic in 2020 
Lyu W, Wehby GL. Academic Pediatrics, January 2023.

Evaluation of a Health Information Exchange for Linkage to Mental Health Care after an Emergency Department Visit 
Parrish C, Basu A, McConnell J, Frogner BK, Reddy A, Zatzick DF, Kreuter W, Sabbatini AK. Psychiatric Services, December 2022.

Association of Family Income with Morbidity and Mortality among US Lower-Income Children and Adolescents 
Udalova V, Bhatia V, Polyakova M. JAMA 328(24), December 2022, pp. 2422−2430.

Associations between State TANF Policies, Child Protective Services Involvement, and Foster Care Placement 
Ginther DK, Johnson-Motoyama M. Health Affairs 41(12), December 2022, pp. 1744−1753.

Effects of Recent Medicaid Expansions on Infant Mortality by Race and Ethnicity 
Constantin J, Wehby GL. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 64(3), December 2022, pp. 377−364.

Accounting for the Growth of Observation Stays in the Assessment of Medicare’s Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program 
Sabbatini AK, Joynt-Maddox KE, Liao J, Basu A, Parrish C, Kreuter W, Wright B. JAMA Network Open 5(11), November 2022, e2242587.

Identifying Medicare Beneficiaries with Delirium 
Moura LMVR, Zafar S, Benson N, Festa N, Price M, Donahue MA, Normand SL, Newhouse JP, Blacker D, Hsu J. Medical Care 60(11), November 2022, pp.852−859.

State Eviction Moratoriums during the COVID-19 Pandemic Were Associated with Improved Mental Health among People Who Rent 
Ali AK, Wehby GL. Health Affairs 41(11), November 2022, pp. 1583−1589.

The Effect of Cigarette and E-cigarette Taxes on Prescriptions for Smoking Cessation Medications 
Maclean JC, Khan T, Tsipas S, Pesko MF. Health Services Research, October 2022.

Oral Health and Academic Achievement of Children in Low-Income Families 
Wehby GL. Journal of Dental Research 101(11), October 2022, pp. 1314−1320.

Primary Care Physicians’ Participation in the Medicare Shared Savings Program and Preventive Services Delivery: Evidence from the First 7 Years 
Huang H, Zhu X, Wehby GL. Health Services Research 57(5), October 2022, pp. 1182−1190.

Effects of Repealing the ACA Individual Mandate Penalty on Insurance Coverage and Marketplace Enrollment: Evidence from State Mandates in Massachusetts and New Jersey 
Oyeka OI, Lyu W, Wehby GL. Medical Care 60(10), October 2022, pp. 759−767.

College Openings in the United States Increase Mobility and COVID-19 Incidence 
Andersen MS, Bento A, Basu A, Marsicano C, Simon K. PLOS ONE 17(8), August 2022, e0272820.

A Value of Information Framework for Personalizing the Timing of Surveillance Testing 
Bansal A, Heagerty PJ, Inoue LYT, Veenstra DL, Wolock CJ, Basu A. Medical Decision Making 42(4), May 2022, pp. 474−486.