Article Figures & Data
Figures
Tables
Supplemental Tables 1-2
Supplemental Table 1. Table 1. Demographic Characteristics of Effect of Treatment on the Treated Study Sample by Selection Status (N=24,705); Supplemental Table 2. Effect of Treatment On the Treated Outcome Rates by Selection Group (Selected and Gained Insurance: n=5,267; Not Selected and Did Not Gain Insurance: n=19,438)
Files in this Data Supplement:
- Supplemental data: Tables 1-2 - PDF file
The Article in Brief
Community Health Center Use After Oregon's Randomized Medicaid Experiment
Steffani R. Bailey , and colleagues
Background Will Community Health Centers (CHCs) experience increased demand from patients who gain health care coverage through the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion? This study explores that question by examining primary care use over a three-year period in a population of low-income adult CHC patients who gained coverage when Oregon expanded its Medicaid program in 2008.
What This Study Found Analysis of data on 34,849 patients showed that Medicaid coverage significantly increased the rate of primary care visits, laboratory tests, referrals and imaging. Specifically, the number of primary care office visits per month was 282 per 1,000 Medicaid-covered patients, compared with 201 for patients without such coverage. In the 3-year follow-up period, Medicaid coverage led to a 58 percent higher rate of referrals, 27 percent higher rate of orders for laboratory tests and a 33 percent higher imaging rate.
Implications
- ACA insurance expansions could lead to increased demand for services from CHCs and other primary care settings. According to the authors, it will be important to ensure that the health care system can support increasing demands by providing more resources to CHCs and other primary care settings.