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**The Latest Research, Commentary, and News from Health Affairs**

**Thursday, May 21, 2020**

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FAST TRACK AHEAD OF PRINT

Disparities In Outcomes Among COVID-19 Patients In A Large Health Care
System In California

By Kristen M. J. Azar, Zijun Shen, Robert J. Romanelli, Stephen H.
Lockhart, Kelly Smits, Sarah Robinson, Stephanie Brown, and Alice R.
Pressman

As the COVID-19 pandemic spreads throughout the United States, there is
growing evidence that racial and ethnic minorities and socioeconomically
disadvantaged groups bear a disproportionate burden of illness and
death. Kristen Azar and coauthors analyzed the medical records of
COVID-19 patients at Sutter Health, a large integrated health network in
Northern California, to measure potential disparities. After analyzing
1,052 confirmed COVID-19 cases from January 1 to April 8, 2020, the
authors observed that, compared with non-Hispanic white patients,
African Americans had 2.7 times the odds of hospitalization, after
adjusting for age, gender, comorbidities, and income. Read More >>

TODAY ON THE BLOG
COVID-19

Independent Primary Care Practices Are Small Businesses, Too

By Donna R. Shelley, Ji Eun Chang, Alden Lai, Ann M. Nguyen, and Carolyn
A. Berry

Missing from state and national discussions about the impact of COVID-19
on hospitals and small businesses is discussion of the impact on smaller
independent primary care practices and how to aid them. Despite recent
trends, independent primary care practices continue to play a major role
in US health care delivery-more than half of primary care visits occur
in these practice settings. Read More >>

After COVID-19: How To Rejuvenate Primary Care For The Future

By Thomas Bodenheimer and Brian Yoshio Laing

Ending the hegemony of the face-to-face visit and rebalancing the
appointment template toward 50 percent distance visits are likely to
improve patient access while reducing work and burnout. Read More >>

PRIMARY CARE

Primary Care Is Hurting: Why Aren't Private Insurers Pitching In?

By Leemore Dafny and J. Michael McWilliams

We propose a simple solution that would deliver funds where needed, and
promptly: Insurers could multiply their reimbursements for primary care
by a common factor, such as 1.5. This "primary care boost" should
extend through the end of 2020 and be retroactive to March 15, to
compensate providers who remained open in spite of lower revenues,
higher costs, and the risks to themselves and their families. Read More
>>

ORAL HEALTH CARE

Connecting Low-Income Children To Dental Care: An Innovative Partnership
In Washington State

By Vanetta Abdellatif and Kimberly Craven

For more than 20 years, the Access to Baby and Child Dentistry (ABCD)
program, in Washington State, has connected Medicaid-enrolled children
under age six to dental care in their local communities. Washington is
"a national leader" in the percentage of these young children receiving
dental care. Arcora Foundation has been a long-time supporter of ABCD, a

public-private partnership, which continues to shift its focus and
dollars from treatment to prevention. Read More >>

FOLLOWING THE ACA

ACA Round-Up: NH 1332 Waiver, Risk Adjustment, And Quality Reporting

By Katie Keith

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services continues to issue new
guidance and materials on coronavirus effects on Affordable Care Act
implementation. This post summarizes New Hampshire's application for a
waiver under Section 1332, new materials on the risk adjustment program,
and additional coronavirus-related delays to ACA programs. Read More >>

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IN THE JOURNAL

PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE

Health Insurance Surcharges For Tobacco Use Declined Among Small
Employers In 2018

By Jaskaran Bains, Michael F. Pesko, Johanna Catherine Maclean, and
Benjamin Lê Cook

Using data for 2016-18 from the Kaiser Family Foundation/Health
Research and Educational Trust Employer Health Benefits Survey, Jaskaran
Bains and coauthors analyzed trends in small-employer tobacco surcharges
and cessation programs. Read More >>

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Read the May 2020 Table of Contents
.

Subscribe to Health Affairs for full journal access.

**A CLOSER LOOK**-Vulnerable Populations

Understanding regional variation in the effect of the Affordable Care
Act (ACA) on health insurance coverage among vulnerable populations such
as American Indian and Alaska Native adults has important policy
implications. Leah Frerichs and coauthors examinedregional differences
in coverage among American Indians and Alaska Natives

before and after the ACA in a Health Affairs research article.

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About Health Affairs

Health Affairs is the leading peer-reviewed journal
at the intersection of health,
health care, and policy. Published monthly by Project HOPE, the journal
is available in print and online. Late-breaking content is also found
through healthaffairs.org , Health Affairs
Today , and Health Affairs
Sunday Update .  

Project HOPE is a global health and
humanitarian relief organization that places power in the hands of local
health care workers to save lives across the globe. Project HOPE has
published Health Affairs since 1981.

Copyright © Project HOPE: The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

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