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The Latest Research, Commentary, And News From Health Affairs

Tuesday, May 4, 2021

Dear John,

Thanks to everyone who submitted an abstract for our Racism and Health
theme issue. We received more than 300 submissions. Publication of the
issue is scheduled for February 2022.

Vertical Integration & Lab and Imaging Services

Two new Considering Health Spending articles in this month's issue
found that vertical integration of physicians with hospitals increased
use of hospital testing and imaging services.

Christopher Whaley and coauthors found that vertical integration of
physician group practices with hospitals or health systems increases the
use of hospitals for common diagnostic imaging and laboratory tests and
increases Medicare reimbursement rates
.
The authors write, "Contrary to claims of clinical efficiencies, we
also observed increased rates of testing procedures."

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Gary Young and coauthors examined magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
referrals for three common conditions. They found that "hospital
employment [of physicians] was associated with a substantially greater
likelihood of patients receiving MRI referrals in general
,
as well as-more important-inappropriate referrals," for which the
odds increased by 26 percent.

These findings add to growing discussions around consolidation, health
care spending, and overuse. For more Health Affairs coverage of these
topics, revisit a symposium of posts published by Health Affairs Blog
titled "The New Health Care Industry-Consolidation, Integration,
Competition In The Wake Of The ACA
."

Today on Health Affairs Blog, Elaine Batchlor, the CEO of Martin Luther
King Jr. Community Hospital, in response to a previously published blog
post, argues that her hospital's COVID-19 patients had poorer outcomes
because of their lifelong lack of access to health care
.

Elevating Voices: Asian American and Pacific Islander American Heritage
Month: In April 2015 Ninez A. Ponce published an article in Health
Affairs that found that places with higher rates of income inequality
were likely to have wider gaps between high- and low-income women in
receipt of gene expression profiling for breast cancer treatment
.

Today, during Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week, we are focusing on
the stark racial/ethnic disparities in maternal mortality and severe
maternal morbidity in the US. In a May 2020 paper, Teresa Janevic and
coauthors analyzed birth records in New York City and found that,
controlling for other factors, women who live in neighborhoods with the
highest concentrations of non-Hispanic Black and low-income families
face the highest excess risk of severe maternal morbidity
.

Your Daily Digest

Higher Medicare Spending On Imaging And Lab Services After Primary Care
Physician Group Vertical Integration

Christopher M. Whaley, Xiaoxi Zhao, Michael Richards, and Cheryl L.
Damberg

Hospital Employment Of Physicians In Massachusetts Is Associated With
Inappropriate Diagnostic Imaging

Gary J. Young, E. David Zepeda, Stephen Flaherty, and Ngoc Thai

Symposium: The New Health Care Industry-Consolidation, Integration,
Competition In The Wake Of The ACA

Abbe R. Gluck

Were COVID-19 Patients In The Wrong Hospital-Or The Wrong Community?
What Really Drove COVID-19 Outcomes In South Los Angeles

Elaine Batchlor

Early Diffusion Of Gene Expression Profiling In Breast Cancer Patients
Associated With Areas Of High Income Inequality

Ninez A. Ponce, Michelle Ko, Su-Ying Liang, Joanne Armstrong, Michele
Toscano, Catherine Chanfreau-Coffinier, and Jennifer S. Haas

Neighborhood Racial And Economic Polarization, Hospital Of Delivery, And
Severe Maternal Morbidity

Teresa Janevic, Jennifer Zeitlin, Natalia Egorova, Paul L. Hebert, Amy
Balbierz, and Elizabeth A. Howell

Podcast: Understanding Private Equity Investment In Hospitals

Alan Weil and Anaeze C. Offodile II

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Understanding Private Equity Investment In Hospitals

Listen to Health Affairs Editor-in-Chief Alan Weil interview Anaeze
Offodile from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center on the
role of private equity investments in health care.

Listen Here

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mailto:[email protected]

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
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Affairs Today , and Health
Affairs Sunday Update .  

Project HOPE is a global health and
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health care workers to save lives across the globe. Project HOPE has
published Health Affairs since 1981.

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