In the first of several hospital papers in the September issue, Peter Smulowitz and coauthors examined emergency department (ED) visits for the Medicare
population and compared the period October 2019 to September 2020 with visits during a similar period one year prior.
The authors found widespread reductions in overall ED visits during the initial COVID-19 surge. Despite this overall decrease, rates of admission for serious conditions that almost universally require admission, such as acute myocardial infarction and stroke, remained constant.
Maximilian Pany and colleagues focused on consolidation, which has been shown to yield higher prices.
However, they showed that after adjustment for area wages, high-price hospitals appear across the concentration spectrum, with most in unconcentrated or moderately concentrated markets.
Coauthor Leemore Dafny discussed this research on A Health Podyssey earlier this month.
Jason Buxbaum and Summer Rak analyzed the allocation of $178 billion in federal COVID-19 relief
for hospitals and found communities with a high share of Black residents had higher levels of relief funding, but those with a high share of Hispanic residents had lower levels.
Today on Health Affairs Blog, Joseph Daval explains that after rescinding the Trump administration’s public charge rule, the Biden administration must decide how it will interpret the same
underlying law.
Richard Gilfillan and Donald Berwick argue that the past two years have seen an alarming increase in financing and acquisitions of firms focused on serving Medicare beneficiaries.
Elevating Voices: Hispanic Heritage Month: On A Health Podyssey podcast in July 2021, Sharon Borja spoke about health insurance access among US citizen children in Mexico. Listen here.
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Mental health conditions are diagnosed in one of every five pregnant or postpartum people, yet perinatal mental health is poorly addressed by the US health care system. The October 2021 issue of Health Affairs is mostly devoted to perinatal mental health.
Please join us on Friday, October 8, 2021, for a virtual forum featuring remarks and a discussion with US Representative Lauren Underwood (IL), the cofounder and cochair of the Black Maternal Health Caucus and a lead sponsor of the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act of 2021.
In addition, a select group of authors from the issue will
present their work and take questions from the online audience.
Details are as follows:
Date: Friday, October 8, 2021 Time: 1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. Eastern/10:00 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Pacific Place: Virtual Event. Sign-in details to be shared upon registration.
Health Affairs is the leading peer-reviewedjournalat 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.
