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In their May Health Affairs article, Yuqi Zhang and coauthors analyze rates of unplanned surgery among Medicare beneficiaries that preferably should be planned when there is adequate access to care.

The authors determine that beneficiaries who live in communities with a higher Social Vulnerability Index are more likely to undergo unplanned surgery for certain access-sensitive conditions, and more likely to experience worse outcomes than their less-vulnerable counterparts.

“Patients living in communities with the highest social vulnerability were more likely to travel farther, for longer times, and to lower-rated hospitals to obtain surgical procedures,” the authors find.

The authors go on to suggest that addressing determinants of community-level social vulnerability—particularly transportation issues that can limit access to hospitals—may mitigate the observed differences in surgical procedures and outcomes.

Today in Health Affairs Forefront, Elizabeth Tobin-Tyler writes about the leak of Justice Samuel Alito’s draft opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. She goes on to examine the future of women's health in light of the Dobbs abortion opinion.

Cara Litvin writes about the errors associated with in-office blood pressure measurement, and suggests that teaching patients how to conduct home blood pressure monitoring (HBPM) can improve data quality.

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You are invited to join Health Affairs Editor-in-Chief Alan Weil for the next installment of our Policy Spotlight series.

The event will feature Nakela Cook, MD, MPH, executive director of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), an independent, nonprofit organization authorized by Congress in 2010 to improve the quality and relevance of evidence available to help patients, caregivers, clinicians, employers, insurers, and policy makers make better-informed health decisions.

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.

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