Despite concerns that increasing healthcare coverage for Americans through the Affordable Care Act would lead to substantial strain on the US healthcare delivery system, The Commonwealth Fund found that increases will only modestly increase the demand for healthcare services.
Despite concerns that increasing healthcare coverage for Americans through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) would lead to substantial strain on the US healthcare delivery system, a new report from The Commonwealth Fund found that increases will only modestly increase the demand for healthcare services.
The researchers project that only 7 states will experience increases in primary care visits that exceed 5% while the nation’s average is expected to be just 3.8%. This comes out to between 2.1 and 2.7 additional visits per week. The impact on specialists is expected to be even smaller.
The authors estimate that there will be an additional 20.3 million primary care visits as a result of the ACA. The newly insured through the ACA’s Marketplaces will account for more than a third of these primary care visits.
“We project that primary care providers will see, on average, 1.34 additional office visits per week, accounting for a 3.8% increase in visits nationally,” wrote Sherry A. Glied, PhD, dean of the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University, and Stephanie Ma, a junior research assistant at the Wagner School of Public Service.
The Northeast will experience the smallest increase in primary care visits, while the South and West will see the largest increases. Outpatient departments in these 2 regions are expected to see growth of 5.7 and 7.3 visits a week per outpatient department, respectively.
Despite increases in visits, the authors do not expect worse access to care. This is because “high rates of primary care visits per physician did not always reflect low physician supply, since utilization rates depend on both the supply of doctors and the rate at which people use their services.”
For instance, in the Northeast there is a high supply of primary care doctors and insured residents make the fewest annual visits to primary care doctors.
“It is critical that the expansion of health insurance coverage leads to improved access to care for those who were previously uninsured and does not limit access for those who already have coverage,” the authors concluded. “Our results suggest that the current supply of primary care physicians and physicians in most specialties is sufficient to ensure this result will hold.”
Examining Low-Value Cancer Care Trends Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic
April 25th 2024On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we're talking with the authors of a study published in the April 2024 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care® about their findings on the rates of low-value cancer care services throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Listen
Health Equity and Access Weekly Roundup: April 27, 2024
April 27th 2024Racial disparities in end-of-life care, the role of wellness and faith in minority health, award-winning research on health disparities, societal factors impacting cardiometabolic health, and rising mental health challenges among US youth are all covered this week in the Center on Health Equity and Access.
Read More
Empowering Community Health Through Wellness and Faith
April 23rd 2024To help celebrate and recognize National Minority Health Month, we are bringing you a special month-long podcast series with our Strategic Alliance Partner, UPMC Health Plan. In the third episode, Camille Clarke-Smith, EdD, MS, CHES, CPT, discusses approaching community health holistically through spiritual and community engagement.
Listen
Dr Kathy Zackowski Discusses the Importance of Rehabilitation Research and Trials in MS
April 26th 2024Kathy Zackowski, PhD, National MS Society, expresses the inherent value of quality rehabilitation trials for broadening clinical understandings of multiple sclerosis (MS) and bettering patient outcomes.
Read More