Massachusetts Healthcare Reform and Trends in Emergent Colon Resection.

BACKGROUND: Insurance impacts access to therapeutic options, yet little is known about how healthcare reform might change the pattern of surgical admissions. OBJECTIVE: We compared rates of emergent admissions and outcomes after colectomy before and after reform in Massachusetts with a nationwide control group. DESIGN: This study is a retrospective cohort analysis in a natural experiment. Prereform was defined as hospital discharge from 2002 through the second quarter of 2006 and postreform from the third quarter of 2006 through 2012. Categorical variables were compared by χ. Piecewise functions were used to test the effect of healthcare reform on the rate of emergent surgeries. SETTINGS: The study included acute care hospitals in the Massachusetts Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project State Inpatient Database (2002-2012) and the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (2002-2011). PATIENTS: Patients aged 18 to 64 years with public or no insurance who underwent inpatient colectomy (via International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification procedural code) were included and patients with Medicare were excluded. INTERVENTION: Massachusetts health care reform was the study intervention. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: We measured the rate of emergent colectomy, complications, and mortality. RESULTS: The unadjusted rate of emergent colectomies was lower in Massachusetts after reform but did not change nationally over the same time period. For emergent surgeries in Massachusetts, a piecewise model with an inflection point (peak) in the third quarter of 2006, coinciding with implementation of healthcare reform in Massachusetts, had a lower mean squared error than a linear model. In comparison, the national rate of emergent surgeries demonstrated no change in pattern. Postreform, length of stay decreased by 1 day in Massachusetts; however, there were no significant improvements in other outcomes. LIMITATIONS: The study was limited by its retrospective design and unadjusted analysis. CONCLUSIONS: There was a unique and sustained decline in the rate of emergent colon resection among publically insured and uninsured patients after 2006 in Massachusetts, in contradistinction to the national pattern, suggesting improved access to care associated with health insurance expansion. The reasons for lack of improvement in outcomes are multifactorial.

Pancreatic resection: a key component to reducing racial disparities in pancreatic adenocarcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Blacks are affected disproportionately by pancreatic adenocarcinoma and have been linked with poor survival. Surgical resection remains the only potential curative option. If surgical disparities exist, then they may provide insight into outcome discrepancies. METHODS: Patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma were identified using the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results data from 1992 to 2002. Univariate analyses were used to compare demographics, tumor characteristics, and surgical data; and logistic regression was used to determine independent predictors for recommendation/performance of surgery. Kaplan-Meier survival was assessed, and a Cox proportional hazards model was used to examine adjusted predictors of survival. RESULTS: In total, 27,828 patients were identified; 81.4% were white, 11.5% were black, 7.2% were of other race. White patients and black patients presented with similar stage and had surgery recommended at similar rates (34.5% vs 34%, respectively; P = .57). Black patients underwent fewer resections (10.6% vs 12.7%; P < .001). Multivariate analysis confirmed that black patients were less likely to undergo resection (adjusted odds ratio, 0.69; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 0.57-0.84). Overall, black patients had worse univariate survival. The survival among black patients who underwent resection did not differ statistically from the survival of similar white patients, although the median survival trended lower (11 months vs 13 months; P = .13). In a multivariate Cox model, black race predicted worse survival (hazards ratio, 1.11; 95% CI, 1.07-1.16), and pancreatic resection was protective (hazards ratio, 0.56; 95% CI, 0.53-0.59). CONCLUSIONS: Black and white patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma presented with similar stages and were recommended for pancreatectomy at similar rates, yet black patients underwent fewer resections. After resection, crude survival did not differ significantly between white and black patients, although multivariate analysis demonstrated a survival disadvantage for blacks despite adjusting for resection. The current results suggested that pancreatectomy may be underused for blacks. Maximizing resection rates for appropriate patients may be an important component in reducing outcome disparities for pancreatic adenocarcinoma.