Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Research Roundup: ACA Enrollment; Anxiety And Autoimmune Disorders
New England Journal of Medicine: A Randomized Trial Of A Family-Support Intervention In Intensive Care Units
Among critically ill patients and their surrogates, a family-support intervention delivered by the interprofessional ICU team did not significantly affect the surrogates’ burden of psychological symptoms, but the surrogates’ ratings of the quality of communication and the patient- and family-centeredness of care were better and the length of stay in the ICU was shorter with the intervention than with usual care. (White, Angus, Shields et. al., 6/21)
JAMA: Association Of Stress-Related Disorders With Subsequent Autoimmune Disease
Are psychiatric reactions induced by trauma or other life stressors associated with subsequent risk of autoimmune disease? ... Stress-related disorders were significantly associated with risk of subsequent autoimmune disease. (Song, Fang, Tomasson, et. al., 6/19)
Health Affairs: Hypothetical Network Adequacy Schemes For Children Fail To Ensure Patients’ Access To In-Network Children’s Hospital
We examined the percentage of pediatric specialty hospitalizations that would be beyond existing Medicare Advantage network adequacy distance requirements for adult hospital care and, as a secondary analysis, a pediatric adaptation of the Medicare Advantage requirements. ...Instead of, or in addition to, time and distance standards, policy makers may need to consider more nuanced network definitions, including functional capabilities of the pediatric care network or clear exception policies for essential specialty care services. (Colvin, Hall and Thurm, 6/1)
Urban Institute: What Explains 2018’s Marketplace Enrollment Rates?
We found that shifts in marketplace enrollment reflected whether the cheapest premiums were available on- or off-marketplace, whether states maximized the size of premium tax credits through “silver loading,” the amount of marketplace advertising, the length of open enrollment periods (which some states did not shorten), and whether state officials encouraged consumers to enroll in coverage. (Burton, Peters, Wengle, et. al., 6/20)
