IMPORTANCE Medicaid beneficiaries by definition are low income but they are not necessarily a homogeneous group. No study has assessed differences and disparities among Medicaid beneficiaries with head and neck cancers. OBJECTIVE To examine predictors of treatment receipt and mortality among Medicaid patients with head and neck cancer. DESIGN Retrospective cohort study using Medicaid claims...

STUDY OBJECTIVE We compare the association between barriers to timely primary care and emergency department (ED) utilization among adults with Medicaid versus private insurance. METHODS We analyzed 230,258 adult participants of the 1999 to 2009 National Health Interview Survey. We evaluated the association between 5 specific barriers to timely primary care (unable to get through on telephone,...

OBJECTIVE Chronic pain affects both psychological and physical functioning, and is responsible for more than $60 billion in lost productivity annually in the United States. Although previous studies have demonstrated racial disparities in opioid treatment, there is little evidence regarding disparities in treatment of chronic noncancer pain (CNCP) and the role played by physician specialty in t...

BACKGROUND Urban Social Health Activists (USHAs) are the grass root health care workers of urban areas. There are 290 USHAs distributed in various Urban Health Centers (UHCs) of Rajkot city. OBJECTIVES To compare the (i) effectiveness of the training received by the USHAs on their knowledge and counseling skills (ii) knowledge and counseling skills of USHAs on the awareness and utilization of...

PURPOSE The current study was done to identify individual- and group-level factors associated with health care service utilization among Korean medical aid beneficiaries by applying multilevel modeling. METHODS Secondary data analysis was performed using data on health care service reimbursement and medical aid case management progress from 15,948 beneficiaries, and data from 229 regions were...

The many changes to the Disability Insurance (DI) program that took place during the early 1980's suggest that there may be significant differences in the characteristics of newly awarded beneficiaries over time. This study compares two cohorts of newly entitled beneficiaries--one from 1972 and the other from 1985--in order to assess changes in individual characteristics and death rates between...

BACKGROUND School Feeding Program (SFP) is a targeted safety net program designed to provide educational and health benefits to vulnerable children. However, limited evidence exists regarding the effect of the intervention on the nutritional status and school attendance of children. The study is aimed at examining the effects of SFP on dietary diversity, nutritional status and class attendance ...

OBJECTIVE To estimate out-of-pocket health care spending by lower-income Medicare beneficiaries, and to examine spending variations between those who receive Medicaid assistance and those who do not receive such aid. DATA SOURCES AND COLLECTION: 1993 Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) Cost and Use files, supplemented with data from the Bureau of the Census (Current Population Survey); t...

The 1989 Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (OBRA 89) included physician payment reform, part of which was a limit on balanced billing. The provision limiting charges was implemented in 1991. Under this reform, physicians who did not accept Medicare assignment were prohibited from billing Medicare beneficiaries more than 140 percent of the prevailing charge for evaluation and management services...

required that the Commission report on: • rural Medicare beneficiaries' access to care, • rural providers' quality of care, • special rural Medicare payments, and • the adequacy of Medicare payments to rural providers. In addition to the findings presented on each of the four topics, this report presents a set of principles designed to guide expectations and policies with respect to rural acces...