Impact of Medicaid expansion on young adult firearm and motor vehicle crash trauma patients

Pooled Analysis of Trauma Centers Better Predicts Risk Factors for Firearm Violence Reinjury

INTRODUCTION

Many trauma centers use the first firearm injury admission as a reachable moment to mitigate reinjury. Understanding repeat firearm violence can be difficult in metropolitan areas with multiple trauma centers and laws that prohibit sharing private health information across health systems. We hypothesized that risk factors for repeat firearm violence could be better understood using pooled data from two major metropolitan trauma centers.

METHODS

Two level I trauma center registries were queried (2007-2017) for firearm injury admissions using International Classification of Diseases, Ninth and Tenth Revision (ICD9/10) Ecodes. A pseudo encryption tool allowed sharing of deidentified firearm injury and repeat firearm injury data without disclosing private health information. Factors associated with firearm reinjury admissions including, age, sex, race, payor, injury severity, intent, and discharge, were assessed by multivariable logistic regression.

RESULTS

We identified 2145 patients with firearm injury admissions, 89 of whom had a subsequent repeat firearm injury admission. Majority of repeat firearm admissions were assaulted (91%), male (97.8%), and non-Hispanic Black (86.5%). 31.5% of repeat firearm injury admissions were admitted to a different trauma center from their initial admission. Independent predictors of repeat firearm injuries were age (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 0.94, P < 0.001), male sex (aOR 6.18, P = 0.013), non-Hispanic Black race (aOR 5.14, P = 0.007), or discharge against medical advice (aOR 6.64, P=<0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Nearly a third of repeat firearm injury admissions would have been missed in the current study without pooled metropolitan trauma center data. The incidence of repeat firearm violence is increasing and those at the highest risk for reinjury need to be targeted for mitigating interventions.

Impact of Medicaid Expansion and Firearm Legislation on Cost of Firearm Injuries

INTRODUCTION

Firearm injury-related hospitalizations in the U.S. cost $900 million annually. Before the Affordable Care Act, government insurance programs covered 41% of the costs. This study describes the impact of Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion and state-level firearm legislation on coverage and costs for firearm injuries.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study included 35,854,586 hospitalizations from 27 states in 2013 and 2016. Data analyses were performed in 2022. Firearm injuries were classified by mechanism: assault, unintentional, self-harm, or undetermined. The impact of the Affordable Care Act expansion was determined using difference-in-differences analysis. Differences in per capita costs between states with stronger and weak firearm legislation were compared using univariable and multivariable analyses.

RESULTS

The authors identified 31,451 initial firearm injury-related hospitalizations. In states with weak firearm legislation, hospitalization costs per 100,000 residents were higher from unintentional ($25,834; p=0.04) and self-inflicted ($11,550; p=0.02) injuries; there were no state-level differences in assault or total per capita firearm-related hospitalization costs. Affordable Care Act expansion increased government coverage of costs by 15 percentage points (95% CI=3, 29) and decreased costs to uninsured/self-pay by 14 percentage points (95% CI=6, 21). In 2016, states with weak firearm legislation and no Affordable Care Act expansion had the highest proportion of hospitalization costs attributed to uninsured/self-pay patients (24%, 95% CI=15, 34).

CONCLUSIONS

Affordable Care Act expansion increased government coverage of hospitalizations for firearm injuries. Unintentional and self-harm costs were significantly higher for states with weak firearm legislation. States with weak firearm legislation that did not expand Medicaid had the highest proportion of uninsured/self-pay patients.

Disadvantaged Neighborhoods Continue to Bear the Burden of Gun Violence

INTRODUCTION

Gun violence is a pervasive and dynamic public health crisis causing substantial burden on communities and healthcare systems in the United States. Risk factor and outcome analyses are crucial to develop effective interventions. The aim of this study was to assess firearm injury in a diverse community setting as it relates to neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage and changes over time following large-scale local interventions.

METHODS

All county residents with firearm injury presenting to a Level 1 Trauma Center from January 2012 to December 2021 were retrospectively reviewed. Area Deprivation Index (ADI) was used to measure neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage based on a nine-digit zip code at patients' home address. Injuries were also stratified by 5-year time periods, 2012-2016 and 2017-2021. Demographics and clinical data were analyzed including injury severity, hospital course, and discharge location. Data were compared by ADI quintile and between time periods using chi-squared, one-way analysis of variance, and Cochran-Armitage test.

RESULTS

A total of 1044 injuries were evaluated. Patients were 93% male with mean age of 29 y (standard deviation 10.2) and were concentrated in the most disadvantaged neighborhoods (74% ADI Q5). Black or African American race was greater in the most disadvantaged ADI groups (76% versus 47%-66%; P <0.001). Percentage of total injuries in the most disadvantaged ADI group rose from 71% to 78% over time (P = 0.006). Mortality occurred in 154 (15%) patients overall, while most (71%) were discharged to home. Mortality declined from 18% to 11% over time (P <0.001). Medicaid utilization rose from 42% to 77% alongside a decrease in self-pay status from 44% to 4% (P <0.001). There were no clinically significant group differences in injury severity or clinical characteristics.

CONCLUSIONS

Firearm injury remains concentrated in the most socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods, and this disparity is increasing over time. Medicaid utilization rose and mortality decreased in this population over time. This research presents a method to inform and monitor local gun violence interventions using ADI to address public health equity.

Firearm injuries in Missouri

Firearm deaths continue to be a major public health problem, but the number of non-fatal firearm injuries and the characteristics of patients and injuries is not well known. The American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma, with support from the National Collaborative on Gun Violence Research, leveraged an existing data system to capture lethal and non-lethal injuries, including patients treated and discharged from the emergency department and collect additional data on firearm injuries that present to trauma centers. In 2020, Missouri had the 4th highest firearm mortality rate in the country at 23.75/100,000 population compared to 13.58/100,000 for the US overall. We examined the characteristics of patients from Missouri with firearm injuries in this cross-sectional study. Of the overall 17,395 patients, 1,336 (7.7%) were treated at one of the 11 participating trauma centers in Missouri during the 12-month study period. Patients were mostly male and much more likely to be Black and uninsured than residents in the state as a whole. Nearly three-fourths of the injuries were due to assaults, and overall 7.7% died. Few patients received post-discharge services.

Association of the Affordable Care Act Medicaid Expansion With Secondary Overtriage among Young Adult Trauma Patients

BACKGROUND

Previous work has shown that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Medicaid expansion decreased the uninsured rate and improved some trauma outcomes among young adult trauma patients, but no studies have investigated the impact of ACA Medicaid expansion on secondary overtriage, namely the unnecessary transfer of non-severely injured patients to tertiary trauma centers.

METHODS

Statewide hospital inpatient and emergency department discharge data from two Medicaid expansion and one non-expansion state were used to compare changes in insurance coverage and secondary overtriage among trauma patients aged 19-44 y transferred into a level I or II trauma center before (2011-2013) to after (2014-quarter 3, 2015) Medicaid expansion. Difference-in-difference (DD) analyses were used to compare changes overall, by race/ethnicity, and by ZIP code-level median income quartiles.

RESULTS

Medicaid expansion was associated with a decrease in the proportion of patients uninsured (DD: -4.3 percentage points; 95% confidence interval (CI): -7.4 to -1.2), an increase in the proportion of patients insured by Medicaid (DD: 8.2; 95% CI: 5.0 to 11.3), but no difference in the proportion of patients who experienced secondary overtriage (DD: -1.5; 95% CI: -4.8 to 1.8). There were no differences by race/ethnicity or community income level in the association of Medicaid expansion with secondary overtriage.

CONCLUSIONS

In the first 2 y after ACA Medicaid expansion, insurance coverage increased but secondary overtriage rates were unchanged among young adult trauma patients transferred to level I or II trauma centers.