Patients covered by Medicaid who come in for surgery have worse health, do worse after surgery, stay in the hospital longer and are readmitted more often than peers with private insurance, according to recent analysis by University of Michigan Medical School researchers.
Researchers analyzed data from patients who had surgery over a one-year period in 52 Michigan hospitals that are part of the Michigan Surgical Quality Collaborative.
They found Medicaid beneficiaries had more emergency operations and experienced two-thirds more complications after surgery. Further, Medicaid patients used 50 percent more hospital resources than their peers. They also needed an average of one more night in the hospital.
According to the researchers, these findings become even more important as people gain coverage from Medicaid expansions.
"If we make the presumption that the new Medicaid-covered patients will fit the mold of what we see now, surgical and inpatient teams must be prepared to provide the care and support they need," said Seth Waits, MD, a U-M surgical resident and lead analyst in the study. "Financially, it may be a double whammy for hospitals, especially those that have the highest percentage of their surgical population covered by Medicaid."
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