For the analysis, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, researchers interviewed healthcare stakeholders across five communities witnessing large increases in coverage rates under the ACA. The questions focused on how these stakeholders addressed higher demand for healthcare services. Interviewees comprised leaders of community health centers, healthcare systems and provider associations, as well as Medicaid officials from Detroit; Lexington, Ky.; Sacramento, Calif.; Spokane, Wash.; and Morgantown, W. Va.
Here are five key findings from the report.
1. Healthcare professional work shortages present before the ACA were exacerbated by growing care demand.
2. Heightened demand led health systems, as well as community health centers, to hire staff, open care centers and retail clinics, and extend hours.
3. Providers hired more administrative and health IT employees to manage increased demand. They also took on more physicians and advanced practice clinicians, the respondents said.
4. The change in payer mix affected safety-net providers more than an overall increase in patient volume did.
5. Telemedicine use is up since the ACA’s enactment, but the interviewees said its ability to enhance provider capacity remains unfulfilled.
“Despite increases in provider capacity, there are still areas of unmet need, particularly in behavioral health and other specialty services, and persistent professional workforce shortages that were exacerbated by the ACA’s coverage expansions,” the analysts concluded. “Although healthcare delivery reforms, including greater care coordination, helped to increase efficiency among providers, many respondents reported that the increased demand for services placed significant stress on primary care providers.”
Click here to access the full analysis.
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