IT firm says ACA hasn't boosted patient volume
A report by Watertown-based IT services provider athenahealth Inc., measuring the impact of the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA) during the first five months of the universal health insurance mandate, indicates that providers it contracts with did not see an increase in patient volumes.
In fact, the percentage of total patient visits dipped slightly in January through May of 2014, compared with the same period last year, suggesting that an increase in newly insured patients has yet to have an impact on medical practices.
Meanwhile, the gap between states that are expanding Medicaid coverage for low-income patients and those that are not expanding coverage is widening, with Medicaid patients accounting for 15.6 percent of care delivered in May 2014, compared with 12.3 percent in December. Medicaid visits remained flat in non-expansion states.
The findings are significant, because providers in states with a larger volume of Medicaid patients are at greater risk of payment declines due to shrinking federal reimbursements. Massachusetts is among the states that are expanding Medicaid coverage under ACA.
The findings are part of the ACAView, a joint initiative between athenahealth and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which analyzes the impact of the ACA on providers and patients on a monthly basis. ACAView will monitor and report findings monthly, based on data collected from athenahealth providers.
“The ACAView helps connect the dots,” said Katherine Hempstead, of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “Already, the data suggest some surprises … there hasn’t been an immediate increase in primary care utilization, and there’s been no major influx of chronically ill people into the system.”
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