APP Plenary Session: 2019 AANS Annual Scientific Meeting-Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and Neurosurgery: Neutralizing Bias in Trauma Care?

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and Neurosurgery: Neutralizing Bias in Trauma Care?

Video Transcription

Video Summary

In this video, Robert Bynum, a PGY-6 at the University of Arizona, discusses the impact of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) on the surgical treatment and inpatient mortality of severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients. He explains that prior studies have shown a bias in the treatment of uninsured patients with severe TBI. Bynum and his team used the National Inpatient Sample to analyze surgical rates and inpatient mortality in insured and uninsured TBI patients from 2011 to 2016. Their study finds that uninsured TBI patients are less likely to undergo surgery after 2014, and the odds ratio for inpatient mortality remains higher for uninsured patients than insured patients. The reasons for this bias are unclear and may be related to hospital-level decisions and resource limitations.

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Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and Neurosurgery: Neutralizing Bias in Trauma Care?

Keywords

Robert Bynum

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

surgical treatment

inpatient mortality

severe traumatic brain injury