In a study recently published in Spine, researchers used Thomson Reuter's MarketScan database to compare lumbar spinal stenosis surgery outcomes in Medicaid patients to outcomes in commercial insurance patients. The study involved patients 18 and older receiving lumbar spinal stenosis surgery between 2000 and 2009. The study found:
• At one year, Medicaid patients had a reoperation rate of 4.60 percent
• At one year, commercially insured patients had a reoperation rate of 5.42 percent
• At two years, Medicaid patients had a reoperation rate of 7.22 percent
• At two years, commercially insured patients had a reoperation rate of 10.30 percent
• At more than two years, Medicaid patients had a reoperation rate of 13.92 percent
• At more than two years, commercially insured patients had a reoperation rate of 16.89 percent
The study found Medicaid patients had greater resource utilization, while commercially insured patients incurred higher costs at both one to two years after the initial procedure.
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