Becker's Spine Review

63 ASC 20 states that spend the most, least on Medicaid: WalletHub By Eric Oliver W alletHub released its "2021's States with the Most and Least Medicaid Coverage" list March 15, analyzing Medicaid coverage and spending across the U.S. WalletHub analyzed U.S. Medicaid spending on 12 metrics across three dimensions: spending, quality, and eligibility and enrollment. Each met- ric was graded on a 100-point scale. e publica- tion then used each state's weighted average across the metrics to calculate the state's overall score. Here are the 10 states that spent the most on Med- icaid, along with their overall rank on the list: 1. Massachusetts, 1 2. Minnesota, 19 3. California, 7 4. Vermont, 3 5. Rhode Island, 2 6. Pennsylvania, 4 7. Colorado, 13 8. Connecticut, 5 9. New Hampshire, 16 10. New York, 8 Here are the 10 states that spent the least on Med- icaid, along with their rank on the list: 1. Alabama, 44 2. Mississippi, 45 3. Oklahoma, 49 4. Georgia, 50 5. South Carolina, 42 6. West Virginia, 21 7. Wyoming, 47 8. North Carolina, 38 9. South Dakota, 46 10. Utah, 31 n Surgeries should be delayed 7 weeks after a positive COVID-19 diagnosis, study suggests By Eric Oliver P atients who have COVID-19 should delay getting a surgical procedure at least seven weeks because of increased postop- erative death rates, according to a study published March 9 in Anesthesia. Researchers studied 30-day postoperative mortality rates in 3,127 patients with COVID-19 and 137,104 patients without it. Adjusted 30-day mortality in patients without COVID-19 was 1.5 percent, while patients with COVID-19 had increased postoperative mortality rates during the following recovery periods: zero to two weeks; three to four weeks; and five to six weeks. COVID-19 patients who waited at least seven weeks for surgery had a similar mortality rate as the baseline group. However, COVID-19 patients who were still experiencing symptoms continued to have higher mortality rates after seven weeks than baseline patients or COVID-19 patients whose symptoms subsided. Researchers recommended patients with COVID-19 delay surgical procedures at least seven weeks, and that patients with ongoing symptoms continue to delay until symptoms subside. n Northern Arizona Healthcare program designated orthopedic and spine institute By Alan Condon T he orthopedics program at Flagstaff-based Northern Arizona Healthcare has been designated as an orthopedic and spine institute, two years after its inception, the Arizona Daily Sun reported Feb. 22. The designation denotes that the program provides a physician-led set of services shaped by research and the hospital's own data. It is the first program to be recognized as an institute at Northern Ari- zona Healthcare, which comprises orthopedic providers in Flagstaff, Sedona, Oak Creek, Cottonwood and Prescott Valley. Northern Arizona Healthcare will collaborate with Phoenix-based Ban- ner Health to research ways to improve patient care and outcomes. "Not all organizations necessarily see the value in having an institute versus a service line because typically an institute is a whole lot more work, a whole lot more oversight and a lot more data collection. And typically all those things cost more money," Matt Kraemer, orthope- dic service line administrator, told the Sun. n

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