RT Journal
A1 Rosenthal RJ
T1 Impact of payer status on treatment options for acute cholecystitis: Will health care reform help us close the gap?: comment on “payer status and treatment paradigm for acute cholecystitis”
JF Archives of Surgery
JO Archives of Surgery
YR 2012
FD May 1
VO 147
IS 5
SP 458
OP 459
DO 10.1001/archsurg.2011.1890
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archsurg.2011.1890
AB 
The aim of the Greenstein et al1 study was to demonstrate that the Medicaid population has inferior access to undergo a cholecystectomy for acute cholecystitis (AC) when compared with those that have private insurance (PI). Using a Nationwide Inpatient Sample database from 1998 through 2008, the authors reviewed a total of 843 179 patients who had emergent hospitalizations under the diagnosis of AC. Hospitalizations were stratified by primary payer status (Medicaid [n = 219 326] or private [n = 623 853]), and insurance type was analyzed against cholecystectomy in propensity score–matched cohorts. Approximately 200 000 patients were matched in each cohort. The authors arrived at the following results: