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THURSDAY, Dec. 19, 2019 (HealthDay News) — Implementation of the Dependent Coverage Expansion (DCE) under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) increased early-stage colorectal cancer (CRC) diagnosis and receipt of timely adjuvant chemotherapy for surgically resected stage IIB to IIIC CRC among DCE-eligible patients, according to a study published online Dec. 19 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Leticia Nogueira, Ph.D., from the American Cancer Society in Atlanta, and colleagues examined the impact of the DCE under the ACA on receipt of CRC treatment in a study involving 1,924 newly diagnosed DCE-eligible (aged 19 to 25 years) and 8,313 DCE-ineligible (aged 27 to 34 years) CRC patients from 2007 to 2013.<\/p>\n
The researchers observed a statistically significant increase in early-stage CRC diagnosis among DCE-eligible patients (15 percent increase; 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 9.8 to 20.2; P < 0.001), but not among DCE-ineligible patients (4.4 percent increase; 95 percent CI, \u22120.8 to 9.6; P = 0.09), after ACA implementation. After ACA implementation, the likelihood of receiving timely adjuvant chemotherapy after surgical resection of stage IIB to IIIC CRC was increased in DCE-eligible patients (hazard ratio, 1.34; 95 percent CI, 1.05 to 1.71; 7.0-day decrease in restricted mean time from surgery to chemotherapy; P = 0.01); no differences were seen in DCE-ineligible patients (hazard ratio, 1.10; 95 percent CI, 0.98 to 1.24; 2.1 day decrease; P = 0.41).<\/p>\n
“Although it is too early to examine differences in survival, our study is the first to report improved receipt of potentially life-saving cancer treatment as part of ACA implementation,” the authors write.<\/p>\n
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