Analysis Of The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention And Consumer Protection Act Of 2005 (BAPCPA)

The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA) was signed into law on April 20, 2005. The new legislation is the largest overhaul of the bankruptcy system since its enactment in 1978. One main purpose of the new legislation is to prevent fraudulent bankruptcy filings as the new law makes filing chapter 7 bankruptcies more difficult. This analysis looks at the major amendments made to the bankruptcy system and the effects on the bankruptcy courts in the United States. A literature review was conducted and found that the new legislation is viewed as being creditor friendly. Many effects of the new legislation can be seen upon enactment of the bankruptcy reform act. However, it is too early to determine the effects of the new legislation on society as a whole until more research is conducted after the October 17, 2005 effective date of the act

The Effect of Primary Care Visits on Total Patient Care Cost: Evidence From the Veterans Health Administration

Background: Since the 1980s, primary care (PC) in the US has been recognized as the backbone of healthcare providing comprehensive care to complex patients, coordinating care among specialists, and rendering preventive services to contain costs and improve clinical outcomes. However, the effect of PC visits on total patient care cost has been difficult to quantify. Objective: To assess the effect of PC visits on total patient care cost. Methods: This is a retrospective study of over 5 million patients assigned to a PC provider in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) in each of the 4 fiscal years (FY 2016-2019). The main outcome of interest is total annual patient care cost. We assessed the effect of primary care visits on total patient care cost first by descriptive statistics, and then by multivariate regressions adjusting for severity of illness and other confounders. We conducted in-depth sensitivity analyses to validate the findings. Results: On average, each additional in-person PC visit was associated with a total cost reduction of $721 (per patient per year). The first PC visit was associated with the largest savings,$3976 on average, and a steady diminishing return was observed. Further, the higher the patient risk (severity of illness), the larger the cost reduction: Among the top 10% of high-risk patients, the first PC in-person visit was associated with a reduction of $16 406 (19%). Conclusions: These findings, substantiated by our exhaustive sensitivity analyses, suggest that expanding PC capacity can significantly reduce overall health care costs and improve patient care outcomes given the former is a strong proxy of the latter. </jats:sec

sj-pdf-1-jpc-10.1177_21501319221141792 – Supplemental material for The Effect of Primary Care Visits on Total Patient Care Cost: Evidence From the Veterans Health Administration

Supplemental material, sj-pdf-1-jpc-10.1177_21501319221141792 for The Effect of Primary Care Visits on Total Patient Care Cost: Evidence From the Veterans Health Administration by Jian Gao, Eileen Moran, Rachel Grimm, Andrew Toporek and Christopher Ruser in Journal of Primary Care & Community Health</p