Insurance Disparities in Quality of Care Among Patients With Head and Neck Cancer.

IMPORTANCE

Significant insurance status disparities have been demonstrated in head and neck cancer (HNC) outcomes. The effects of insurance status on HNC outcomes may be explained by differential access to high-quality care.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the association of insurance status with the quality of the treating hospital and receipt of guideline-compliant care among patients with HNC.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This retrospective cohort study of data from the California Cancer Registry dataset linked with discharge records and hospital characteristics from the California Department of Health Care Access and Information included adult patients with HNC diagnosed between January 1, 2010, and December 31, 2019. Data were analyzed from May 10, 2023, to March 25, 2024.

EXPOSURES

Insurance status: commercial, Medicare, Medicaid, uninsured, other, or unknown.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES

Quality of the treating hospital (tertiles), receipt of National Comprehensive Cancer Network guideline-compliant care, and overall survival.

RESULTS

A total of 23 933 patients (mean [SD] age, 64.8 [12.3] years; 75.3% male) met the inclusion criteria. Treatment in top-tertile hospitals (hazard ratio, 0.87; 95% CI, 0.79-0.95) was associated with improved overall survival compared with treatment in bottom-tertile hospitals. Medicare (odds ratio [OR], 0.78; 95% CI, 0.73-0.84), Medicaid (OR, 0.60; 95% CI, 0.54-0.66), and uninsured (OR, 0.38; 95% CI, 0.29-0.49) status were associated with lower likelihood of treatment in high-quality hospitals compared with commercial insurance. Among patients with advanced disease, Medicaid (OR, 0.72; 95% CI, 0.62-0.83) and uninsured (OR, 0.64; 95% CI, 0.44-0.93) patients were less likely to receive dual-modality therapy. Among patients with surgically resected advanced disease, Medicaid coverage (OR, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.58-0.93) was associated with lower likelihood of receiving adjuvant radiotherapy.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE

This study found significant insurance disparities in quality of care among patients with HNC. These findings highlight the need for continued health insurance reform in the US to improve the quality of insurance coverage, in addition to expanding access to health insurance.