Health and Health Care Utilization Effects of Medical Debt Forgiveness
28. april 2026 oppdatert av: Wesley Yin, University of California, Los Angeles
The goal of this study is to estimate the direct, causal impact of medical debt on health care utilization, mental health, and wellbeing of patients.
The investigators will conduct a survey to measure the impact of the debt forgiveness on health care use, mental health, and wellbeing.
The survey will be administered to approximately 17,000 subjects of a recent medical financial intervention.
In that prior intervention, a non-profit charity, RIP Medical Debt, purchased and abolished medical debt for a randomly selected about 6,000 (out of the 17,000) individuals.
In this current protocol, the investigators will administer the survey, and will compare surveyed outcomes of subjects who received and did not receive the intervention.
Studieoversikt
Status
Fullført
Intervensjon / Behandling
Detaljert beskrivelse
This study will estimate the direct, causal impact of medical debt on health care utilization, mental health, and wellbeing of patients.
To do so, the investigators will administer a survey to approximately 17,000 subjects of a recent medical financial intervention.
In that intervention, a non-profit charity, RIP Medical Debt, purchased and abolished medical debt for a randomly selected about 6,000 (out of the 17,000) study subjects.
In this current protocol, the investigators will compare surveyed outcomes of subjects who received and did not receive the medical debt abolishment intervention.
Because debt abolishment was randomized, comparing surveyed outcomes of treated and control subjects in the cross-section will allow the study to estimate the causal impact of the medical debt abolishment.
The survey will measure the effects of medical debt on three sets of outcomes: (i) health care utilization, as measured by medical care visits, prescription drug utilization and adherence, and unmet need for medical care; (ii) mental health, as measured by validated screens for depression and anxiety; and (iii) subjective wellbeing, as measured by self-reported health, forgone consumption, and financial strain.
This study would be the first to provide a direct, causal connection between the rising personal debt associated with U.S. health care and the health outcomes of its recipients.
Studietype
Observasjonsmessig
Registrering (Faktiske)
15008
Kontakter og plasseringer
Denne delen inneholder kontaktinformasjon for de som utfører studien, og informasjon om hvor denne studien blir utført.
Studiesteder
-
-
California
-
Los Angeles, California, Forente stater, 90095
- Wesley Yin
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-
Deltakelseskriterier
Forskere ser etter personer som passer til en bestemt beskrivelse, kalt kvalifikasjonskriterier. Noen eksempler på disse kriteriene er en persons generelle helsetilstand eller tidligere behandlinger.
Kvalifikasjonskriterier
Alder som er kvalifisert for studier
18 år og eldre (Voksen, Eldre voksen)
Tar imot friske frivillige
Ja
Prøvetakingsmetode
Sannsynlighetsprøve
Studiepopulasjon
The study population is a probability sample drawn from population of individuals who owe medical debt held by FFAM, a debt collection agency.
Beskrivelse
Inclusion Criteria:
- Individuals ages 18 and over who owed medical debt to FFAM, a debt collections agency
Exclusion Criteria:
- Excluded individuals who owed less than $500 in medical debt to FFAM
- Excluded individuals with missing social security numbers
Studieplan
Denne delen gir detaljer om studieplanen, inkludert hvordan studien er utformet og hva studien måler.
Hvordan er studiet utformet?
Designdetaljer
Kohorter og intervensjoner
Gruppe / Kohort |
Intervensjon / Behandling |
|---|---|
|
Treatment
Subjects in this "treatment" group had their medical debt forgiven by a non-profit charity, RIP Medical Debt.
This protocol will administer a survey to measure subjects' health care utilization, mental health, and subjective well-being.
|
A non-profit charity, RIP Medical Debt, bought and retired medical debt for individuals that were assigned to the treatment group.
|
|
Control
No intervention was given to subjects in this "control" group.
This protocol will administer a survey to measure subjects' health care utilization, mental health, and subjective well-being.
|
Hva måler studien?
Primære resultatmål
Resultatmål |
Tiltaksbeskrivelse |
Tidsramme |
|---|---|---|
|
8-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-8) Depression Scale
Tidsramme: An average of 12 months after the intervention.
|
Scores on the 8-item Patient Health Questionnaire depression scale range from 0 to 24, with higher scores indicating greater severity of depression.
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An average of 12 months after the intervention.
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Sekundære resultatmål
Resultatmål |
Tiltaksbeskrivelse |
Tidsramme |
|---|---|---|
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Received Needed Health Care
Tidsramme: An average of 12 months after the intervention.
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Binary response to: "If you needed medical care in the last 12 months, did you get ALL the medical care you needed?" (Health Care Utilization domain)
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An average of 12 months after the intervention.
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Received Needed Rx
Tidsramme: An average of 12 months after the intervention.
|
Binary response to: "If you needed prescription medications in the last 12 months, did you get all the prescription medications you needed?" (Health Care Utilization domain)
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An average of 12 months after the intervention.
|
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7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD7) Scale
Tidsramme: An average of 12 months after the intervention.
|
Scores on the 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale range from 0 to 21, with higher scores indicating greater severity of anxiety (Mental Health Domain).
|
An average of 12 months after the intervention.
|
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Stress
Tidsramme: An average of 12 months after the intervention.
|
Binary response to: "Stress means a situation in which a person feels tense, restless, nervous or anxious or is unable to sleep at night because his/her mind is troubled all the time.
Do you feel this kind of stress these days?"
(Mental Health Domain)
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An average of 12 months after the intervention.
|
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General Health
Tidsramme: An average of 12 months after the intervention.
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Response to: "In general, would you say your health is: Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair, or Poor?" (General Health Domain)
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An average of 12 months after the intervention.
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Happiness
Tidsramme: An average of 12 months after the intervention.
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Response to: "Taken all together, how would you say things are these days - would you say that you are Very Happy, Pretty Happy, or Not Too Happy?" (Subjective Wellbeing Domain)
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An average of 12 months after the intervention.
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Problems paying other bills
Tidsramme: An average of 12 months after the intervention.
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Response to: "Besides medical bills, have you had problems paying other types of bills in the past 12 months?"
(Financial Stress Domain)
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An average of 12 months after the intervention.
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Changes in spending due to medical debt
Tidsramme: An average of 12 months after the intervention.
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Indexed response to: "As a result of medical bills have you cut back on spending in the past 12 months on i) basic necessities (like food, heat or housing, or other basic household items), ii) Big-ticket items (like cars, furniture, or appliances); iii) business investments?"
(Financial Stress Domain)
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An average of 12 months after the intervention.
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Changes in borrowing due to medical debt
Tidsramme: An average of 12 months after the intervention.
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Indexed response to: "As a result of medical bills, in the past 12 months, have you i) Increased your credit card debt, or charge card debt?
ii) Borrowed money from a payday lender?; iii) Borrowed from friends and family?; iv) Used up all or most of your savings?; v) Increased debt on other lines of credit?" (Financial Stress Domain)
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An average of 12 months after the intervention.
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Samarbeidspartnere og etterforskere
Det er her du vil finne personer og organisasjoner som er involvert i denne studien.
Samarbeidspartnere
Etterforskere
- Hovedetterforsker: Wesley Yin, PhD, University of California, Los Angeles
Studierekorddatoer
Disse datoene sporer fremdriften for innsending av studieposter og sammendragsresultater til ClinicalTrials.gov. Studieposter og rapporterte resultater gjennomgås av National Library of Medicine (NLM) for å sikre at de oppfyller spesifikke kvalitetskontrollstandarder før de legges ut på det offentlige nettstedet.
Studer hoveddatoer
Studiestart (Faktiske)
9. november 2020
Primær fullføring (Faktiske)
31. desember 2021
Studiet fullført (Faktiske)
31. desember 2021
Datoer for studieregistrering
Først innsendt
27. mars 2021
Først innsendt som oppfylte QC-kriteriene
4. april 2021
Først lagt ut (Faktiske)
8. april 2021
Oppdateringer av studieposter
Sist oppdatering lagt ut (Faktiske)
30. april 2026
Siste oppdatering sendt inn som oppfylte QC-kriteriene
28. april 2026
Sist bekreftet
1. april 2026
Mer informasjon
Begreper knyttet til denne studien
Ytterligere relevante MeSH-vilkår
Andre studie-ID-numre
- IRB#20-001700
Plan for individuelle deltakerdata (IPD)
Planlegger du å dele individuelle deltakerdata (IPD)?
JA
IPD-planbeskrivelse
We will make de-identified and restricted data available to the research community through portals such as the publicly accessible Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (hosted by the University of Michigan).
We will preserve the confidentiality of study participants and protect personal health information by stripping the data of personally identifying information and purging it of all personal health information, and any information that is sufficiently fine so that it could identify individuals.
We will follow standard protocols, such as converting specific dates to relative dates or date intervals, and aggregating small cells.
This will allow us to maximize the data available to researchers while strictly preserving confidentiality and privacy.
IPD-delingstidsramme
De-identified and confidential IPD will be made available by the on-line publication date of published research.
Tilgangskriterier for IPD-deling
Access will be limited to researchers for non-commercial uses.
Users will also need to certify that no attempt will be made to re-identify participants from the de-identified data.
IPD-deling Støtteinformasjonstype
- SEVJE
- ICF
- ANALYTIC_CODE
Legemiddel- og utstyrsinformasjon, studiedokumenter
Studerer et amerikansk FDA-regulert medikamentprodukt
Nei
Studerer et amerikansk FDA-regulert enhetsprodukt
Nei
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