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Health and Health Care Utilization Effects of Medical Debt Forgiveness

28 de abril de 2026 atualizado por: 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.

Visão geral do estudo

Status

Concluído

Condições

Intervenção / Tratamento

Descrição detalhada

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.

Tipo de estudo

Observacional

Inscrição (Real)

15008

Contactos e Locais

Esta seção fornece os detalhes de contato para aqueles que conduzem o estudo e informações sobre onde este estudo está sendo realizado.

Locais de estudo

  • Estados Unidos
    • California
      • Los Angeles, California, Estados Unidos, 90095
        • Wesley Yin

Critérios de participação

Os pesquisadores procuram pessoas que se encaixem em uma determinada descrição, chamada de critérios de elegibilidade. Alguns exemplos desses critérios são a condição geral de saúde de uma pessoa ou tratamentos anteriores.

Critérios de elegibilidade

Idades elegíveis para estudo

18 anos e mais velhos (Adulto, Adulto mais velho)

Aceita Voluntários Saudáveis

Sim

Método de amostragem

Amostra de Probabilidade

População do estudo

The study population is a probability sample drawn from population of individuals who owe medical debt held by FFAM, a debt collection agency.

Descrição

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

Plano de estudo

Esta seção fornece detalhes do plano de estudo, incluindo como o estudo é projetado e o que o estudo está medindo.

Como o estudo é projetado?

Detalhes do projeto

Coortes e Intervenções

Grupo / Coorte
Intervenção / Tratamento
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.
Outro: Medical debt forgiveness
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.

O que o estudo está medindo?

Medidas de resultados primários

Medida de resultado
Descrição da medida
Prazo
8-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-8) Depression Scale
Prazo: 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.
An average of 12 months after the intervention.

Medidas de resultados secundários

Medida de resultado
Descrição da medida
Prazo
Received Needed Health Care
Prazo: An average of 12 months after the intervention.
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)
An average of 12 months after the intervention.
Received Needed Rx
Prazo: 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)
An average of 12 months after the intervention.
7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD7) Scale
Prazo: 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.
Stress
Prazo: 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)
An average of 12 months after the intervention.
General Health
Prazo: An average of 12 months after the intervention.
Response to: "In general, would you say your health is: Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair, or Poor?" (General Health Domain)
An average of 12 months after the intervention.
Happiness
Prazo: An average of 12 months after the intervention.
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)
An average of 12 months after the intervention.
Problems paying other bills
Prazo: An average of 12 months after the intervention.
Response to: "Besides medical bills, have you had problems paying other types of bills in the past 12 months?" (Financial Stress Domain)
An average of 12 months after the intervention.
Changes in spending due to medical debt
Prazo: An average of 12 months after the intervention.
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)
An average of 12 months after the intervention.
Changes in borrowing due to medical debt
Prazo: An average of 12 months after the intervention.
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)
An average of 12 months after the intervention.

Colaboradores e Investigadores

É aqui que você encontrará pessoas e organizações envolvidas com este estudo.

Patrocinador

University of California, Los Angeles

Colaboradores

National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Stanford University
Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab
National Opinion Research Center

Investigadores

  • Investigador principal: Wesley Yin, PhD, University of California, Los Angeles

Datas de registro do estudo

Essas datas acompanham o progresso do registro do estudo e os envios de resumo dos resultados para ClinicalTrials.gov. Os registros do estudo e os resultados relatados são revisados ​​pela National Library of Medicine (NLM) para garantir que atendam aos padrões específicos de controle de qualidade antes de serem publicados no site público.

Datas Principais do Estudo

Início do estudo (Real)

9 de novembro de 2020

Conclusão Primária (Real)

31 de dezembro de 2021

Conclusão do estudo (Real)

31 de dezembro de 2021

Datas de inscrição no estudo

Enviado pela primeira vez

27 de março de 2021

Enviado pela primeira vez que atendeu aos critérios de CQ

4 de abril de 2021

Primeira postagem (Real)

8 de abril de 2021

Atualizações de registro de estudo

Última Atualização Postada (Real)

30 de abril de 2026

Última atualização enviada que atendeu aos critérios de controle de qualidade

28 de abril de 2026

Última verificação

1 de abril de 2026

Mais Informações

Termos relacionados a este estudo

Palavras-chave

Termos MeSH relevantes adicionais

Outros números de identificação do estudo

  • IRB#20-001700

Plano para dados de participantes individuais (IPD)

Planeja compartilhar dados de participantes individuais (IPD)?

SIM

Descrição do plano IPD

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.

Prazo de Compartilhamento de IPD

De-identified and confidential IPD will be made available by the on-line publication date of published research.

Critérios de acesso de compartilhamento IPD

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.

Tipo de informação de suporte de compartilhamento de IPD

  • SEIVA
  • CIF
  • ANALYTIC_CODE

Informações sobre medicamentos e dispositivos, documentos de estudo

Estuda um medicamento regulamentado pela FDA dos EUA

Não

Estuda um produto de dispositivo regulamentado pela FDA dos EUA

Não

Essas informações foram obtidas diretamente do site clinicaltrials.gov sem nenhuma alteração. Se você tiver alguma solicitação para alterar, remover ou atualizar os detalhes do seu estudo, entre em contato com register@clinicaltrials.gov. Assim que uma alteração for implementada em clinicaltrials.gov, ela também será atualizada automaticamente em nosso site .

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