The population of patients with congenital heart disease is projected to increase after the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and planning for the substantial impact this will have on the health care system must begin now, according to a paper published Feb. 13 in JACC.  

Ashwin Palaniappan, BA, et al., estimated the resources needed for one year of health care for the projected additional babies born with congenital heart disease using the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project database from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

The authors estimate an additional 539 cardiac surgeries in the first year after the Roe v. Wade reversal, based on modeling of the predicted birth rate along with data on the usual incidence of congenital heart disease and the need for at least one cardiac surgery in the first year of life. Furthermore, they predict over 10 years there will be an additional 7,243 cardiac surgeries for these patients, at a projected additional inpatient cost of $820 million.

Workforce and space constraints are a concern to handle this increase, with fewer than 300 pediatric cardiac surgeons now operating in the U.S. and a chronic shortage of pediatric intensive care beds. Planning for training additional physicians and space to accommodate this increased volume is needed. Otherwise, they write, “the effects of overturning Roe v. Wade will extend beyond the new babies with congenital cardiac defects to other children who are unable to receive timely intervention.”

Noting that their estimates represent the lower bounds for inpatient costs and that surgical costs represent only a fraction of total direct health care costs, and only a fraction of the children who will need additional health care resources, they conclude that analyzing the full scope of the impact on the health care system is necessary to be “better prepared to care for our patients and be better equipped to advocate on their behalf in the future.”

Clinical Topics: Congenital Heart Disease and Pediatric Cardiology, Congenital Heart Disease

Keywords: Workforce, Surgeons, Heart Defects, Congenital, Incidence, Inpatients, Infant, Child

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