title: Managed behavioral health care: a Medicaid carve-out for youth.
abstract: This DataWatch assesses the impact of a public sector-managed Medicaid mental health carve-out pilot for North Carolina youth. Access to, volume of, and costs of mental health/substance abuse services are reported. We compared a pilot managed care program, with an incentive to shift hospital use and costs to community-based services, with usual fee-for-service Medicaid. Aggregate data from Medicaid claims for youth (from birth to age seventeen) statewide are reported for five years. We found dramatic reductions in use of inpatient care, with a shift to intensive outpatient services, and less growth in mental health costs. These findings demonstrate that public sector-managed care can be viable and more efficient than a fee-for-service model.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, USA.
authors.forename: B J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Burns
authors.forename: S E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Teagle
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schwartz
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Angold
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Holtzman
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D016497:Adolescent Health Services / Q000191:economics*; D001521:Behavior Therapy / Q000191:economics*; D003156:Community Mental Health Services / Q000191:economics; D003361:Cost Allocation; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008329:Managed Care Programs / Q000191:economics*; D008484:Medicaid / Q000191:economics*; D009657:North Carolina; D010865:Pilot Projects; D014481:United States