title: A comparison of ambulatory care-sensitive hospital discharge rates for Medicaid HMO enrollees and nonenrollees.
abstract: With an increasing volume of Medicaid recipient enrollees in managed care, many states are developing tools for monitoring service quality and access of Medicaid recipients. This article explores the use of ambulatory care-sensitive (ACS) hospital discharge rates as a simple, practical indicator tool for monitoring the access of Medicaid health maintenance organization (HMO) enrollees through an empirical application in Massachusetts in 1995. Although unadjusted hospital discharge rates were lower, Medicaid HMO enrollees had higher age-gender-race adjusted total and ACS hospital discharge rates than Medicaid recipients enrolled in a primary care case management program under fee-for-service reimbursement. Higher HMO discharge rates for the specific ACS conditions of asthma and dehydration were suggestive of potential HMO access problems.
authors.affiliation: University of Massachusetts, Boston, USA.
authors.forename: F W
authors.initials: FW
authors.lastname: Porell
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000553:Ambulatory Care / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004608:Eligibility Determination; D018588:Fee-for-Service Plans / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006279:Health Maintenance Organizations / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008404:Massachusetts; D008484:Medicaid / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008875:Middle Aged; D010351:Patient Discharge / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care; D013221:State Health Plans / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States; D014600:Utilization Review