Children's mental health services in fee-for-service Medicaid.
This study analyzed annual service use and payment data for children in racial/ ethnic subgroups in Medicaid Programs of four States, and compared service use of youth treated with mental health or substance abuse (MH/SA) conditions to youth without such conditions. In addition to geographic variation in rates (6.2 to 10.7 percent used MH/SA related care), results showed children who used MH/SA services to be disproportionately older, male, and white when compared with all Medicaid children. Examination of costs per claimant found costs for the MH/SA population of children to be three to six times greater than a comparison sample.
Larson
Mary Jo
MJ
New England Research Institutes, Watertown, MA 02472, USA. mjlarson@neri.org
Miller
Kay
K
Sharma
Shyamal
S
Manderscheid
Ronald
R
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002662:Child Health Services / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D018588:Fee-for-Service Plans / Q000191:economics*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008484:Medicaid / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013221:State Health Plans / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States; D014600:Utilization Review