Medicaid Enrollees (medicaid + enrollee)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Do Commercial Managed Care Members Rate Their Health Plans Differently than Medicaid Managed Care Members?

HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH, Issue 4 2003
Patrick J. Roohan
Objective. To determine if members of commercial managed care and Medicaid managed care rate the experience with their health plans differently. Data Sources. Data from both commercial and Medicaid Consumer Assessment of Health Plan Surveys (CAHPS) in New York State. Study Design. Regression models were used to determine the effect of population (commercial or Medicaid) on a member's rating of their health plan, controlling for health status, age, gender, education, race/ethnicity, number of office visits, and place of residence. Data Collection. Managed care plans are required to submit to the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) results of the annual commercial CAHPS survey. The NYSDOH conducted a survey of Medicaid enrollees using Medicaid CAHPS. Principal Findings. Medicaid managed care members in excellent or very good health rate their health plan higher than commercial members in excellent or very good health. There is no difference in health plan rating for commercial and Medicaid members in good, fair, or poor health. Older, less educated, black, and Hispanic members who live outside New York City are more likely to rate their managed care plan higher. Conclusions. Medicaid members rating of their health care equals or exceeds ratings by commercial members. [source]


Four-Year Cost-Utility Analyses of Sealed and Nonsealed First Permanent Molars in Iowa Medicaid-Enrolled Children

JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH DENTISTRY, Issue 4 2007
Patita Bhuridej DDS
Abstract Objectives: Dental sealants, by their ability to prevent caries and maintain teeth in better health, have some inherent utility to individuals, programs, or society. This study assessed the 4-year incremental cost utility of sealing first permanent molars of 6-year-old Iowa Medicaid enrollees from a societal perspective and identified the group of teeth or children in whom sealants are most cost effective. Methods: Dental services for first permanent molars were assessed using claims and encounter data for a group of continuously enrolled Medicaid enrollees who turned 6 between 1996 and 1999. Previously published utilities were used to weight the different health states. The weighted sum of outcomes [Quality-Adjusted Tooth-Years (QATYs)] was the measure of effectiveness. Costs and QATYs were discounted to the time of the child's sixth birthday. Results: For all first molars, the cost of treatment associated with sealed teeth was higher but the utility was also slightly higher over the 4-year period. The relative incremental cost per 0.19 QATY ratio [changing the health state from a restored tooth (utility=0.81) to a nonrestored tooth (utility =1)] by sealing the molar ranged from $36.7 to $83.5 per 0.19 QATY. The incremental cost/QATY ratio was lower for sealing lower utilizers and for mandibular versus maxillary molars. Conclusions: Sealants improved overall utility of first permanent molars after 4 years. The 4-year cost/QATY ratio of sealing the first permanent molar varied by arch and type of utilizers. Sealing first permanent molars in lower dental utilizers is the most cost-effective approach for prioritizing limited resources. [source]


A computer case definition for sudden cardiac death,

PHARMACOEPIDEMIOLOGY AND DRUG SAFETY, Issue 6 2010
Cecilia P. Chung M.D.
Abstract Purpose To facilitate studies of medications and sudden cardiac death, we developed and validated a computer case definition for these deaths. The study of community dwelling Tennessee Medicaid enrollees 30,74 years of age utilized a linked database with Medicaid inpatient/outpatient files, state death certificate files, and a state ,all-payers' hospital discharge file. Methods The computerized case definition was developed from a retrospective cohort study of sudden cardiac deaths occurring between 1990 and 1993. Medical records for 926 potential cases had been adjudicated for this study to determine if they met the clinical definition for sudden cardiac death occurring in the community and were likely to be due to ventricular tachyarrhythmias. The computerized case definition included deaths with (1) no evidence of a terminal hospital admission/nursing home stay in any of the data sources; (2) an underlying cause of death code consistent with sudden cardiac death; and (3) no terminal procedures inconsistent with unresuscitated cardiac arrest. This definition was validated in an independent sample of 174 adjudicated deaths occurring between 1994 and 2005. Results The positive predictive value of the computer case definition was 86.0% in the development sample and 86.8% in the validation sample. The positive predictive value did not vary materially for deaths coded according to the ICO-9 (1994,1998, positive predictive value,=,85.1%) or ICD-10 (1999,2005, 87.4%) systems. Conclusion A computerized Medicaid database, linked with death certificate files and a state hospital discharge database, can be used for a computer case definition of sudden cardiac death. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Rural-Urban Differences in Health Risks, Resource Use and Expenditures Within Three State Medicaid Programs: Implications for Medicaid Managed Care

THE JOURNAL OF RURAL HEALTH, Issue 1 2002
Janet M. Bronstein Ph.D.
This study uses Medicaid claims data for income-eligible enrollees in California, Georgia and Mississippi to compare expenditures, resource usage and health risks between residents of rural and urban areas of the states. Resource use is measured using the Resource Based Relative Value Scale (RBRVS) system for professional services, hospital days and outpatient facility visits; it also is valued at private insurance reimbursement rates for the states. Health risks are measured using the diagnosis-based Adjusted Clinical Group system. Resource use is compared on a risk-adjusted basis with the use of urban Medicaid enrollees as the benchmark. We find that actual expenditures for rural care users are lower than for urban care users. However, because the proportion of Medicaid enrollees who use care is higher in rural than in urban areas in all three states, expenditures per rural enrollee are not consistently lower. Case mix is more resource intensive for rural compared to urban residents in all three states. Although resource usage is not systematically lower owerall for rural enrollees, on a risk-adjusted basis they tend to use less hospital resources than urban enrollees. Capitation rates based on historical per enrollee expenditures would not appear to under-reimburse managed care organizations for the care of rural as opposed to urban residents in the study states. [source]


Distances to Emergency Department and to Primary Care Provider's Office Affect Emergency Department Use in Children

ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE, Issue 5 2009
Annameika Ludwick MD
Abstract Objectives:, Patients of all ages use emergency departments (EDs) for primary care. Several studies have evaluated patient and system characteristics that influence pediatric ED use. However, the issue of proximity as a predictor of ED use has not been well studied. The authors sought to determine whether ED use by pediatric Medicaid enrollees was associated with the distance to their primary care providers (PCPs), distance to the nearest ED, and distance to the nearest children's hospital. Methods:, This historical cohort study included 26,038 children age 18 and under, assigned to 332 primary care practices affiliated with a Medicaid health maintenance organization (HMO). Predictor variables were distance from the child's home to his or her PCP site, distance from home to the nearest ED, and distance from home to the nearest children's hospital. The outcome variable was each child's ED use. A negative binomial model was used to determine the association between distance variables and ED use, adjusted for age, sex, and race, plus medical and primary care site characteristics previously found to influence ED use. Distance variables were divided into quartiles to test for nonlinear associations. Results:, On average, children made 0.31 ED visits/person/year. In the multivariable model, children living greater than 1.19 miles from the nearest ED had 11% lower ED use than those living within 0.5 miles of the nearest ED (risk ratio [RR] = 0.89, 95% CI = 0.81 to 0.99). Children living between 1.54 and 3.13 miles from their PCPs had 13% greater ED use (RR = 1.13, 95% CI = 1.03 to 1.24) than those who lived within 0.7 miles of their PCP. Conclusions:, Geographical variables play a significant role in ED utilization in children, confirming the importance of system-level determinants of ED use and creating the opportunity for interventions to reduce geographical barriers to primary care. [source]