Findings on Medical Research Reported by P.J. Bodurtha et al (Identification of Cross-sector Service Utilization Patterns Among Urban Medicaid Expansion Enrollees)

2019 MAY 16 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Health Policy and Law Daily -- Data detailed on Health and Medicine - Medical Research have been presented. According to news reporting originating from Minneapolis, United States, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “The expansion of Medicaid as part of the Affordable Care Act opened new opportunities to provide health coverage to low-income adults who may be involved in other public sectors. The main objective of this study was to describe cross-sector utilization patterns among urban Medicaid expansion enrollees.”

Funders for this research include Rethinking Care Program: Innovations in Complex Care grant from the Kaiser Permanente Foundation, Center for Health Care Strategies.

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research, “We merged data from 4 public sectors (health care, human services, housing, and criminal justice) for 98,282 Medicaid expansion enrollees in Hennepin County, MN. We fit a latent class model to indicators of cross-sector involvement. Indicator variables described involvement levels within each sector from March 2011 through December 2014. Demographic and chronic condition indicators were included post hoc to characterize classes. We found 6 archetypes of cross-sector involvement: The ‘ Low Contact’ class (33.9%) had little involvement in any public sector; ‘ Primary Care’ (26.3%) had moderate, stable health care utilization; ‘ Health and Human Services’ (15.3%) had high rates of health care and cash assistance utilization; ‘Minimal Criminal History’ (11.0%) had less serious criminal justice involvement; ‘Cross-sector’ (7.8%) had elevated emergency department use, involvement in all 4 sectors, and the highest prevalence of behavioral health conditions; ‘ Extensive Criminal History’ (5.7%) had serious criminal justice involvement. The 3 most expensive classes (Health and Human Services, Cross-sector, and Extensive Criminal History) had the highest rates of behavioral health conditions. Together, they comprised 29% of enrollees and 70% of total public costs. Medicaid expansion enrollees with behavioral health conditions deserve focus due to the high cost-reduction potential across public sectors.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Cross-sector collaboration is a plausible path to reduce costs and improve outcomes.”

For more information on this research see: Identification of Cross-sector Service Utilization Patterns Among Urban Medicaid Expansion Enrollees. Medical Care, 2019;57(2):123-130. Medical Care can be contacted at: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Two Commerce Sq, 2001 Market St, Philadelphia, PA 19103, USA. (Lippincott Williams and Wilkins - www.lww.com; Medical Care - http://journals.lww.com/lww-medicalcare/pages/default.aspx)

The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting P.J. Bodurtha, Hennepin Cty, Minneapolis, MN 55418, United States. Additional authors for this research include R. Owen, R. Van Siclen, E. Erickson, C. Hougham, M. Legler, L. Jennings, T. Winkelman, K.D. Vickery and N. Shippee.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1097/MLR.0000000000001024. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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