University of Massachusetts Amherst Researchers Provide New Study Findings on Schizophrenia (Transitions in health insurance among continuously insured patients with schizophrenia): Mental Health Diseases and Conditions – Schizophrenia

2024 MAR 20 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- A new study on schizophrenia is now available. According to news originating from the University of Massachusetts Amherst by NewsRx editors, the research stated, “Changes in health insurance coverage may disrupt access to and continuity of care, even for those who remain insured. Continuity of care is especially important in schizophrenia, which requires ongoing medical and pharmaceutical treatment.”

Funders for this research include U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | Nih | National Institute of Mental Health.

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from University of Massachusetts Amherst: “However, little is known about continuity of insurance coverage among those with schizophrenia. The objective was to examine the probability of insurance transitions for individuals with schizophrenia who were continuously insured and whether this varied across insurance types. The Massachusetts All-Payer Claims Database identified individuals with schizophrenia aged 18-64 who were continuously insured during a two-year period between 2014 and 2018. A logistic regression estimated the association of having an insurance transition - defined as having a change in insurance type - with insurance type at the start of the period, adjusting for age, sex, ZIP code in the lowest quartile of median income, and ZIP code with concentrated poverty. Overall, 15.1% had at least one insurance transition across a 24-month period. Insurance transitions were most frequent among those with plans from the Marketplace. In regression adjusted results, individuals covered by the traditional Medicaid program were 20.2 percentage points [pp] (95% confidence interval [CI]: 24.6 pp, 15.9 pp) less likely to have an insurance transition than those who were insured by a Marketplace plan.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Insurance transitions among individuals with schizophrenia were common, with more than one in six people having at least one transition in insurance type during a two-year period. Given that even continuously insured individuals with schizophrenia commonly experience insurance transitions, attention to insurance transitions as a barrier to care access and continuity is warranted.”

For more information on this research see: Transitions in health insurance among continuously insured patients with schizophrenia. Schizophrenia, 2024,10(1):1-8. The publisher for Schizophrenia is Nature Portfolio.

A free version of this journal article is available at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41537-024-00446-4.

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Brittany L. Ranchoff, School of Public Health and Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst. Additional authors for this research include Chanup Jeung, John E. Zeber, Gregory E. Simon, Keith M. Ericson, Jing Qian, Kimberley H. Geissler.

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