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Medical home effects on enrollees with mental and physical illness
Beadles, C. A. (2020). Medical home effects on enrollees with mental and physical illness. American Journal of Managed Care, 26(5), 218-223. https://doi.org/10.37765/ajmc.2020.43153
OBJECTIVES: To assess the effect of medical home enrollment on acute care use and healthcare spending among Medicaid beneficiaries with mental and physical illness.
STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective cohort analysis of administrative data.
METHODS: We used 2007-2010 Medicaid claims and state psychiatric hospital data from a sample of 83,819 individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia or depression and at least 1 comorbid physical condition. We performed fixed-effects regression analysis at the person-month level to examine the effect of medical home enrollment on the probabilities of emergency department (ED) use, inpatient admission, and outpatient care use and on amount of Medicaid spending.
RESULTS: Medical home enrollment had no effect on ED use in either cohort and was associated with a lower probability of inpatient admission in the depression cohort (P
CONCLUSIONS: Among Medicaid beneficiaries with comorbid mental and physical illness, medical home enrollment appears to increase outpatient healthcare use and has mixed effects on acute care use. For individuals in this population who previously had no engagement with the healthcare system, use of the medical home model may represent an investment in providing improved access to needed outpatient services with cost savings potential for beneficiaries with depression.
