Quality of Diabetes Care Among Adult Medicaid Enrollees With Mental Disorders

In light of the national trend toward integrating mental and general medical care, this study examined disparities in diabetes treatment among Medicaid recipients in a nonintegrated, managed care behavioral health carve-out system.

A retrospective study of Medicaid claims (July 2009-June 2010) compared quality of diabetes treatment among 21,015 patients with and without mental disorders.

Presence of a mental disorder was associated with higher use of outpatient and primary care services for diabetes, lower rates of hospitalizations for diabetes, and higher odds of receiving three or more quality measures for diabetes care. Patients with serious mental illness had better diabetes care compared with patients with other mental disorders and patients with no mental disorders.

Findings suggest that managed care behavioral health carve-out systems should be considered among the range of approaches for improving treatment for diabetes among persons with comorbid mental disorders, particularly serious mental disorders.