Continuity of Care and Mental Health Service Use Among Medicaid-enrolled Youths

Recent reports of increased national estimates of pediatric psychiatric emergency department (ED) visits and psychiatric hospitalizations emphasize the need to research these utilization patterns.

To assess the patient-provider continuity of care (CoC) and compare the risk of psychiatric ED visits or hospitalization according to the CoC level.

A cohort design was applied to Medicaid administrative claims data (2007-2014) for 3-16-year olds with a first psychiatric diagnosis between 2009 and 2013 (n=38,825).

Continuously enrolled youths with (1) ≥1 outpatient psychiatric visits and (2) ≥4 pediatric outpatient visits in the prior 24 months.

The authors assessed CoC in the 24 months before the first psychiatric outpatient visit and quantified CoC using the Alpha Index. The authors assessed patient-provider CoC before first psychiatric diagnosis and the odds of psychiatric ED visits or psychiatric hospitalizations in the year after diagnosis.

Of the 38,825 youths, 88.9% received a first psychiatric diagnosis by age 14. The odds of ED visits were significantly higher among youths with low CoC [6.63%, adjusted odds ratio (AOR), 1.27; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.13-1.41] or moderate CoC (5.76%; AOR, 1.14; 95% CI, 1.02-1.27) compared with those with high CoC (4.96%). Greater odds of psychiatric hospitalization related to low (7.53%; AOR, 1.17; 95% CI, 1.06-1.29) or moderate CoC (7.01%; AOR, 1.15; 95% CI, 1.03-1.27) compared with high CoC (6.06%).

The odds of potentially disruptive clinical management and costly psychiatric ED visits or hospitalizations were lower for youths with high CoC. The findings support the need to research the impact of CoC on long-term pediatric mental health service use.