Evaluating Readmission Rates for a Statewide In-Home Ecosystemic Family-Based Treatment Program for Youth with...

Family Based Mental Health Services (FBMHS) with an embedded clinical model, Ecosystemic Structural Family Therapy, is an intervention designed for youth with a serious emotional disturbance (SED) who are at risk of out-of-home placement. The current evaluation examines the association between receipt of FBMHS and rates of out-of-home and community-based care during and after an episode of FBMHS. We identified 25,016 Medicaid-enrolled youth ages 3 to 17 years with receipt of a new FBMHS episode from 1/1/2015 to 6/30/2021. 14% of youth received out-of-home services. Rates of out-of-home service decreased during receipt of FBMHS (14.25-6.98%, p < .0001) and remained lower 6 months following discharge (to 6.95%, p < .0001). Short and longer doses of service were both associated with decreased rates of out-of-home services. FBMHS has been scaled across a large geographic area and is associated with lower rates of out-of-home placement for youth with SED.