Document Type
Article
Publication Date
6-12-2020
Identifier
DOI: 10.1186/s12913-020-05409-w; PMCID: PMC7291721
Abstract
BACKGROUND: In the United States (US), Medicaid capitated managed care costs are controlled by optimizing patients' healthcare utilization. Adults in capitated plans utilize primary care providers (PCP) more than emergency departments (ED), compared to fee-for-service (FFS). Pediatric data are lacking. We aim to determine the association between US capitated and FFS Medicaid payment models and children's outpatient utilization.
METHODS: This retrospective cohort compared outpatient utilization between two payment models of US Medicaid enrollees aged 1-18 years using Truven's 2014 Marketscan Medicaid database. Children enrolled > 11 months were included, and were excluded for eligibility due to disability/complex chronic condition, lack of outpatient utilization, or provider capitation penetration rate < 5% or > 95%. Negative binomial and logistic regression assessed relationships between payment model and number of visits or odds of utilization, respectively.
RESULTS: Of 711,008 children, 66,980(9.4%) had FFS and 644,028(90.6%) had capitated plans. Children in capitated plans had greater odds of visits to urgent care, PCP-acute, and PCP-well-child care (aOR 1.21[95%CI 1.15-1.26]; aOR 2.07[95%CI 2.03-2.13]; aOR 1.86 [95%CI 1.82-1.91], respectively), and had lower odds of visits to EDs and specialty care (aOR 0.82 [95%CI 0.8-0.83]; aOR 0.61 [95%CI 0.59-0.62], respectively), compared to FFS.
CONCLUSIONS: The majority of children in this US Medicaid population had capitated plans associated with higher utilization of acute care, but increased proportion of lower-cost sites, such as PCP-acute visits and UC. Health insurance programs that encourage capitated payment models and care through the PCP may improve access to timely acute care in lower-cost settings for children with non-complex chronic conditions.
Journal Title
BMC health services research [electronic resource]
Volume
20
Issue
1
First Page
532
Last Page
532
Keywords
Accountable care organizations; Acute/subacute care; Ambulatory care; Capitation/payment methods; Emergency care; Managed care administration; Medicare/Medicaid; Urgent care
Recommended Citation
Canares TL, Friedman A, Rodean J, et al. Pediatric outpatient utilization by differing Medicaid payment models in the United States. BMC Health Serv Res. 2020;20(1):532. Published 2020 Jun 12. doi:10.1186/s12913-020-05409-w
Comments
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Publisher's Link: https://bmchealthservres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12913-020-05409-w