Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, Emory / 31.07.2017
Disruptions In Medicaid Coverage For Depression Linked To Increased ER Visits
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Xu Ji PhD Candidate
Emory University
Department of Health Policy and Management
Rollins School of Public Health
Emory University
Atlanta, GA
What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Gaps in Medicaid coverage (sometimes called “churning”) can disrupt ongoing outpatient care needed to manage chronic conditions, such as depression, and trigger use of emergency care. This study examined how disruptions in Medicaid coverage impacted acute care use—specifically emergency department visits and hospital stays—in nearly 140,000 adults treated for major depression.
We found that those with disruptions in Medicaid coverage were more likely to have emergency department visits and longer hospital stays when they went back on Medicaid compared to those with continuous coverage.
We also found that disruptions in Medicaid coverage occurred less frequently for Medicaid enrollees with depression in states requiring only yearly recertification (i.e., more streamlined re-enrollment procedures) than those in states that required recertification every six months or more frequently (i.e., more stringent procedures). Eligibility recertification usually requires enrollees to visit the social welfare office to provide income or other documentation to prove eligibility. Failure to complete the recertification process would drop enrollees out of Medicaid.
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