Recorded presentation

William Bartosch, PhD¹, Jeremy Bray, PhD¹, Keith Davis, MA¹, Linda Graver², Don Schroeder, PhD², Kay Miller², Jeffrey Buck, PhD³, and Rita Vandivort, MSW⁴. (1) Behavioral Health Economics Program, RTI International, 411 Waverley Oaks Road, Suite 330, Waltham, MA 02452, 781-788-8100, bbartosch@rti.org, (2) The MEDSTAT Group, 5425 Hollister Avenue, Suite 140, Santa Barbara, CA 93117, (3) CMHS, SAMHSA, 5600 Fishers Lane, room 15-87, Rockville, MD 20857, (4) CSAT, SAMHSA, 5515 Security Lane, Rockwall II Bldg, Suite 740, Room 7-198, Rockville, MD 20857

Publicly funded behavioral health care is provided by a diversity of general physical, mental health (MH), and substance abuse (SA) professionals, many supported through multiple organizations including Medicaid and State MH/SA Agencies. Differences in how these agencies are financed, organized, and staffed may lead to variations in the types of providers that each relies on to deliver services. Such variations may in turn have implications on the extent to which continuity of care exists between Medicaid and State Agencies in the provision of public MH/SA services. We use SAMHSA’s Integrated Database (IDB), a multi-year file for three states combining Medicaid and State Agency administrative data, to describe the types of providers used to deliver MH/SA services in both Medicaid and State Agencies. Providers are described along a variety of dimensions, including modality and primary focus (MH, SA, or both). Preliminary results suggest that there are some differences between Medicaid and State Agencies in their overall mix of provider types, which may raise concerns about the extent to which continuity of care exists between the two payment sources. However, continuity of care between Medicaid and State Agencies cannot be adequately assessed without a more detailed analysis of the extent to which MH/SA clients retain not only the same type of provider, but also the same individual practitioner after moving from one payment source to another. Such an analysis requires that providers be linked between the two data sources. Current efforts to make this linking are also described.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to

• Assess the extent to which Medicaid and State Agencies vary in the types of providers used to deliver MH/SA services.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

Recorded presentation