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Given the documented treatment gap for patients with cardiovascular disease, there are numerous opportunities for pharmacists to become more extensively involved in the delivery of care to these high-risk patients.In published trials, pharmacists have demonstrated improved surrogate outcomes for patients with cardiovascular disease by managing hyperlipidemia, hypertension, and secondary prevention medications. A concentrated effort by pharmacists in the inpatient setting, using a combination of direct provider and patient interventions, has been shown to improve adherence to evidence-based guidelines and to help optimize patient care outcomes for acute coronary syndromes. In ambulatory care, there are numerous examples of how pharmacists can help optimize medication regimens for cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular risk factor control. Community pharmacists have been successful in helping treat hyperlipidemia in patients with cardiovascular disease. While these studies have demonstrated that pharmacy-based interventions improve surrogate outcomes, there are limited well designed, randomized, controlled trials that have demonstrated that pharmacist-managed interventions improve clinical or humanistic outcomes in patients with cardiovascular disease or that such programs are cost effective. .Opportunities for pharmacists exist at each stage of cardiovascular disease management. A needs assessment should be performed to determine the level of risk factor control and appropriate medication utilization within an organization, institution, or practice site. Physician support and collaboration among multidisciplinary teams are essential to the success of the service. Potential funding sources for establishing a service should be researched, and justification for the investment must be made. Limited time and compensation are likely to be the greatest obstacles to pharmacists instituting cardiovascular services. Other key elements include employing well trained, experienced staff, utilizing a medication protocol and patient tracking database, and implementing safety measures. An opportunity exists to conduct rigorous, well designed studies to evaluate the outcomes of pharmacist-led interventions for patients with cardiovascular disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

STUDY OBJECTIVE: Lack of inpatient bed availability has been identified as a major contributor to emergency department (ED) crowding. Our objective is to determine the changes in ED length of stay and ambulance diversion occurring in an urban, academic medical center after an increase in adult ICU beds. METHODS: This was a secondary analysis of 2 years of hospital administrative data, capitalizing on a natural experiment in which the number of adult ICU beds in the study hospital increased from 47 to 67 (total beds 411 to 431). We analyzed changes in ED length of stay for adults admitted to ICU, telemetry beds, and ward beds and adults discharged home. We also analyzed changes in hours per day spent on 3 types of ambulance diversion: complete diversion (all ambulances), critical care diversion (ambulances carrying patients requiring ICU beds), and diversion of ambulances carrying trauma patients. RESULTS: The average hours per day on complete ambulance diversion decreased from 3.8 hours to 1.4 hours (66% decrease). Critical care and trauma diversion showed similar decreases. Average ED length of stay for patients admitted to the ICU decreased by 25 minutes (257 to 232 minutes). Average ED length of stay did not significantly decrease for other admitted patients and increased for discharged patients. CONCLUSION: The most notable change after ICU expansion was a decrease in time spent on ambulance diversion. Increasing ICU beds appears to have shortened ED length of stay for ICU patients but has less effect on other admitted patients and apparently no effect on patients discharged home. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) caused significant disruptions in the delivery of care, with in-person visits decreasing and telehealth use increasing. We investigated the impact of these changes on mental health services for Medicaid-enrolled adults and youth in Washington State. Among enrollees with existing mental health conditions, the first year of the PHE was associated with a surge in specialty outpatient mental health visits (13% higher for adults and 7% higher for youth), returning to pre-PHE levels in the second year. Conversely, youth with new mental health needs experienced a decline in specialty outpatient visit rates by ∼15% and 37% in the first and second years of the PHE, respectively. These findings indicate that while mental health service use was maintained or improved for established patients, these patterns did not extend to Medicaid-enrolled youth with new mental health needs, potentially due to barriers such as difficulty in finding providers and establishing new patient-provider relationships remotely. To bridge this gap, there is a need for a multi-faceted approach that includes improving service accessibility, enhancing provider availability, and optimizing initial care encounters, whether in-person or virtual, to better support new patients., Competing Interests: Please see ICMJE form(s) for author conflicts of interest. These have been provided as supplementary materials. Author McConnell reports support from multiple grants from NIH, Arnold Ventures, Commonwealth Fund, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; contracts with states of Washington and Oregon and an honorarium from the Genesis Research Group. Author Edelstein's time was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health. Author Wolk is supported by NIH grants and reports royalties from a textbook on childhood mental health and consulting fees from Massachusetts General Hospital to support a grant application. She also reports honoraria from Rutgers University Honorarium, Elwyn, Inc, and Behavior Analysis and Therapy Partners, and Participation on an Advisory Board at Penn. Author Lindner's time was supported by grants from NIH and contracts with the states of Oregon and Washington. Author Zhu reports grants from the NIHCM Foundation, AHRQ, NIMH, APA and payment for participation on an Advisory Board (Cambia Medical Policy Physician External Advisory Panel)., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Project HOPE - The People-To-People Health Foundation, Inc.)

Importance: Nineteen states have passed legislation requiring insurers to cover the dispensation of a 12-month supply of short-acting, hormonal contraception., Objective: To determine whether 12-month contraceptive supply policies were associated with an increase in the receipt of 12-month or longer supply of contraception., Design, Setting, and Participants: This retrospective cohort study included data from all female Medicaid enrollees aged 18 to 44 years who used short-acting hormonal contraception (ie, pill, patch, or ring) from 2016 to 2020., Exposures: Eleven treatment states where legislation required insurers to cover a 12-month supply of contraception to continuing users and 25 comparison states without such legislation prior to December 2020., Main Outcomes and Measures: Proportion of contraception months received via a single 12-month or longer fill., Results: This study included 48 255 512 months of dispensed oral pill, patch, and ring contraception prescription supply among 4 778 264 female Medicaid enrollees. The majority of months of supplied contraception were for the contraceptive pill rather than the patch or ring. In a staggered difference-in-differences model, the 12-month supply policy was associated with an estimated 4.39-percentage point (pp) increase (95% CI, 4.38 pp-4.40 pp) in the proportion of contraception dispensed as part of a 12-month or longer supply, from a mean of 0.11% in treatment states during the first quarter of the study period. Investigating the heterogeneity in policy association across states, California stood out with a 7.17-pp increase (95% CI, 7.15 pp-7.19 pp) in the proportion of contraception dispensed as a 12-month or longer supply; in the other 10 treatment states, the policy association was less than 1 pp., Conclusions and Relevance: In this cohort study of Medicaid recipients using short-acting hormonal contraception, the passage of a 12-month contraceptive supply policy was associated with a minimal increase in the proportion of contraception dispensed through a 12-month or longer supply.

Introduction: Despite Medicaid's outsized role in delivering and financing medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD), little is known about the extent to which buprenorphine prescriber networks vary across Medicaid health plans, and whether network characteristics affect quality of treatment received. In this observational cross-sectional study, we used 2018-2019 Medicaid claims in Oregon to assess network variation in the numbers and types of buprenorphine prescribers, as well as the association of prescriber and network characteristics with quality of care., Methods: We describe prescribers (MD/DOs and advanced practice providers) of OUD-approved buprenorphine formulations to patients with an OUD diagnosis, across networks. For each patient who initiated buprenorphine treatment during 2018, we assigned a "usual prescriber" and assessed four measures of quality in the 180d following initiation: 1) continuous receipt of buprenorphine; 2) receipt of any behavioral health counseling services; 3) receipt of any urine drug screen; and 4) receipt of any prescription for a benzodiazepine. We used multivariable linear regressions to examine the association of prescriber and network characteristics with quality of buprenorphine care following initiation., Results: We identified 645 providers who prescribed buprenorphine to 20,739 eligible Medicaid enrollees with an OUD diagnosis. The composition of buprenorphine prescriber networks varied in terms of licensing type, specialty, and panel size, with the majority of prescribers providing buprenorphine to small panels of patients. In the 180 days following initiation, a third of patients were maintained on buprenorphine; 69.9 % received behavioral health counseling; 88.4 % had a urine drug screen; and 11.3 % received a benzodiazepine prescription. In regression analyses, while no single network characteristic was associated with higher quality across all examined measures, each one unit increase in prescriber-to-enrollee ratio was associated with a 1.18 p.p. increase in the probability of continuous buprenorphine maintenance during the 180 days following initiation (95 % confidence interval = [0.21, 2.15], p = 0.017)., Conclusions: Medicaid plans may be able to leverage their networks to provide higher quality care. Our findings, which should be interpreted as descriptive only, suggest that higher prescriber-to-enrollee ratio is associated with increased buprenorphine maintenance. Future research should focus on isolating the causal relationships between MOUD prescribing network design and patient outcomes., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Jane Zhu reports financial support was provided by National Institute of Mental Health. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. Coleman Drake reports financial support from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. No other competing financial interests are declared., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Policymakers advocate care integration models to enhance Medicare and Medicaid service coordination for dually eligible individuals. One rapidly expanding model is the fully integrated dual eligible (FIDE) plan, a sub-type of the dual eligible special needs plan (D-SNP) in which a parent insurer manages Medicare and Medicaid spending for dually eligible individuals. We examined healthcare utilization differences among dually eligible individuals aged 65 years or older enrolled in D-SNPs by plan type (FIDE vs non-FIDE)., Methods: Using 2018 Medicare Advantage encounters and Medicaid claims of FIDE and non-FIDE enrollees in six states (AZ, CA, FL, NY, TN, WI), we compared healthcare utilization between plan types, adjusting for enrollee characteristics and county indicators. We applied propensity score weighting to address differences between FIDE and non-FIDE plan enrollees., Results: In our main analysis, which included all dually eligible individuals in our sample, we observed no significant difference in healthcare utilization between FIDE and non-FIDE plan enrollees. However, we identified some differences in healthcare utilization between FIDE and non-FIDE plan enrollees in subgroup analyses. For example, among home and community-based service (HCBS) users, FIDE plan enrollees had 6.0 fewer hospitalizations per 1000 person-months (95% CI: -7.9, -4.0) and were 7.0 percentage points more likely to be discharged to home (95% CI: 2.6, 11.5) after hospitalization, compared to non-FIDE plan enrollees., Conclusion: While we found no differences in healthcare utilization between FIDE and non-FIDE plan enrollees when considering all dually eligible individuals in our sample, some differences emerged when focusing on subgroups. For example, HCBS users with FIDE plans had fewer hospitalizations and were more likely to be discharged to their home following hospitalization, compared to HCBS users with non-FIDE plans. These findings suggest that FIDE plans may improve care coordination for specific subsets of dually eligible individuals., (© 2024 The American Geriatrics Society.)

Objectives: This study aimed to determine the factors contributing to racial and ethnic disparities in the use of immediate postpartum, long-acting reversible contraception (IPP LARC) and permanent contraception among Medicaid recipients., Study Design: We conducted a cross-sectional study using 3 years of national Medicaid claims data to examine the rates of IPP LARC use alone and a composite measure of postpartum permanent contraception and IPP LARC within 7 days of delivery by race and ethnicity. We used a Blinder-Oaxaca model to quantify the extent to which medical complexity, age, rurality, mode of delivery, and year explained differences in outcomes among different minoritized groups in comparison to non-Hispanic White women., Results: Our study sample contained 1,729,663 deliveries occurring from 2016 through 2018 among 1,605,199 people living in 16 states. IPP LARC use rates were highest among Black (2.2%), followed by American Indian and Alaska Native at 2.1% and Hawaiian/Pacific Islander beneficiaries at 1.9%, Hispanic (all races) at 1.2%, and Asian at 1.0%. IPP LARC was lowest among White beneficiaries (0.8%). Medical complexity, age, rurality, year, and mode of delivery explained only 12.3% of the difference in IPP LARC rates between Black and White beneficiaries. Postpartum permanent contraception was highest among White (7.6%), Hispanic (7.2%), and American Indian and Alaska Native (6.8%), followed by Black (6.3%), Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (5.1%) and lowest among Asian women (4.1%). When we examined the use of IPP LARC or postpartum permanent contraception together, these same factors explained 94.4% of the differences between Black and White beneficiaries., Conclusions: While differences in the use of IPP LARC by race and ethnicity were identified, our findings suggest that overall use of inpatient highly effective contraception are similar across racial and ethnic groups., Implications: When IPP LARC and postpartum permanent contraception are examined jointly, their use is similar across racial and ethnic groups., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: A novel Oregon Medicaid policy guiding back pain management combined opioid restrictions with emphasis on non-opioid and non-pharmacologic therapies., Objective: To examine the effect of the policy on prescribing, health outcomes, and health service utilization., Design: Using Medicaid enrollment, medical and prescription claims, prescription drug monitoring program, and vital statistics files, we analyzed the policy's association with selected outcomes using interrupted time series models., Subjects: Adult Medicaid patients with back pain enrolled between 2014 and 2018., Intervention: The Oregon Medicaid back pain policy., Main Measures: Opioid and non-opioid medication prescribing, procedural care, substance use and mental health conditions, and outpatient and inpatient healthcare utilization., Key Results: The policy was associated with decreases in the percentage of Medicaid enrollees with back pain receiving any opioids (- 2.68 percentage points [95% CI - 3.14, - 2.23] level, - 1.01 pp [95% CI - 1.1, - 0.92] slope), days of short-acting opioid use (- 0.4 days [95% CI - 0.53, - 0.26] slope), receipt of more than 7 days of short-acting opioids (- 2.36 pp [95% CI - 2.76, - 1.95] level, - 0.91 pp [95% CI - 1, - 0.83] slope), chronic opioid use (- 1.27 pp [95% CI - 1.59, - 0.94] level, - 0.46 [95% CI - 0.53, - 0.39 slope), and spinal surgeries and procedures. Among secondary outcomes, we found no increase in opioid overdose and a small, statistically significant trend decrease in opioid use disorders. There were small increases in non-opioid substance use and mental health diagnoses and visits but no increase in self-harm., Conclusions: A state Medicaid policy emphasizing evidence-based back pain management was associated with decreases in opioid prescribing, spinal surgeries, and opioid use disorder trends, but also short-term increases in mental health encounters and an increase in non-opioid substance use disorder trends. Such policies may help reinforce evidence-based care, but must be designed with consideration of potential harms., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Society of General Internal Medicine.)

Importance: Improving access to the choice of postpartum contraceptive methods is a national public health priority, and the need is particularly acute within the Medicaid population. One strategy to ensure individuals have access to the full range of contraceptive methods is the provision of a method prior to hospital discharge following a birth episode. Beginning in 2016, some states changed their Medicaid billing policy, allowing separate reimbursement for intrauterine devices and contraceptive implants to increase the provision of long-acting reversible contraceptive (LARC) methods immediately postpartum (IPP)., Objective: To assess the association of a change in Medicaid billing policy with use of IPP LARC., Design, Setting, and Participants: The cohort study of postpartum Medicaid recipients in 9 treatment and 6 comparison states was conducted from January 2016 to October 2019. Data were analyzed from August 2023 to January 2024., Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcome was use of IPP LARC., Results: The final sample included 1 378 885 delivery encounters for 1 197 287 Medicaid enrollees occurring in 15 states. Mean age of beneficiaries at delivery was 27 years. The IPP LARC billing policy was associated with a mean increase of 0.74 percentage points (95% CI, 0.30-1.18 percentage points) in the immediate receipt of IPP LARC, with a prepolicy baseline rate of 0.54%. The IPP LARC billing policy was also associated with an overall increase of 1.48 percentage points (95% CI, 0.43-2.73 percentage points) in LARC use by 60 days post partum., Conclusions and Relevance: In this cohort study, changing Medicaid billing policy to allow for separate reimbursement of LARC devices from the global fee was associated with increased use of IPP LARC, suggesting that this may be a strategy to improve access to the full range of postpartum contraceptive methods.

Objective: We estimate annual hospital expenditures to achieve high emergency department (ED) pediatric readiness (HPR), that is, weighted Pediatric Readiness Score (wPRS) ≥ 88 (0-100 scale) across EDs with different pediatric volumes of children, overall and after accounting for current levels of readiness., Methods: We calculated the annual hospital costs of HPR based on two components: (1) ED pediatric equipment and supplies and (2) labor costs required for a Pediatric Emergency Care Coordinator (PECC) to perform pediatric readiness tasks. Data sources to generate labor cost estimates included: 2021 national salary information from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, detailed patient and readiness data from 983 EDs in 11 states, the 2021 National Pediatric Readiness Project assessment; a national PECC survey; and a regional PECC survey. Data sources for equipment and supply costs included: purchasing costs from seven healthcare organizations and equipment usage per ED pediatric volume. We excluded costs of day-to-day ED operations (ie, direct clinical care and routine ED supplies)., Results: The total annual hospital costs for HPR ranged from $77,712 (95% CI 54,719-100,694) for low volume EDs to $279,134 (95% CI 196,487-362,179) for very high volume EDs; equipment costs accounted for 0.9-5.0% of expenses. The total annual cost-per-patient ranged from $3/child (95% CI 2-4/child) to $222/child (95% CI 156-288/child). After accounting for current readiness levels, the cost to reach HPR ranged from $23,775 among low volume EDs to $145,521 among high volume EDs, with costs per patient of $4/child to $48/child., Conclusions: Annual hospital costs for HPR are modest, particularly when considered per child., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (© 2024 The Authors. Journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians Open published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American College of Emergency Physicians.)

Home- and community-based services (HCBS) users, on average, experience hospitalizations more frequently than nursing facility residents. However, little is known about state-level variation in such adverse events among these groups. Using 2018 Medicare and Medicaid claims for dual-eligible beneficiaries with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias, we described hospitalization and emergency department (ED) visit rates among HCBS users and nursing facility residents and observed substantial state-level variation. In addition, consistent with prior evidence, we found more frequent hospitalizations and ED visits among HCBS users than nursing facility residents. The magnitude of this difference varied considerably across states, and the degree of variation was greatest among beneficiaries with six or more comorbid conditions. Our findings represent a crucial initial exploration of the state-level variation in adverse events among HCBS users and nursing facility residents, paving the way for further investigations into factors that contribute to this variability., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Importance: For some low-income people, access to care during pregnancy is not guaranteed through Medicaid, based on their immigration status. While states have the option to extend Emergency Medicaid coverage for prenatal and postpartum care, many states have not expanded coverage., Objective: To determine whether receipt of first prenatal care services and subsequently receipt of postpartum care through extensions of Emergency Medicaid coverage were associated with increases in diagnosis and treatment of perinatal mental health conditions., Design, Setting, and Participants: This cohort study used linked Medicaid claims and birth certificate data from 2010 to 2020 with a difference-in-difference design to compare the rollout of first prenatal care coverage in 2013 and then postpartum services in Oregon in 2018 with a comparison state, South Carolina, which did not cover prenatal or postpartum care as part of Emergency Medicaid and only covered emergent conditions and obstetric hospital admissions. Medicaid claims and birth certificate data were linked by Medicaid identification number prior to receipt by the study team. Participants included recipients of Emergency Medicaid who gave birth in Oregon or South Carolina. Data were analyzed from April 1 to October 15, 2023., Exposure: Medicaid coverage of prenatal care and Medicaid coverage of postpartum care., Main Outcomes and Measures: The main outcome was the diagnosis of a perinatal mental health condition within 60 days postpartum. Secondary outcomes included treatment of a mood disorder with medication or talk therapy., Results: The study sample included 43 889 births to Emergency Medicaid recipients who were mainly aged 20 to 34 years (32 895 individuals [75.0%]), multiparous (33 887 individuals [77.2%]), and living in metropolitan areas (32 464 individuals [74.0%]). Following Oregon's policy change to offer prenatal coverage to pregnant individuals through Emergency Medicaid, there was a significant increase in diagnosis frequency (4.1 [95% CI, 1.7-6.5] percentage points) and a significant difference between states in treatment for perinatal mental health conditions (27.3 [95% CI, 13.2-41.4] percentage points). Postpartum Medicaid coverage (in addition to prenatal Medicaid coverage) was associated with an increase of 2.6 (95% CI, 0.6-4.6) percentage points in any mental health condition being diagnosed, but there was no statistically significant difference in receipt of mental health treatment., Conclusions and Relevance: These findings suggest that changing Emergency Medicaid policy to include coverage for prenatal and 60 days of postpartum care for immigrants is foundational to improving maternal mental health. Expanded postpartum coverage length, or culturally competent interventions, may be needed to optimize receipt of postpartum treatment.

Background: Little is known about the timing and frequency of postpartum hospital encounters and postpartum visit attendance and how they may be associated with insurance types. Research on health insurance and its association with postpartum care utilization is often limited to the first 6 weeks., Objective: To assess whether postpartum utilization (hospital encounters within 1 year postpartum and postpartum visit attendance within 12 weeks) differs by insurance type at birth (Medicaid, high deductible health plans, and other commercial plans) and whether rates of hospital encounters differ by postpartum visit attendance and insurance status., Methods: Time-to-event analysis of Oregon hospital births from 2012 to 2017 using All Payer All Claims data. We conducted weighted Cox Proportional Hazard regressions and accounted for differences in insurance type at birth using multinomial propensity scores., Results: Among 202,167 hospital births, 24.9% of births had at least 1 hospital encounter within 1 year postpartum. Births funded by Medicaid had a higher risk of a postpartum emergency department (ED) visit (hazard ratio: 2.05, 95% CI: 1.99, 2.12) and lower postpartum visit attendance (hazard ratio: 0.71, 95% CI: 0.70, 0.72) compared with commercial plans. Among Medicaid beneficiaries, missing the postpartum visit in the first 6 weeks was associated with a lower risk of subsequent readmissions (adjusted hazard ratio 0.77, 95% CI: 0.68, 0.87) and ED visits (adjusted hazard ratio: 0.87 (0.85, 0.88)., Conclusions: Medicaid beneficiaries received more care in the ED within 1 year postpartum compared with those enrolled in other commercial plans. This highlights potential issues in postpartum care access., Competing Interests: M.I.R. reported receiving personal fees from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Bayer, and Merck & Co. outside the submitted work. The Oregon Health & Science University Institutional Review Board manages these potential conflicts of interest. The remaining authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Many states are experiencing a behavioral health workforce crisis, particularly in the public behavioral health system. An understanding of the factors influencing the workforce shortage is critical for informing public policies to improve workforce retention and access to care. The aim of this study was to assess factors contributing to behavioral health workforce turnover and attrition in Oregon. Semistructured qualitative interviews were conducted with 24 behavioral health providers, administrators, and policy experts with knowledge of Oregon's public behavioral health system. Interviews were transcribed and iteratively coded to reach consensus on emerging themes. Five key themes emerged that negatively affected the interviewees' workplace experience and longevity: low wages, documentation burden, poor physical and administrative infrastructure, lack of career development opportunities, and a chronically traumatic work environment. Large caseloads and patients' high symptom acuity contributed to worker stress. At the organizational and system levels, chronic underfunding and poor administrative infrastructure made frontline providers feel undervalued and unfulfilled, pushing them to leave the public behavioral health setting or behavioral health altogether. Behavioral health providers are negatively affected by systemic underinvestment. Policies to improve workforce shortages should target the effects of inadequate financial and workplace support on the daily work environment., Competing Interests: Dr. Howington received contracting fees from the Center for Health Systems Effectiveness for work on this project. Dr. Zhu has received funding from the National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation. The other authors report no financial relationships with commercial interests.

Importance: Many states have moved from models that carve out to those that carve in or integrate behavioral health in their Medicaid managed care organizations (MCOs), but little evidence exists about the effect of this change., Objective: To assess the association of the transition to integrated managed care (IMC) in Washington Medicaid with health services use, quality, health-related outcomes, and measures associated with social determinants of health., Design, Setting, and Participants: This cohort study used difference-in-differences analyses of Washington State's 2014 to 2019 staggered rollout of IMC on claims-based measures for enrollees in Washington's Medicaid MCO. It was supplemented with interviews of 24 behavioral health agency leaders, managed care administrators, and individuals who were participating in the IMC transition. The data were analyzed between February 1, 2023, and September 30, 2023., Main Outcomes and Measures: Claims-based measures of utilization (including specialty mental health visits and primary care visits); health-related outcomes (including self-harm events); rates of arrests, employment, and homelessness; and additional quality measures., Results: This cohort study included 1 454 185 individuals ages 13 to 64 years (743 668 female [51.1%]; 14 306 American Indian and Alaska Native [1.0%], 132 804 Asian American and Pacific Islander [9.1%], 112 442 Black [7.7%], 258 389 Hispanic [17.8%], and 810 304 White [55.7%] individuals). Financial integration was not associated with changes in claims-based measures of utilization and quality. Most claims-based measures of outcomes were also unchanged, although enrollees with mild or moderate mental illness experienced a slight decrease in cardiac events (-0.8%; 95% CI, -1.4 to -0.2), while enrollees with serious mental illness experienced small decreases in employment (-1.2%; 95% CI -1.9 to -0.5) and small increases in arrests (0.5%; 95% CI, 0.1 to 1.0). Interviews with key informants suggested that financial integration was perceived as an administrative change and did not have substantial implications for how practices delivered care; behavioral health agencies lacked guidance on how to integrate care in behavioral health settings and struggled with new contracts and regulatory policies that may have inhibited the ability to provide integrated care., Conclusions and Relevance: The results of this cohort study suggest that financial integration at the MCO level was not associated with significant changes in most measures of utilization, quality, outcomes, and social determinants of health. Additional support, including monitoring, training, and funding, may be necessary to drive delivery system changes to improve access, quality, and outcomes.

Oregon expanded Emergency Medicaid coverage to 60 days of postpartum care in 2018, facilitating ongoing care for conditions such as gestational diabetes. We linked Medicaid claims and birth certificates from 2010 to 2019 in Oregon and South Carolina, which did not expand postpartum care. We used a difference-in-difference design to measure the effects of postpartum care coverage among Emergency Medicaid recipients with gestational diabetes. Primary outcomes were receipt of recommended glucose tolerance testing and new diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes. Our sample included 2,270 live births among a predominantly multiparous, Latina population. Postpartum coverage was associated with a significant increase in receipt of a recommended glucose tolerance test (23.1 percentage points, 95% CI 16.9-29.3) and in diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes (4.6 percentage points, 95% CI 3.3-65.9). Expansion of postpartum coverage increased recommended screenings and care among Emergency Medicaid enrollees with pregnancies complicated by gestational diabetes., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Objective: We used machine learning to identify the highest impact components of emergency department (ED) pediatric readiness for predicting in-hospital survival among children cared for in US trauma centers., Background: ED pediatric readiness is associated with improved short-term and long-term survival among injured children and part of the national verification criteria for US trauma centers. However, the components of ED pediatric readiness most predictive of survival are unknown., Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of injured children below 18 years treated in 458 trauma centers from January 1, 2012, through December 31, 2017, matched to the 2013 National ED Pediatric Readiness Assessment and the American Hospital Association survey. We used machine learning to analyze 265 potential predictors of survival, including 152 ED readiness variables, 29 patient variables, and 84 ED-level and hospital-level variables. The primary outcome was in-hospital survival., Results: There were 274,756 injured children, including 4585 (1.7%) who died. Nine ED pediatric readiness components were associated with the greatest increase in survival: policy for mental health care (+8.8% change in survival), policy for patient assessment (+7.5%), specific respiratory equipment (+7.2%), policy for reduced-dose radiation imaging (+7.0%), physician competency evaluations (+4.9%), recording weight in kilograms (+3.2%), life support courses for nursing (+1.0%-2.5%), and policy on pediatric triage (+2.5%). There was a 268% improvement in survival when the 5 highest impact components were present., Conclusions: ED pediatric readiness components related to specific policies, personnel, and equipment were the strongest predictors of pediatric survival and worked synergistically when combined., Competing Interests: The authors report no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

High emergency department (ED) pediatric readiness is associated with improved survival in children, but the cost is unknown. We evaluated the costs of emergency care for children across quartiles of ED pediatric readiness. This was a retrospective cohort study of children aged 0-17 years receiving emergency services in 747 EDs in 9 states from January 1, 2012, through December 31, 2017. We measured ED pediatric readiness using the weighted Pediatric Readiness Score (range: 0-100). The primary outcome was the total cost of acute care (ED and inpatient) in 2022 dollars, adjusted for ED case mix and hospital characteristics. A total of 15 138 599 children received emergency services, including 27.6% with injuries and 72.4% with acute medical illness. The average adjusted per-patient cost by quartile of ED pediatric readiness ranged from $991 (quartile 1) to $1064 (quartile 4) for injured children and $1104-$1217 for medical children. The resulting cost differences were $72 (95% CI: -$6 to $151) and $113 (95% CI: $20-$206), respectively. Receiving emergency care in high-readiness EDs was not associated with marked increases in the cost of delivering services., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest Please see ICMJE form(s) for author conflicts of interest. These have been provided as supplementary materials., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Project HOPE - The People-To-People Health Foundation, Inc.)

Importance: The opioid crisis disproportionately affects Medicaid enrollees, yet little systematic evidence exists regarding how prevalence of and health care utilization for opioid use disorder (OUD) vary across geographical areas., Objectives: To characterize state- and county-level variation in claims-based prevalence of OUD and rates of medication treatment for OUD and OUD-related nonfatal overdose among Medicaid enrollees., Design, Setting, and Participants: This cross-sectional study used data from the Transformed Medicaid Statistical Information System Analytic Files from January 1, 2016, to December 31, 2018. Participants were Medicaid enrollees with or without OUD in 46 states; Washington, DC; and Puerto Rico who were aged 18 to 64 years and not dually enrolled in Medicare. The analysis was conducted between September 2022 and April 2023., Exposure: Calendar-year OUD prevalence., Main Outcomes and Measures: The main outcomes were claims-based measures of OUD prevalence and rates of medication treatment for OUD and opioid-related nonfatal overdose. Individual records were aggregated at the state and county level, and variation was assessed within and across states., Results: Of the 76 390 817 Medicaid enrollee-year observations included in our study (mean [SD] enrollee age, 36.5 [1.6] years; 59.0% female), 2 280 272 (3.0%) had a claims-based OUD (mean [SD] age, 38.9 [3.6] years; 51.4% female). Of enrollees with OUD, 41.2% were eligible due to Medicaid expansion, 46.4% had other substance use disorders, 55.8% had mental health conditions, 55.2% had claims indicating some form of OUD medication, and 5.8% had claims indicating an overdose during a calendar year. Claims-based outcomes exhibited substantial variation across states: OUD prevalence ranged from 0.6% in Arkansas and Puerto Rico to 9.7% in Maryland, rates of OUD medication treatment ranged from 17.7% in Kansas to 82.8% in Maine, and rates of overdose ranged from 0.3% in Mississippi to 10.5% in Illinois. Pronounced variation was also found within states (eg, OUD prevalence in Maryland ranged from 2.2% in Prince George's County to 21.6% in Cecil County)., Conclusions and Relevance: In this cross-sectional study of Medicaid enrollees from 2016 to 2018, claims-based prevalence of OUD and rates of OUD medication treatment and opioid-related overdose varied substantially across and within states. Further research appears to be needed to identify important factors influencing this variation.

Objective: To evaluate the impacts of a transition to an "integrated managed care" model, wherein Medicaid managed care organizations moved from a "carve-out" model to a "carve-in" model integrating the financing of behavioral and physical health care., Data Sources/study Setting: Medicaid claims data from Washington State, 2014-2019, supplemented with structured interviews with key stakeholders., Study Design: This mixed-methods study used difference-in-differences models to compare changes in two counties that transitioned to financial integration in 2016 to 10 comparison counties maintaining carve-out models, combined with qualitative analyses of 15 key informant interviews. Quantitative outcomes included binary measures of access to outpatient mental health care, primary care, the emergency department (ED), and inpatient care for mental health conditions., Data Collection: Medicaid claims were collected administratively, and interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using a thematic analysis approach., Principal Findings: The transition to financially integrated care was initially disruptive for behavioral health providers and was associated with a temporary decline in access to outpatient mental health services among enrollees with serious mental illness (SMI), but there were no statistically significant or sustained differences after the first year. Enrollees with SMI also experienced a slight increase in access to primary care (1.8%, 95% CI 1.0%-2.6%), but no sustained statistically significant changes in the use of ED or inpatient services for mental health care. The transition to financially integrated care had relatively little impact on primary care providers, with few changes for enrollees with mild, moderate, or no mental illness., Conclusions: Financial integration of behavioral and physical health in Medicaid managed care did not appear to drive clinical transformation and was disruptive to behavioral health providers. States moving towards "carve-in" models may need to incorporate support for practice transformation or financial incentives to achieve the benefits of coordinated mental and physical health care., (© 2023 Health Research and Educational Trust.)

Objectives: To examine the association of Catholic hospitals with receipt of postpartum tubal ligation and long acting, reversible contraception among Medicaid recipients., Study Design: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of live births from January 1, 2016 to October 31, 2016 to female Medicaid beneficiaries in the United States between ages 21 and 44. Our main exposure was the presence of a Catholic-affiliated sole community hospital, and our primary outcome was highly effective postpartum contraception. We examined rates of postpartum permanent contraception, along with the use of a long acting, reversible form of contraception (LARC) at 3 and 60 days are postpartum. We compared counties that had only a Catholic-affiliated hospital with counties with only a non-Catholic hospital., Results: Our study population included 14,545 postpartum Medicaid beneficiaries. Study participants came from 88 counties across 10 United States states. Only 7.7% of women in counties with Catholic sole community hospitals received permanent contraception by 3 days postpartum, compared to 11.3% in counties with non-Catholic sole community hospitals (RD: -3.92%; 95% CI: -6.01%, -1.83%). This difference was not mitigated by receipt of outpatient procedures or long-acting, reversible contraception. Importantly, women residing in counties with Catholic sole community hospitals were much less likely to return postpartum for an outpatient visit between 8 and 60 days postpartum than women in counties with non-Catholic sole community hospitals (35.4% vs 45.4%, RD: -9.29%; 95% CI: -16.71%, -1.86%)., Conclusions: In counties where the only hospital was Catholic, Medicaid recipients giving birth were significantly less likely to receive permanent contraception and to return for postpartum care., Implications: Catholic hospitals are increasing in the United States, which may restrict access to postpartum contraception, particularly in rural areas. We found that Medicaid recipients giving birth at a Catholic sole community hospital were less likely to receive permanent contraception and to return for care., (Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: This study estimates reductions in 10-year atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk associated with EvidenceNOW, a multi-state initiative that sought to improve cardiovascular preventive care in the form of (A)spirin prescribing for high-risk patients, (B)lood pressure control for people with hypertension, (C)holesterol management, and (S)moking screening and cessation counseling (ABCS) among small primary care practices by providing supportive interventions such as practice facilitation., Design: We conducted an analytic modeling study that combined (1) data from 1,278 EvidenceNOW practices collected 2015 to 2017; (2) patient-level information of individuals ages 40 to 79 years who participated in the 2015 to 2016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey ( n = 1,295); and (3) 10-year ASCVD risk prediction equations., Measures: The primary outcome measure was 10-year ASCVD risk., Results: EvidenceNOW practices cared for an estimated 4 million patients ages 40 to 79 who might benefit from ABCS interventions. The average 10-year ASCVD risk of these patients before intervention was 10.11%. Improvements in ABCS due to EvidenceNOW reduced their 10-year ASCVD risk to 10.03% (absolute risk reduction: -0.08, P ≤ .001 ). This risk reduction would prevent 3,169 ASCVD events over 10 years and avoid $150 million in 90-day direct medical costs., Conclusion: Small preventive care improvements and associated reductions in absolute ASCVD risk levels can lead to meaningful life-saving benefits at the population level., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (© Copyright by the American Board of Family Medicine.)

Aligning with Washington State's goal of reducing unnecessary emergency department (ED) use and improving linkage to outpatient primary and behavioral health care, this study evaluated whether an Emergency Department Information Exchange (EDIE) improved linkage to care for Medicaid enrollees with mental health conditions. Follow-up with any physician at 30 days increased slightly, although mental health-specific follow-up declined over time. Difference-in-differences estimates revealed no effect of EDIE on linkage to care after an ED visit. Medicaid beneficiaries with mental health needs and high utilization of the ED likely require additional support to increase timely and appropriate follow-up care.

Medicaid is the largest payer for publicly funded contraception, serving millions of women across the United States. However, relatively little is known about the extent to which effective contraceptive services vary geographically for Medicaid recipients. This study used national Medicaid claims to assess county-level variation in rates of provision of the most or moderately effective methods of contraception and provision of long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) across forty states and Washington, D.C., in 2018. County-level rates of most or moderately effective contraceptive use varied almost fourfold across states, from a low of 10.8 percent to a high of 44.4 percent. Rates of LARC provision varied almost tenfold, from a low of 1.0 percent to a high of 9.6 percent. Despite the fact that contraception is a core benefit within Medicaid, access and use vary substantially across and within states. Medicaid agencies have a variety of options to ensure that people have access to a choice of the full range of contraceptive methods, including removing or loosening utilization controls, incorporating quality metrics or value-based payments into contraceptive services, and adjusting reimbursement to remove barriers to the clinical provision of LARC.

Medicaid is characterized by low rates of provider participation, often attributed to reimbursement rates below those of commercial insurance or Medicare. Understanding the extent to which Medicaid reimbursement for mental health services varies across states may help illuminate one lever for increasing Medicaid participation among psychiatrists. We used publicly available Medicaid fee-for-service schedules from state Medicaid agency websites in 2022 to construct two indices for a common set of mental health services provided by psychiatrists: a Medicaid-to-Medicare index to benchmark each state's Medicaid reimbursement with that of Medicare for the same set of services, and a state-to-national Medicaid index comparing each state's Medicaid reimbursement with an enrollment-weighted national average. On average, Medicaid paid psychiatrists at 81.0 percent of Medicare rates, and a majority of states had a Medicaid-to-Medicare index that was less than 1.0 (median, 0.76). State-to-national Medicaid indices for psychiatrists' mental health services ranged from 0.46 (Pennsylvania) to 2.34 (Nebraska) but did not correlate with the supply of Medicaid-participating psychiatrists. As policy makers look to reimbursement rates as one strategy to address ongoing mental health workforce shortages, comparing Medicaid payment across states may help benchmark ongoing state and federal proposals.

Background: Low-value healthcare is costly and inefficient and may adversely affect patient outcomes. Despite increases in low-value service use, little is known about how the receipt of low-value care differs across payers., Objective: To evaluate differences in the use of low-value care between patients with commercial versus Medicaid coverage., Design: Retrospective observational analysis of the 2017 Rhode Island All-payer Claims Database, estimating the probability of receiving each of 14 low-value services between commercial and Medicaid enrollees, adjusting for patient sociodemographic and clinical characteristics. Ensemble machine learning minimized the possibility of model misspecification., Participants: Medicaid and commercial enrollees aged 18-64 with continuous coverage and an encounter at which they were at risk of receiving a low-value service., Intervention: Enrollment in Medicaid or Commercial insurance., Main Measures: Use of one of 14 validated measures of low-value care., Key Results: Among 110,609 patients, Medicaid enrollees were younger, had more comorbidities, and were more likely to be female than commercial enrollees. Medicaid enrollees had higher rates of use for 7 low-value care measures, and those with commercial coverage had higher rates for 5 measures. Across all measures of low-value care, commercial enrollees received more (risk difference [RD] 6.8 percentage points; CI: 6.6 to 7.0) low-value services than their counterparts with Medicaid. Commercial enrollees were also more likely to receive low-value services typically performed in the emergency room (RD 11.4 percentage points; CI: 10.7 to 12.2) and services that were less expensive (RD 15.3 percentage points; CI 14.6 to 16.0)., Conclusion: Differences in the provision of low-value care varied across measures, though average use was slightly higher among commercial than Medicaid enrollees. This difference was more pronounced for less expensive services indicating that financial incentives may not be the sole driver of low-value care., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Society of General Internal Medicine.)

Objective: Provider networks for mental health are narrower than for other medical specialties. Providers' influence on access to care is potentially greater in Medicaid because enrollees are generally limited to contracted providers, without out-of-network options for nonemergency mental health care. The authors used claims-based metrics to examine variation in specialty mental health provider networks., Methods: In a cross-sectional analysis of 2018 Oregon Medicaid claims data, claims from adults ages 18-64 years (N=100,515) with a psychiatric diagnosis were identified. In-network providers were identified as those associated with any medical claims filed for at least five unique Medicaid beneficiaries enrolled in a health plan (coordinated care organization [CCO]) during the study period. Specialty mental health providers were categorized as prescribers (psychiatrists and mental health nurse practitioners) and nonprescribers (therapists, counselors, clinical nurse specialists, psychologists, and social workers). Measures of network composition, provider-to-population ratio, continuity, and concentration of care were calculated at the CCO level; the correlation between these measures was estimated to describe the degree to which they capture unique dimensions of provider networks., Results: Across 15 CCOs, the number of prescribing providers per 1,000 patients was relatively stable. CCOs that expanded their networks did so by increasing the number of nonprescribing providers. Moderately negative correlations were found between the nonprescriber provider-to-population ratio and proportions of visits with prescribers as well as with usual provider continuity., Conclusions: This analysis advances future research and policy applications by offering a more nuanced view of provider network measurement and describing empirical variation across networks.

Background: To respect people's preference for aging in place and control costs, many state Medicaid programs have enacted policies to expand home and community-based services as an alternative to nursing facility care. However, little is known about the use of Medicaid long-term services and supports (LTSS) at a national level, particularly among dual-eligible beneficiaries with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD)., Methods: Using Medicare and Medicaid claims of 30 states from 2016, we focused on dual-eligible beneficiaries 65 years or older with ADRD and described their use of any form of LTSS and sub-types of LTSS (home-based, community-based, and nursing facility services) across states., Results: We found that 80.5% of dual-eligible beneficiaries with ADRD received some form of Medicaid LTSS in 2016. The most common LTSS setting was nursing facility (46.7%), followed by home (31.5%) and community (12.2%). There was sizeable state variation in the percentage of dual-eligible beneficiaries with ADRD who used any form of LTSS (ranging from 61% in Maine to 96% in Montana). The type of LTSS used also varied widely across states. For example, home-based service use ranged from 9% in Maine, Arizona, and South Dakota to 62% in Oregon. Nursing facility services were the most common type of LTSS in most states. However, home-based service use exceeded nursing facility use in Oregon, Alaska, and California., Conclusions: Our findings suggest substantially different use of LTSS across states among dual-eligible beneficiaries with ADRD. Given the importance of LTSS for this population and their families, a deeper understanding of state LTSS policies and other factors that contribute to wide state variation in LTSS use will be necessary to improve access to LTSS across states., (© 2022 The American Geriatrics Society.)

Despite Medicaid's importance as a payer and source of coverage for mental health care, relatively little is known about how prevalence, access, and quality might vary among Medicaid beneficiaries. This study used national Medicaid data from 2018 to assess regional variations in emergency department (ED) visits for mental health conditions, a measure that may reflect unmet needs for behavioral health care. We found substantial variations, with rates in the region with the highest visit rates eight times higher than those in the region with the lowest rates. Many regions with high rates of ED visits for mental health conditions also had high rates of outpatient mental health use. Regional patterns differed substantially, with some regions exhibiting high rates of ED visits related to anxiety but low rates for schizophrenia and vice versa. The presence of large variations in ED visits for mental health conditions, with substantial differences in the composition across regions, suggests a need for context-specific solutions, including assessments of the ways in which mental health benefits are structured at the state Medicaid agency level and of differences in provider accessibility and an understanding of the types of mental illness underlying high rates of use.

Postpartum readmissions (PPRs) represent a critical marker of maternal morbidity after hospital childbirth. Most severe maternal morbidity (SMM) events result in a hospital admission, but most PPRs do not have evidence of SMM. Little is known about PPR and SMM beyond the first 6 weeks postpartum. We examined the associations of maternal demographic and clinical factors with PPR within 12 months postpartum. We categorized PPR as being with or without evidence of SMM to assess whether risk factors and timing differed. Using the Oregon All Payer All Claims database, we analyzed hospital births from 2012-2017. We used log-binomial regression to estimate associations between maternal factors and PPR. Our final analytical sample included 158,653 births. Overall, 2.6% (n = 4,141) of births involved at least 1 readmission within 12 months postpartum (808 (19.5% of PPRs) with SMM). SMM at delivery was the strongest risk factor for PPR with SMM (risk ratio (RR) = 5.55, 95% confidence interval (CI): 4.14, 7.44). PPR without SMM had numerous risk factors, including any mental health diagnosis (RR = 2.10, 95% CI: 1.91, 2.30), chronic hypertension (RR = 2.17, 95% CI: 1.85, 2.55), and prepregnancy diabetes (RR = 2.85, 95% CI: 2.47, 3.30), all which were on par with SMM at delivery (RR = 1.89, 95% CI: 1.49, 2.40)., (© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Importance: Emergency departments (EDs) with high pediatric readiness (coordination, personnel, quality improvement, safety, policies, and equipment) are associated with lower mortality among children with critical illness and those admitted to trauma centers, but the benefit among children with more diverse clinical conditions is unknown., Objective: To evaluate the association between ED pediatric readiness, in-hospital mortality, and 1-year mortality among injured and medically ill children receiving emergency care in 11 states., Design, Setting, and Participants: This is a retrospective cohort study of children receiving emergency care at 983 EDs in 11 states from January 1, 2012, through December 31, 2017, with follow-up for a subset of children through December 31, 2018. Participants included children younger than 18 years admitted, transferred to another hospital, or dying in the ED, stratified by injury vs medical conditions. Data analysis was performed from November 1, 2021, through June 30, 2022., Exposure: ED pediatric readiness of the initial ED, measured through the weighted Pediatric Readiness Score (wPRS; range, 0-100) from the 2013 National Pediatric Readiness Project assessment., Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality, with a secondary outcome of time to death to 1 year among children in 6 states., Results: There were 796 937 children, including 90 963 (11.4%) in the injury cohort (mean [SD] age, 9.3 [5.8] years; median [IQR] age, 10 [4-15] years; 33 516 [36.8%] female; 1820 [2.0%] deaths) and 705 974 (88.6%) in the medical cohort (mean [SD] age, 5.8 [6.1] years; median [IQR] age, 3 [0-12] years; 329 829 [46.7%] female, 7688 [1.1%] deaths). Among the 983 EDs, the median (IQR) wPRS was 73 (59-87). Compared with EDs in the lowest quartile of ED readiness (quartile 1, wPRS of 0-58), initial care in a quartile 4 ED (wPRS of 88-100) was associated with 60% lower in-hospital mortality among injured children (adjusted odds ratio, 0.40; 95% CI, 0.26-0.60) and 76% lower mortality among medical children (adjusted odds ratio, 0.24; 95% CI, 0.17-0.34). Among 545 921 children followed to 1 year, the adjusted hazard ratio of death in quartile 4 EDs was 0.59 (95% CI, 0.42-0.84) for injured children and 0.34 (95% CI, 0.25-0.45) for medical children. If all EDs were in the highest quartile of pediatric readiness, an estimated 288 injury deaths (95% CI, 281-297 injury deaths) and 1154 medical deaths (95% CI, 1150-1159 medical deaths) may have been prevented., Conclusions and Relevance: These findings suggest that children with injuries and medical conditions treated in EDs with high pediatric readiness had lower mortality during hospitalization and to 1 year.

Introduction: To examine the association of prior investment on the effectiveness of organizations delivering large-scale external support to improve primary care., Methods: Mixed-methods study of 7 EvidenceNOW grantees (henceforth, Cooperatives) and their recruited practices (n = 1720). Independent Variable : Cooperatives's experience level prior to EvidenceNOW, defined as a sustained track record in delivering large-scale quality improvement (QI) to primary care practices (high, medium, or low). Dependent Variables: Implementation of external support, measured as facilitation dose; effectiveness at improving (1) clinical quality, measured as practices' performance on Aspirin, Blood Pressure, Cholesterol, and Smoking (ABCS); and (2) practice capacity, measured using the Adaptive Reserve (AR) score and Change Process Capacity Questionnaire (CPCQ). Data were analyzed using multivariable linear regressions and a qualitative inductive approach., Results: Cooperatives with High (vs low) levels of prior experience with and investment in large-scale QI before EvidenceNOW recruited more geographically dispersed and diverse practices, with lower baseline ABCS performance (differences ranging from 2.8% for blood pressure to 41.5% for smoking), delivered more facilitation (mean=+20.3 hours, P = .04 ), and made greater improvements in practices' QI capacity (CPCQ: +2.04, P < .001 ) and smoking performance (+6.43%, P = .003 ). These Cooperatives had established networks of facilitators at the start of EvidenceNOW and leadership experienced in supporting this workforce, which explained their better recruitment, delivery of facilitation, and improvement in outcomes., Discussion: Long-term investment that establishes regionwide organizations with infrastructure and experience to support primary care practices in QI is associated with more consistent delivery of facilitation support, and greater improvement in practice capacity and some clinical outcomes., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest: The authors of this manuscript have no conflicts of interest to report., (© Copyright by the American Board of Family Medicine.)

Objective: To assess the feasibility and implications of imputing race and ethnicity for quality and utilization measurement in Medicaid., Data Sources and Study Setting: 2017 Oregon Medicaid claims from the Oregon Health Authority and electronic health records (EHR) from OCHIN, a clinical data research network, were used., Study Design: We cross-sectionally assessed Hispanic-White, Black-White, and Asian-White disparities in 22 quality and utilization measures, comparing self-reported race and ethnicity to imputed values from the Bayesian Improved Surname Geocoding (BISG) algorithm., Data Collection: Race and ethnicity were obtained from self-reported data and imputed using BISG., Principal Findings: 42.5%/4.9% of claims/EHR were missing self-reported data; BISG estimates were available for >99% of each and had good concordance (0.87-0.95) with Asian, Black, Hispanic, and White self-report. All estimated racial and ethnic disparities were statistically similar in self-reported and imputed EHR-based measures. However, within claims, BISG estimates and incomplete self-reported data yielded substantially different disparities in almost half of the measures, with BISG-based Black-White disparities generally larger than self-reported race and ethnicity data., Conclusions: BISG imputation methods are feasible for Medicaid claims data and reduced missingness to <1%. Disparities may be larger than what is estimated using self-reported data with high rates of missingness., (© 2022 Health Research and Educational Trust.)