Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-18-2023

Publication Title

PloS One

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To determine the association between enrollment in Medicaid prior to release compared with post-release, and the use of health services and time to the first service use after release among Louisiana Medicaid members within one year of release from Louisiana state corrections custody. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study linking Louisiana Medicaid and Louisiana state corrections release data. We included individuals ages 19 to 64 years released from state custody between January 1, 2017 and June 30, 2019 and enrolled in Medicaid within 180 days of release. Outcome measures included receipt of general health services (primary care visits, emergency department visits, and hospitalizations), cancer screenings, specialty behavioral health services, and prescription medications. To determine the association between pre-release Medicaid enrollment and time to receipt of health services, multivariable regression models were used which accounted for significant differences in characteristics between the groups. RESULTS: Overall, 13283 individuals met eligibility criteria and 78.8% (n = 10473) of the population was enrolled in Medicaid pre-release. Compared with those enrolled in Medicaid prior to release, those enrolled post-release were more likely to have an emergency department visit (59.6% versus 57.5%, p = 0.04) and hospitalization (17.9% versus 15.9%, p = 0.01) and less likely to receive outpatient mental health services (12.3% versus 15.2%, p

PubMed ID

37200349

Volume

18

Issue

5

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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