Perinatal Outcomes Following Implementation of TennCare

2020

This thesis investigated the connection between socioeconomic status, healthcare coverage, and birth outcomes. The research question that was posed specifically looked at twenty perinatal services that states covered under Medicaid to varying degrees to see their association, if any, with premature birth rates and low birthweight rates. State-level and Mississippi county-level data were compiled regarding preterm birth rates, low birthweight rates, presumptive eligibility adoption, and coverage of twenty different perinatal services. Using these data, the correlation between state Medicaid expansion status and birth outcomes was first calculated in order to determine if variation in birth outcomes was associated with expanded Medicaid coverage. After this, the relationship between birth outcomes and poverty was determined at both the state level and the Mississippi county level. The research found that poverty had a very positive correlation with high rates of poor birth outcomes and that state-level coverage was minimally correlated with birth outcomes. This study concluded by calling for further research into the Medicaid system, preventative care models for Medicaid, or systemic reform to the healthcare delivery system. AN EXAMINATION OF […] PERINATAL SERVICES AND BIRTH OUTCOMES iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would first like to thank Dr. John Green for all of the time and effort he has poured into my writing process throughout my undergraduate career. I would also like to thank my committee of readers, Dr. Lefmann and Dr. Dellinger for all of the editing advice and for being willing to take on another thesis defense. I would lastly like to thank my family for teaching me the importance of education and for supporting me wholeheartedly in my college endeavors.

Health services research, 2001

To evaluate the long-term effects of Medicaid managed care (MMC) on obstetric service use and program costs in California. Longitudinal administrative data on Medi-Cal enrollment and claims and encounters related to pregnancy and delivery services were gathered from three counties--two long-standing MMC counties and one traditional fee-for-service Medicaid county--in California between 1987 and 1992. We studied Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) beneficiaries with live singleton vaginal deliveries with associated hospital stays of 14 days or less. Effects of managed care were examined with respect to prenatal visits, length of stay for delivery, maternal postpartum readmission rates, and total program expenditures. Multivariate analyses examined how the relative effect of managed care on service use and program expenditures in each MMC county evolves over time in comparison to fee-for-service. We controlled for length of Medi-Cal enrollment prior to delivery, data censor...

Maternal and child health journal, 2000

To describe the characteristics and risk factors of women with only third-trimester (late) or no prenatal care. A statewide postpartum survey was conducted that included 6364 low-income women delivering in California hospitals in 1994 and 1995. The following factors appeared most important, considering both prevalence and association with late or no care: poverty, being uninsured, multiparity, being unmarried, and unplanned pregnancy. Forty-two percent of women with no care were uninsured, and uninsured women were at dramatically increased risk of no care. Over 40% of uninsured women with no care had applied for Medi-Cal prenatally but did not receive it. Risks did not vary by ethnicity except that African American women were at lower risk of late care than women of European background. Child care problems were not significantly associated with either late or no care, and transportation problems (not asked of women with no care) were not significantly related to late care. Lack of i...

Maternal and child health journal, 2017

Objectives Pennsylvania's maternal mortality, infant mortality, and preterm birth rates rank 24th, 35th, and 25th in the country, and are higher among racial and ethnic minorities. Provision of prenatal and postpartum care represents one way to improve these outcomes. We assessed the extent of disparities in the provision and timeliness of prenatal and postpartum care for women enrolled in Pennsylvania Medicaid. Methods We performed a cross-sectional evaluation of representative samples of women who delivered live births from November 2011 to 2015. Our outcomes were three binary effectiveness-of-care measures: prenatal care timeliness, frequency of prenatal care, and postpartum care timeliness. Pennsylvania's Managed Care Organizations (MCOs) were required to submit these outcomes to the state after reviewing administrative and medical records through a standardized, validated sampling process. We assessed for differences in outcomes by race, ethnicity, region, year, and MCO...

Health Services Research, 2004

Objective. To examine the impact of mandatory HMO enrollment for Medicaidcovered pregnant women on prenatal care use, smoking, Cesarean section (C-section) use, and birth weight. in 10 Ohio counties, 6 that implemented mandatory HMO enrollment, and 4 with low levels of voluntary enrollment (under 15 percent). Cuyahoga County (Cleveland) is analyzed separately; the other mandatory counties and the voluntary counties are grouped for analysis, due to small sample sizes. Study Design. Women serve as their own controls, which helps to overcome the bias from unmeasured variables such as health beliefs and behavior. Changes in key outcomes between the first and second birth are compared between women who reside in mandatory HMO enrollment counties and those in voluntary enrollment counties. County of residence is the primary indicator of managed care status, since, in Ohio, women are allowed to ''opt out'' of HMO enrollment in mandatory counties in certain circumstances, leading to selection. As a secondary analysis, we compare women according to their HMO enrollment status at the first and second birth. Data Collection/Extraction Methods. Linked birth certificate/enrollment data were used to identify 4,917 women with two deliveries covered by Medicaid, one prior to the implementation of mandatory HMO enrollment (mid-1996) and one following implementation. Data for individual births were linked over time using a scrambled maternal Medicaid identification number. Principal Findings. The effects of HMO enrollment on prenatal care use and smoking were confined to Cuyahoga County, Ohio's largest county. In Cuyahoga, the implementation of mandatory enrollment was related to a significant deterioration in the timing of initiation of care, but an improvement in the number of prenatal visits. In that county also, women who smoked in their first pregnancy were less likely to smoke during the second pregnancy, compared to women in voluntary counties. Women residing in all the mandatory counties were less likely to have a repeat C-section. There were no effects on infant birth weight. The effects of women's own managed care status were inconsistent depending on the outcome examined; an interpretation of these results is hampered by selection issues. Changes over time in outcomes, both positive and negative, were more pronounced for African American women. Conclusions. With careful implementation and attention to women's individual differences as in Ohio, outcomes for pregnant women may improve with Medicaid

Health care financing review, 1991

The use of prenatal care and rates of low birth weight were examined among four groups of women who delivered in California in October 1983. Medicaid paid for the deliveries of two groups, and two groups were not so covered. The analyses suggest that longer Medicaid enrollment improved the use of prenatal care. The association between prenatal care and birth weight was less clear. For women under Medicaid, measures of infant and maternal morbidity, hospital characteristics, and Medicaid eligibility were all statistically related to charges, payments, and length of stay for the delivery hospitalization.

Health care financing review, 1989

Medicaid services and expenditures were analyzed for care during the prenatal, delivery, and post-delivery periods in three States--California, Georgia, and Michigan. Uniform data were used from the Health Care Financing Administration's Medicaid Tape-to-Tape project, 1983-84. Results indicate that from 16 to 24 percent of all births in the States of the study, during the study period, were financed by Medicaid. Overall, the study showed that more than one-half of expenditures for the study population were for the delivery hospitalization, and less than 12 percent were for prenatal care. As expected, a substantial portion of expenditures were for high-cost deliveries, up to 41 percent of total delivery payments. From 33 to 41 percent of total Medicaid expenditures for Aid to Families with Dependent Children were for pregnancy, delivery, and newborn care in 1983.

Managed care (Langhorne, Pa.), 2011

Examine the effect of a prenatal program on birth outcomes, specifically birth weight, in a managed Medicaid pregnant population, and identify the potential barriers to obtaining the risk screening information required for successful interventions. Retrospective propensity-adjusted cohort comparison. Retrospective propensity-adjusted comparison of pregnant women in a managed Medicaid plan enrolled in a prenatal program and pregnant women who were not enrolled. Program enrollment was initiated by receipt of a Notification of Pregnancy (NOP) risk screening assessment. We demonstrate a statistically significant improvement in delivery outcomes in the women who participate in the pregnancy management program (NOP group) compared with those who do not (non-NOP group). The incidence of low-birth-weight infants was lower in the NOP group compared to the non-NOP group. Odds ratio estimates indicate that the NOP participants are likely to have 7.9% lower adverse event frequency for delivery ...

The American journal of managed care, 2005

To assess the impact of mandatory Medicaid managed care in Missouri on prenatal care, maternal behavior, and low birth weight among pregnant women enrolled in Medicaid. Pre-post design using a comparison group with birth certificate and Medicaid enrollment data in 1995 and 2000. Pregnant women delivering in 38 counties that implemented managed care in Medicaid were compared preimplementation and postimplementation with pregnant women delivering under Medicaid in 78 counties that remained fee-for-service (FFS) for separate samples of white (37,561) and black (13,640) non-Hispanic women. We calculated difference-in-difference estimates using linear probability regression models that controlled for maternal characteristics and time-invariant county differences. Analyses were stratified based on Medicaid enrollment before and after conception, managed care region, and marital status. Both managed care and FFS counties showed large improvements in prenatal care measures over time for bot...

Southern Economic Journal, 2015

A number of states have adopted mandatory managed care to provide health services to Medicaid patients, raising concerns that the care provided may be of lower quality than care provided under traditional fee-for-service arrangements. In this article, we study the effect of Pennsylvanias mandatory managed care program, HealthChoices, on health outcomes and the cost of care for pregnant Medicaid patients. Using difference-indifferences , we find evidence that the adoption of managed care resulted in fewer preventable complications, particularly for more severely ill mothers, but no general reduction in costs except in the highest decile of the cost distribution.