Where You Live Matters: Quality and Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Schizophrenia Care in Four State Medicaid Programs.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To determine whether (a) quality in schizophrenia care varies by race/ethnicity and over time and (b) these patterns differ across counties within states.

Data sources

Medicaid claims data from California, Florida, New York, and North Carolina during 2002-2008.

Study design

We studied black, Latino, and white Medicaid beneficiaries with schizophrenia. Hierarchical regression models, by state, quantified person and county effects of race/ethnicity and year on a composite quality measure, adjusting for person-level characteristics.

Principal findings

Overall, our cohort included 164,014 person-years (41-61 percent non-whites), corresponding to 98,400 beneficiaries. Relative to whites, quality was lower for blacks in every state and also lower for Latino

SUBMITTER: Horvitz-Lennon M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4600368 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature