Early Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Telehealth Patterns in Primary Care, Mental Health, and Specialty Care Facilities in Texas.

OBJECTIVES: Since the onset of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, many US clinics have shifted some or all of their practice from in-person to virtual visits. In this study, we assessed the use of telehealth among primary care and specialty clinics, by targeting healthcare administrators via multiple channels. METHODS: Using an online survey, we assessed the use of, barriers to, and reimbursement for telehealth. Respondents included clinic administrators (chief executive officers, vice presidents, directors, and senior-level managers). RESULTS: A total of 85 complete responses were recorded, 79% of which represented solo or group practices and 63% reported a daily patient census >50. The proportion of clinics that delivered ≥50% of their consults using telehealth increased from 16% in March to 42% in April, 35% in May, and 30% in June. Clinics identified problems with telehealth reimbursement; although 63% of clinics reported that ≥75% of their telehealth consults were reimbursed, only 51% indicated that ≥75% of their telehealth visits were reimbursed at par with in-person office visits. Sixty-five percent of clinics reported having basic or foundational telehealth services, whereas only 9% of clinics reported advanced telehealth maturity. Value-based care participating clinics were more likely to report advanced telehealth services (27%), compared with non-value-based care clinics (3%). CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight the adaptability of clinics to quickly transition and adopt telehealth. Uncertainty about reimbursement and policy changes may make the shift temporal, however.

Contraceptive use among Medicaid-covered teens and risk of teen conception: a longitudinal study.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate Medicaid-covered teens' receipt of physician-prescribed contraceptives and the impact of this receipt on pregnancy rates before and after welfare reform and the expansion of children's public health insurance in the late 1990s. METHODS: Contraceptive prescriptions and pregnancy events were identified from Medicaid claims for two 24-month periods (January 1, 1994-December 31, 1995, and January 1, 2000-December 31, 2001). Participants were all female Medicaid beneficiaries aged 15-19 enrolled anytime in the two 24-month periods, excluding teens pregnant within the first 3 months of enrollment, with incomplete enrollment data or undocumented immigration status, enrolled in a capitated Medicaid plan, or with other concurrent health coverage. We used a discrete-time hazard model to examine the association between paid contraceptive prescriptions and other variables and conception in Florida and Georgia. RESULTS: Receipt of physician-prescribed contraceptives increased from 11% to 18% among Florida teens and from 22% to 27% among Georgia teens during the study period. Georgia teens receiving contraceptive prescriptions were 45% less likely to conceive than teens with no contraceptive prescriptions in 1994-1995 and 64% less likely in 2000-2001. In Florida, teens receiving contraceptive prescriptions were one third less likely to conceive than teens with no contraceptive prescriptions in both 1994-1995 and 2000-2001. CONCLUSIONS: An increase in the receipt of contraceptive prescriptions paid by Medicaid may help in reducing pregnancies among low-income teens.

The costs of public services for teenage mothers post-welfare reform: a ten-state study.

BACKGROUND: More information is needed on the use and costs of public services by teens after the passage of major national polices in the 1990s. Both the 1996 welfare reform and later changes to the Medicaid program have affected the access of low-income adolescents to public assistance programs. In turn, these changes have affected teenaged mothers and their infants and the costs that taxpayers incur in the 50 states. STUDY QUESTION: What public services do teenage mothers use and what are their costs in the decade after the major policy changes to public assistance programs? How do patterns vary by state? METHODS: This study examines the use by teenage mothers of four public services: cash assistance, Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), food stamps, and Medicaid coverage at delivery. We used 2000 data from the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) to derive rates of use for these four programs in ten states-AK, AL, FL, ME, NY [excluding New York City], NC, OK, SC, WA, and WV. We combined the rates with data on per person and family costs of these four programs to present 'birth-year' costs for a cohort of teenage mothers in the ten states. To provide a baseline from which to measure incremental public service costs to teenage mothers, we also compiled the data for mothers ages 20 to 24 years who did not report births during their teen years. RESULTS: Data from the ten states indicate that the birth-year expenses for teenage mothers for four public programs add up to more than $0.5 billion, and the costs per teenage mother exceed those for older mothers who did not have a teenage birth by almost $1,500. The largest component of these public costs is Medicaid coverage at delivery at 87 percent of the total. If all of the unintended births to teenage mothers in the ten study states were postponed, $75 million in public sector costs would be averted annually. CONCLUSIONS: The use of public programs by teenage mothers remains costly and varies markedly across the ten study states. A key reason for higher costs among teenage mothers than among mothers in their early twenties is their higher rates of enrollment in Medicaid at delivery. This rate of enrollment also varies markedly across the study states. The high level of incremental costs and rate of unintended births to teens indicate that cost-saving interventions could be developed. PUBLIC HEALTH IMPLICATIONS: Data indicate that many teenage pregnancies are unintended. Thus, a clear public health goal should be to implement and evaluate programs aimed at reducing unintended pregnancies among teenagers. Initiatives are needed to help young women make well-informed decisions about sexual activity and other risky behaviors. Insurance coverage is important to all teens and especially to those who are sexually active.

The State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and prepregnancy coverage of teenage mothers.

BACKGROUND: The 1997 State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) program allowed states to expand Medicaid to uninsured children through age 18 in families under 200% of the federal poverty level. Prepregnancy insurance coverage of adolescents may help reduce unintended pregnancies, address other medical issues, and allow for early and adequate prenatal care for those carrying to term. OBJECTIVES: We tested the effects of SCHIP implementation on insurance coverage for teenage mothers and investigated whether these effects varied by type of state SCHIP program--Medicaid expansion, stand-alone program, or some combination of these. RESEARCH DESIGN: We used Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System data from 1996 through 2000 and difference-in-differences analysis to analyze coverage changes for teenage mothers (age <20) relative to those for mothers aged 20-24 years old, a group whose Medicaid eligibility was not affected by SCHIP policies. POPULATION STUDIED: Our raw sample of teenage and older mothers in Alaska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Florida, Maine, New York, and West Virginia equaled 23,171 (811,638 weighted). RESULTS: SCHIP implementation was associated with an almost 10 percentage point increase in prepregnancy coverage among teens under age 17. Although there were increases in both public and private coverage only the latter was statistically significant. The only statistically significant increase in Medicaid coverage, equal to almost 16 percentage points, was among 18-year-olds in states with Medicaid expansion programs. CONCLUSIONS: The temporary extension of SCHIP allows time to consider how to maintain the program's potentially positive effect on the reproductive health of adolescents.

Racial disparities in Medicaid enrollment and prenatal care initiation among pregnant teens in Florida: comparisons between 1995 and 2001.

BACKGROUND: Teens and racial and ethnic minority women are less likely to initiate prenatal care (PNC) in the first trimester of pregnancy than their counterparts. OBJECTIVE: This study examines the impact of Medicaid program changes in the late 1990s on the timing of Medicaid enrollment and PNC initiation among pregnant teens by race and ethnicity. RESEARCH DESIGN: Using Medicaid enrollment and claims data and a difference-in-differences method, we examine how the patterns of prepregnancy Medicaid enrollment, PNC initiation, and racial and ethnic disparities in PNC changed over time after controlling for person- and county-level characteristics. SUBJECTS: We included 14,089 teens in Florida with a Medicaid-covered delivery in fiscal years 1995 and 2001. MEASURES: Prepregnancy enrollment was defined as enrollment 9 or more months before delivery; late or no PNC was defined as initiation of PNC within 3 months of delivery or not at all. RESULTS: For teens enrolled in traditional welfare-related categories, the proportion with prepregnancy Medicaid enrollment increased and the proportion with late or no PNC declined from 1995 to 2001. Teens enrolled under the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (OBRA) expansion category in 2001 were less likely than welfare-related teen enrollees to have prepregnancy coverage but were more likely to initiate PNC early. Racial disparities were found in PNC initiation among the 1995 welfare-related group and the 2001 expansion group but were eliminated or greatly reduced among the 2001 welfare-related group. CONCLUSIONS: Providing public insurance coverage improves access to care but is not sufficient to meet Healthy People 2010 goals or eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in PNC initiation.

Preterm birth-associated cost of early intervention services: an analysis by gestational age.

OBJECTIVES: Characterizing the cost of preterm birth is important in assessing the impact of increasing prematurity rates and evaluating the cost-effectiveness of therapies to prevent preterm delivery. To assess early intervention costs that are associated with preterm births, we estimated the program cost of early intervention services for children who were born in Massachusetts, by gestational age at birth. METHODS: Using the Pregnancy to Early Life Longitudinal Data Set, birth certificates for infants who were born in Massachusetts between July 1999 and June 2000 were linked to early intervention claims through 2003. We determined total program costs, in 2003 dollars, of early intervention and mean cost per surviving infant by gestational age. Costs by plurality, eligibility criteria, provider discipline, and annual costs for children's first 3 years also were examined. RESULTS: Overall, 14,033 of 76,901 surviving infants received early intervention services. Program costs totaled almost $66 million, with mean cost per surviving infant of $857. Mean cost per infant was highest for children who were 24 to 31 weeks' gestational age ($5393) and higher for infants who were 32 to 36 weeks' gestational age ($1578) compared with those who were born at term ($725). Cost per surviving infant generally decreased with increasing gestational age. Among children in early intervention, mean cost per child was higher for preterm infants than for term infants. At each gestational age, mean cost per surviving infant was higher for multiples than for singletons, and annual early intervention costs were higher for toddlers than for infants. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with their term counterparts, preterm infants incurred higher early intervention costs. This information along with data on birth trends will inform budget forecasting for early intervention programs. Costs that are associated with early childhood developmental services must be included when considering the long-term costs of prematurity.

Pediatric health care costs attributable to exposure to second-hand smoke: an exploratory analysis.

Estimates of the excess health care costs from the exposure of children to tobacco smoke are not available in the United States. We use two nationally representative databases and current econometric techniques to estimate annual health care costs attributable to secondhand exposure by adults in the household. The point estimate closest to significance (p = .11) indicates annual smoking attributable costs equal $890 in 2003 dollars and approximately 2 percent of total annual neonatal and pediatric health care costs. Our inability to find a statistically significant effect appears driven by the negative relationship found between the child's exposure and any use/expense for the child. Unobserved caregiver characteristics are likely to be positively associated with smoking but negatively associated with children's health care utilization. This is consistent with evidence from observational studies that indicate adult smokers' lower orientation toward preventive care contributes to a decreased use of discretionary health services.

Costs of a smoking cessation counseling intervention for pregnant women: comparison of three settings.

OBJECTIVE: Although the rate of smoking among women giving birth in the United States has declined steadily from 19.5% in 1989 to 11.4% in 2002, it still far exceeds the Healthy People 2010 goal of 1%. The objective of this study was to estimate the costs of a recommended five-step smoking cessation counseling intervention for pregnant women. METHODS: Costs were compared across three settings: a clinical trial, a quit line, and a rural managed care organization. Cost data were collected from August 2002 to September 2003. Intervention costs were compared with potential neonatal cost savings from averted adverse outcomes using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Maternal and Child Health Smoking-Attributable Mortality, Morbidity, and Economics Costs software. RESULTS: The costs of implementing the intervention ranged from dollar 24 to dollar 34 per pregnant smoker counseled across the three settings. Potential neonatal cost savings that could be accrued from women who quit smoking during pregnancy were estimated at dollar 881 per maternal smoker. Assuming a 30% to 70% increase over baseline quit rates, interventions could net savings up to dollar 8 million within the range of costs per pregnant smoker. CONCLUSIONS: Costs may vary depending on the intensity and nature of the intervention; however, this analysis found a surprisingly narrow range across three disparate settings. Cost estimates presented here are shown to be low compared with potential cost savings that could be accrued across the quit rates that could be achieved through use of the 5A's smoking cessation counseling intervention.

Medicaid service use and program costs for pregnant teens.

Teen pregnancy is an important public health issue for all teens, but particularly for low-income teens who rely on the public health safety net for services. Medicaid pays for more than two-thirds of deliveries among teenagers in the USA. To discern how this public program serves pregnant teens (aged 11-19 years), the authors used Medicaid enrollment and claims data for Florida, Georgia and New Jersey in 1995 to examine teens' enrollment duration, service use and average payments relative to 20-24-year-olds on Medicaid. Teens were more likely than the older women to have been enrolled in Medicaid before pregnancy and to have maintained coverage through the third month following delivery. If not enrolled prepregnancy, teens were more likely than older women to enroll later in pregnancy. Teens were less likely to receive early prenatal care and more likely to be hospitalized during pregnancy, usually for preterm labor. While total Medicaid payments for routine prenatal and delivery-related care were equivalent between teens and older women, payments for nonroutine care during pregnancy were modestly higher for teens in Florida and Georgia. Thus, only modest cost savings can accrue from lower average costs per pregnancy and delivery among teens who delay pregnancy. Additional and larger cost savings to the Medicaid program from preventing teen pregnancy would accrue from the expected lower enrollment in Medicaid among the teens as they age.

Smoking Among Medicaid Insured Mothers: What are the Neonatal Expenses?

Approximately 13 percent of all pregnant women smoke during pregnancy despite known adverse health effects. Medicaid Programs pay for an estimated 27-53 percent of all births, yet little is known about smoking prevalence nor resulting expenses in this population. Findings indicate that pregnant women with deliveries paid by Medicaid are more than twice as likely to smoke as privately insured women; two-thirds of the estimated $366 million in 1996 neonatal expenses attributable to maternal smoking accrues to Medicaid Programs and these estimates vary widely across States. In light of these estimates, States should carefully consider targeted interventions and appropriate policies.