Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30032052›Full record

ArticleDrug and alcohol dependence2018

The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) evaluation study: Did parity differentially affect substance use disorder and mental health benefits offered by behavioral healthcare carve-out and carve-in plans?

Sarah A Friedman, Francisca Azocar, Haiyong Xu, Susan L Ettner

Abstract readEvaluation Study
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Drug and alcohol dependence, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Observational
  4. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Sarah A FriedmanDepartment of Health Policy and Management, Fielding School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, 911 S. Broxton Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA; Health Administration and Policy, School of Community Health Sciences, University of Nevada, Reno, 1664 N. Virginia Street, Reno, NV 89557, USA. Electronic address: Sfriedman@unr.edu.
Francisca AzocarOptum(®), United Health Group, 245 Market Street, San Francisco, 94105, USA.
Haiyong XuDivision of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, 911 S. Broxton Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
Susan L EttnerDepartment of Health Policy and Management, Fielding School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, 911 S. Broxton Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.

Funding

UCLA Clinical and Translational Science InstituteTL1TR000121 · NCATS · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · PI DUBINETT, STEVEN M. · 2012 to 2015
$2.7M
Parity and Addiction Act: Impact on Benefits, Use and CostsR01DA032619 · NIDA · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · PI ETTNER, SUSAN LOUISE · 2012 to 2015
$2.2M
The effects of three insurance benefit design features on specialty mental health utilization and expendituresR36HS024866 · AHRQ · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · PI FRIEDMAN, SARAH A · 2016 to 2016
$39k
AHRQ HHS R36 HS024866NCATS NIH HHS TL1 TR000121NIDA NIH HHS R01 DA032619
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundTo assess whether implementation of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) was associated with: 1. Reduced differences in financial requirements (i.e., copayments and coinsurance) for substance use disorder (SUD) versus specialty mental health (MH) care and 2. Reductions in the level of cost-sharing for SUD-specific services.

methodsMH and SUD copayments and coinsurance, 2008-2013, were obtained from benefits databases for carve-in and carve-out plans from Optum

resultsMHPAEA was not associated with significant changes in the difference between SUD and MH copayments or coinsurance levels among either carve-in or carve-out plans. MHPAEA was associated with decreases in the levels of inpatient (in-network: -$51.17; out-of-network: -$34.39) and outpatient (in-network: -$10.26) detox copayments, but increases in the levels of in-network outpatient detox coinsurance (6 percentage points) among all carve-out plans.

conclusionEven if SUD benefits had been historically less generous than MH benefits, SUD financial requirements were already at parity with MH financial requirements by the time MHPAEA was passed, among Optum

Indexed as

Behavior, AddictiveCost SharingDatabases, FactualFemaleHumansMaleMental HealthMental Health ServicesSubstance-Related DisordersUnited StatesCommercial insuranceParitySubstance use disorder

Identifiers

PMID30032052
PMCPMC6197987

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.