Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30807450›Full record

ArticleMedical care2019

Association of Federal Mental Health Parity Legislation With Health Care Use and Spending Among High Utilizers of Services.

Rebecca L Haffajee, Michelle M Mello, Fang Zhang, Alisa B Busch, Alan M Zaslavsky, J Frank Wharam

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Medical care, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing 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

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. 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

6 authors.

Rebecca L HaffajeeDepartment of Health Management and Policy, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI.
Michelle M MelloStanford Law School and Department of Health Research and Policy, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA.
Fang ZhangDepartment of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, Boston.
Alisa B BuschMcLean Hospital, Belmont.
Alan M ZaslavskyHealth Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.
J Frank WharamDepartment of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, Boston.

Funding

Health Policy Training Program: Promoting Outcomes, Quality, Equity and Diffusion of AdvancesT32MH019733 · NIMH · HARVARD UNIVERSITY (MEDICAL SCHOOL) · PI Benjamin Le Cook, Haiden A Huskamp · 1993 to 2026
$7.0M
NIMH NIH HHS T32 MH019733
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundDecades-long efforts to require parity between behavioral and physical health insurance coverage culminated in the comprehensive federal Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act.

objectivesTo determine the association between federal parity and changes in mental health care utilization and spending, particularly among high utilizers. RESEARCH

designDifference-in-differences analyses compared changes before and after exposure to federal parity versus a comparison group. SUBJECTS: Commercially insured enrollees aged 18-64 with a mental health disorder drawn from 24 states where self-insured employers were newly subject to federal parity in 2010 (exposure group), but small employers were exempt before-and-after parity (comparison group). A total of 11,226 exposure group members were propensity score matched (1:1) to comparison group members, all of whom were continuously enrolled from 1 year prepolicy to 1-2 years postpolicy. MEASURES: Mental health outpatient visits, out-of-pocket spending for these visits, emergency department visits, and hospitalizations.

resultsRelative to comparison group members, mean out-of-pocket spending per outpatient mental health visit declined among exposure enrollees by $0.74 (1.40, 0.07) and $2.03 (3.17, 0.89) in years 1 and 2 after the policy, respectively. Corresponding annual mental health visits increased by 0.31 (0.12, 0.51) and 0.59 (0.37, 0.81) per enrollee. Difference-in-difference changes were larger for the highest baseline quartile mental health care utilizers [year 2: 0.76 visits per enrollee (0.14, 1.38); relative increase 10.07%] and spenders [year 2: $-2.28 (-3.76, -0.79); relative reduction 5.91%]. There were no significant difference-in-differences changes in emergency department visits or hospitalizations.

conclusionsIn 24 states, commercially insured high utilizers of mental health services experienced modest increases in outpatient mental health visits 2 years postparity.

Indexed as

Health ExpendituresAdultFemaleHumansInsurance CoverageInsurance, HealthMaleMental DisordersMental Health ServicesPatient Acceptance of Health Care

Identifiers

PMID30807450
PMCPMC6423539

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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.