Multiple Baseline Interrupted Time Series: Describing Changes in New Mexico Medicaid Behavioral Health Home Patients’ Care

Author

Jessica Reno, University of New Mexico

Publication Date

Summer 7-15-2021

Abstract

In 2016, the CareLink New Mexico behavioral health homes program began enrolling Medicaid recipients with the goal of increasing care coordination, improving access to services, and decreasing long-term costs of care for adults with serious mental illness (SMI) and children with severe emotional disturbance (SED). To evaluate these aims, a retrospective interrupted time series study using Medicaid claims data was designed. First, a comparable subset of non-enrolled individuals was selected from the pool of Medicaid recipients with SMI or SED using propensity score matching. Then, segmented regression was applied to three outcomes: total Medicaid charges, number of outpatient behavioral health claims, and incurring emergency care claims. Finally, difference-in-difference contrasts were estimated to compare the enrolled individuals’ outcomes to their own baseline and to the trajectory of non-enrolled individuals. Enrollment resulted in decreased rate of increase in costs, decreased behavioral health claims, and decreased probability of emergency health care for enrollees.

Degree Name

Statistics

Level of Degree

Masters

Department Name

Mathematics & Statistics

First Committee Member (Chair)

Yiliang Zhu

Second Committee Member

Caroline Bonham

Third Committee Member

Erik Barry Erhardt

Language

English

Keywords

quasiexperimental study, interrupted time series, behavioral health, difference-in-difference study, mental disorder, substance use disorder

Document Type

Thesis

Recommended Citation

Reno, Jessica. "Multiple Baseline Interrupted Time Series: Describing Changes in New Mexico Medicaid Behavioral Health Home Patients’ Care." (2021). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/math_etds/181