Objective

Although primary care is associated with better outcomes, many individuals with serious mental illness do not receive general medical services. This study examined patient-level factors associated with not having outpatient general medical visits among individuals with serious mental illness in California.

Methods

The study analyzed administrative, pharmacy, and billing data for 56,895 Medicaid-enrolled adults with serious mental illness treated in community mental health clinics between October 1, 2010, and September 20, 2011. Poisson regression estimated independent associations between predictor variables and outpatient general medical visits.

Results

One-third of participants (34%) had no outpatient general medical visits during the study. In multivariate analyses, younger adults (ages 18-27) were less likely than older groups to have such a visit (adjusted relative risk [ARR]=1.07 and 1.19, respectively, for ages 28-47 and 48-67). Women were more likely than men to have such a visit (ARR=1.29). Compared with whites, blacks were less likely to have an outpatient general medical visit (ARR=.93). Rural dwellers were less likely than urban dwellers to have such a visit (ARR=.64). Persons with drug or alcohol use disorders were less likely than those without such disorders to have an outpatient general medical visit (ARR=.95), and those with schizophrenia were less likely than those with any other psychiatric disorder examined to have such a visit.

Conclusions

Individuals with serious mental illness had low use of outpatient general medical services. Integrated care models are needed to engage these individuals and eliminate disparities in morbidity and mortality.

Objective

This research aimed to characterize HIV testing rates among Medicaid recipients with severe mental illness who received public specialty mental health services.

Methods

This retrospective cohort study examined California Medicaid records from October 1, 2010, to September 30, 2011 (N=56,895). Study participants were between age 18 and 67, utilized specialty mental health care services, were prescribed antipsychotic medications, and were not dually eligible for Medicare. Adjusted Poisson regression models were used to estimate the overall effects of predictor variables on HIV testing prevalence.

Results

During the study period, 6.7% of people with severe mental illness received HIV testing. Men were 32% less likely to be tested for HIV than women (p<.001). Compared with whites, Asians/Pacific Islanders were 53% less likely and blacks were 82% more likely to be tested (p<.001). Those with comorbid drug or alcohol use disorders were more likely to be tested than those without such disorders (p<.001). Utilization of nonpsychiatric medical care was the strongest predictor of HIV testing (p<.001).

Conclusions

Most adults with severe mental illness receiving public specialty mental health services were not tested for HIV during a one-year period. Public health administrators must prioritize HIV testing for early identification of HIV infection and prevention of HIV transmission.

Background and objectives

Inpatient pediatric mental health is a priority topic for national quality measurement and improvement, but nationally representative data on the patients admitted or their diagnoses are lacking. Our objectives were: to describe pediatric mental health hospitalizations at general medical facilities admitting children nationally; to assess which pediatric mental health diagnoses are frequent and costly at these hospitals; and to examine whether the most frequent diagnoses are similar to those at free-standing children's hospitals.

Methods

We examined all discharges in 2009 for patients aged 3 to 20 years in the nationally representative Kids' Inpatient Database (KID) and in the Pediatric Health Information System (free-standing children's hospitals). Main outcomes were frequency of International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification-defined mental health diagnostic groupings (primary and nonprimary diagnosis) and, using KID, resource utilization (defined by diagnostic grouping aggregate annual charges).

Results

Nearly 10% of pediatric hospitalizations nationally were for a primary mental health diagnosis, compared with 3% of hospitalizations at free-standing children's hospitals. Predictors of hospitalizations for a primary mental health problem were older age, male gender, white race, and insurance type. Nationally, the most frequent and costly primary mental health diagnoses were depression (44.1% of all mental health admissions; $1.33 billion), bipolar disorder (18.1%; $702 million), and psychosis (12.1%; $540 million).

Conclusions

We identified the child mental health inpatient diagnoses with the highest frequency and highest costs as depression, bipolar disorder, and psychosis, with substance abuse an important comorbid diagnosis. These diagnoses can be used as priority conditions for pediatric mental health inpatient quality measurement.