Wednesday, January 15, 2025 1/15/2025

Reducing Behavioral Health Disparities among Children with Special Needs: The Role of Medicaid Automatic Enrollment

Award Number: R01MD017062
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL CENTER ON MINORITY HEALTH AND HEALTH DISPARITIES
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

Group Awards By:

View Award Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY A majority of children with special health care needs (CSHCN) have behavioral health conditions. Racial and ethnic minority CSHCN are more likely to have these health conditions and less likely to have them diagnosed and treated compared with other CSHCN. Disparities in access to care contribute to disparities in use of behavioral health treatment, and inadequate insurance leads to poor health outcomes among CSHCN. Early identification and treatment for behavioral health conditions is critical to support the health and well-being of CSHCN over their lifetimes. Yet, many racial and ethnic minority families of CSHCN experience challenges in accessing needed behavioral health services. Disparities in behavioral health outcomes can be mitigated by expanding insurance coverage and encouraging use of treatment. Addressing these mechanisms early in life is critical to mitigate health disparities over the entire life course. There is mixed evidence on the extent to which general insurance expansions reduce disparities, and some studies even find that racial and ethnic disparities in coverage and health service use increased after recent health insurance expansions. Other policies, including streamlined or automatic enrollment in Medicaid, have been shown to increase Medicaid enrollment, retention and overall insurance coverage rates, but there is no evidence about the impact of these policies on disparities in coverage or utilization for racial/ethnic minority CSHCN, or CSHCN who have mental health conditions. Targeted interventions in expanding services may be more effective at reducing disparities for these populations but evidence on the effects of targeted interventions is limited. More research is needed to understand the extent to which targeted policies can reduce disparities in health insurance coverage and behavioral health care utilization among racial/ethnic minority CSHCN. This study will examine the effects of a targeted intervention to increase insurance coverage and behavioral health service utilization among racial and ethnic minority CSHCN: automatic enrollment in Medicaid via Supplemental Security Income (SSI). We propose two complementary analytic approaches, one with nationally representative survey data and one exploiting a natural experiment in Medicaid claims data. We will quantify the effects of Medicaid automatic enrollment via SSI on disparities in insurance coverage and behavioral health service use among racial and ethnic minority CHSCN; identify the demographics of CSHCN who are newly enrolled in Medicaid due to automatic enrollment policies and examine potential disparities in their health needs; and examine how the effects on behavioral health service use, health outcomes, and disparities in service use and outcomes evolve over time for newly enrolled CSHCN. Our findings will provide critical insights about how targeted Medicaid automatic enrollment could improve behavioral health outcomes for this underserved population and will contribute to broader understanding of how reducing administrative burden may improve health equity for disadvantaged and underserved CSHCN.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2024 ( Subtotal = $593,130 )
2024	2024	THE RAND CORPORATION	1776 MAIN ST	SANTA MONICA	CA	90401	LOS ANGELES	USA	Minority Health and Health Disparities Research	000	3	5/3/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$593,130
														Subtotal = $593,130

Issue Date FY: 2023 ( Subtotal = $605,021 )
2023	2023	THE RAND CORPORATION	1776 MAIN ST	SANTA MONICA	CA	90401	LOS ANGELES	USA	Minority Health and Health Disparities Research	000	2	4/19/2023	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$605,021
														Subtotal = $605,021

Issue Date FY: 2022 ( Subtotal = $641,048 )
2022	2022	RAND CORPORATION, THE	1776 MAIN ST	SANTA MONICA	CA	90401	LOS ANGELES	USA	Minority Health and Health Disparities Research	001	1	9/9/2022	NEW	$0
2022	2022	RAND CORPORATION, THE	1776 MAIN ST	SANTA MONICA	CA	90401	LOS ANGELES	USA	Minority Health and Health Disparities Research	000	1	8/29/2022	NEW	$641,048
														Subtotal = $641,048

Grand Total All Awards = $1,839,199

Top

All Categories

About

Search

Reports

Data Submission

Award Information

Reducing Behavioral Health Disparities among Children with Special Needs: The Role of Medicaid Automatic Enrollment

Award Number: R01MD017062

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL CENTER ON MINORITY HEALTH AND HEALTH DISPARITIES

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

Federal Websites

Department of Health & Human Services

HHS Operating Divisions

HHS Staff Divisions

Download A Document Viewer