Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facilities for Child Behavioral Health Services in North Carolina Medicaid release_g37y3f5uvbaftf7e6ew7np2kue

by Paul Lanier, Roderick Rose, Daniel Gibbs, Jacob Hyman, Neil Kamdar, Joseph Konstanzer, Kristen Hassmiller Lich

Published in North Carolina Medical Journal by North Carolina Institute of Medicine.

2024   Volume 85, Issue 3

Abstract

<jats:sec id="background"> <jats:title>Background</jats:title> Psychiatric residential treatment facilities (PRTFs) are non-hospital inpatient treatment settings for children with severe be­havioral health disorders. PRTFs are a restrictive and costly form of care that can potentially be avoided with community-based behavioral health services. </jats:sec> <jats:sec id="methods"> <jats:title>Methods</jats:title> Statewide Medicaid enrollment and claims data for 2015–2022 were used to describe PRTF utilization in North Carolina. We examined annual episodes of care in PRTFs and compared trends before and during the COVID-19 public health emergency. </jats:sec> <jats:sec id="results"> <jats:title>Results</jats:title> From 2015 to 2022, 10,038 children insured by NC Medicaid entered a PRTF across 10,966 episodes of care. In the past five years (2018–2022), care in PRTFs resulted in Medicaid expenditures of over $550 million total, or over $100 million per year. In 2022, 42% of children who entered PRTFs were in foster care and 44% of children were placed in PRTFs outside of North Carolina. </jats:sec> <jats:sec id="limitations"> <jats:title>Limitations</jats:title> The analysis was limited to data collected for administrative purposes. </jats:sec> <jats:sec id="conclusions"> <jats:title>Conclusions</jats:title> Current trends indicate an ongoing overrepresentation of children in foster care placed in PRTFs and increased out-of-state PRTF placements. Coordinated efforts in future research, policy, and practice are needed to determine the cause of these trends and iden­tify solutions. </jats:sec>
In application/xml+jats format

Archived Files and Locations

application/pdf   204.2 kB
file_5zpsx5ektbffdkhdjrguw3vypi
ncmedicaljournal.com (publisher)
web.archive.org (webarchive)
Read Archived PDF
Preserved and Accessible
Type  article-journal
Stage   published
Date   2024-05-07
Language   en ?
Container Metadata
Not in DOAJ
In Keepers Registry
ISSN-L:  0029-2559
Work Entity
access all versions, variants, and formats of this works (eg, pre-prints)
Catalog Record
Revision: 7f1ac67b-840e-4e7e-a30c-4ad7b200d152
API URL: JSON