Medicaid Emergency Psychiatric Services Demonstration Evaluation: Executive Summary

Medicaid Emergency Psychiatric Services Demonstration Evaluation: Executive Summary

Published: Aug 18, 2016
Publisher: Washington, DC: Mathematica Policy Research
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Associated Project

Evaluation of the Medicaid Emergency Psychiatric Services Demonstration (MEPD)

Time frame: 2012-2016

Prepared for:

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Authors

Bonnie O'Day

Priyanka Anand

Allison Barrett

Molly Crofton

Brian Johnston

Jasmine Little

Brenda Natzke

Stephanie Peterson

Max Rubinstein

Allison Siegwarth

James Woerheide

Key Findings

Key Findings:

Overall, the evaluators found little to no evidence that MEPD affected inpatient admissions to IMDs or scatter beds in general hospitals, lengths of stays in IMDs or scatter beds, ER visits and ER boarding, discharge planning by participating IMDs, or the Medicaid share of IMD admissions of adults with emergency psychiatric conditions. Federal costs for IMD admissions increased, as expected, and costs to states decreased, while Medicaid and Medicare costs for other services increased in two states and were not affected in three. The extent to which these findings reflect the true effects of MEPD or were affected by data limitations or external events is difficult to determine.

This is an executive summary for the report summarizing the findings from the Medicaid Emergency Psychiatric Services Demonstration (MEPD) Evaluation: Volume I and Volume II.

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