One of the national Healthy People 2010 goals is to eliminate the longstanding racial disparities in infant mortality. To do so, we need a better understanding of disparities in health status and service use among pregnant women in different racial/ethnic groups. Towards this end, the authors use Medicaid claims data to investigate racial disparities in health status and service use among more than 270,000 women with Medicaid-covered deliveries during the mid 1990s in four states - Florida, Georgia, New Jersey, and Texas. For each Medicaid-covered delivery in the four states, we created a pregnancy-related episode of care that encompasses 9 months prior to delivery and 3 months post delivery. Health service use is measured by month of initiation of prenatal care, number of prenatal and postnatal visits, selected diagnostic tests and procedures, delivery type, and number of inpatient days. The major explanatory variables in the equations are race and ethnicity, pre-existing medical conditons and pregnancy-related complications. We also control for Medicaid enrollment category and duration, urban/rural residence, and age.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the presentation, the participant (learner) will be able to: 1. Describe disparities in pregnancy-related complications and comorbidities among women in different racial and ethnic groups; 2. Describe disparities in patterns of prenatal, delivery-related and postnatal care among women in different racial and ethnic groups; and 3. Determine the extent to which the disparities in pregnancy-related complications and comorbidities explain the disparities in prenatal, delivery-related and postnatal care.
Keywords: Medicaid, Prenatal Care
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.