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333804
Children with special health care needs: Prevalence of co-occurring intellectual and developmental disabilities and mental health conditions in children enrolled in Medicaid fee-for-service Personal Care Services (PCS) program in Texas


Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Darcy McMaughan, PhD, Department of Health Policy and Management, Texas A&M Health Science Center, College Station, TX
Emily Naiser, MPH, Public Policy Research Institute, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX
Laura Hugill-Warren, MPH, Public Policy Research Institute, Texas A&M University, Bryan, TX
Szu-Hsuan Lin, MPH, PhD, Department of Public Health Studies, Texas A&M Health Science Center, College Station, TX
Timothy R. Elliott, PhD, ABPP, Educational Psychology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX
Background. Children with special health care needs (CSHCN) need services tailored to their unique combination of conditions. Using Medicaid fee for service (FFS) data on all children enrolled in Medicaid personal care services (PCS) in 2010 in Texas, we present prevelence data on CSHCN, focusing on children with both intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and mental health conditions (MHC).

Methods.  Data were abstracted from the Personal Care Assessment Form administered to children enrolled in Medicaid FFS PCS in 2010. Starting with physical conditions as a baseline, we calculated the number of children with mixed conditions.

Results. 2,523 children were enrolled in Medicaid FFS PCS in 2010. 60% of enrollees (1577 children) reported IDD. Of the children with IDD, 41% (638, or 25% of the entire children FFS PCS population) have at least one MHC (anxiety, ADD, disruptive behavior, mood disorder, schizophrenia, somatoform), with 21% (327) reporting more than one MHC. Among children with IDD and MHC, ADD was the most commonly reported MHC (446, or 28% of children with IDD and MHC), followed by anxiety (264, 18%), mood disorder (212,14%), and disruptive disorder (209, 13%)

Conclusions. Asthma/other respiratory disorders, cerebral palsy and epilepsy/other seizure disorders were the most commonly reported medical conditions. Anxiety disorders, autistic disorders, attention deficit disorder and mood disorders were most common co-occurring IDD and MHC reported for the children. Integrated services (primary care, specialty care, and behavioral health) and mental health care parity must become and remain policy priorities for CSHCN.

Learning Areas:

Administration, management, leadership
Public health or related public policy
Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
Describe the population of children with special health care needs who have co-occurring intellectual and developmental disabilities and mental health conditions. Compare the prevalence of mental health conditions between children with IDD and children without IDD. Identify areas where children with special health care needs might experience unmet health care needs.

Keyword(s): Children With Special Needs, Disabilities

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been the principal investigator or co-investigator on several state funded contracts focusing on developing and evaluating assessments of care need for children with special health care needs. I have also been the principal investigator or co-investigator on projects focusing on disabilities. I work extensively on policies focused on CSHCN and people with disabilities.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 4381.0: CSHCN Poster Session