Risk Selection among SSI Enrollees in TennCare

Changes in continuity of enrollment among high-risk children following implementation of TennCare.

BACKGROUND TennCare, Tennessee's Medicaid managed care program, was introduced in 1994 with the goals of controlling spending and of improving access to health care. OBJECTIVE To assess changes in the continuity of enrollment following the implementation of TennCare for 2 groups: infants in the first year of life (defined as persons aged 0-12 months in this study) and children hospitalized wi...

Disability patterns among SSI recipients.

In December 1993, about 3.8 million persons under age 65 received Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments because of a disability. More than half of these recipients had some form of mental disorder. In recent years, the number of disabled SSI recipients has climbed sharply. At the same time, there has been a change in the disability patterns among these recipients. The proportion of recipi...

New users of antipsychotic medications among children enrolled in TennCare.

BACKGROUND The use of antipsychotic medications in children and adolescents for indications other than psychosis or Tourette syndrome is controversial. Newer atypical antipsychotics with profiles of adverse effects that differ from those of traditional antipsychotics may lead providers to prescribe antipsychotics more frequently than in the past for behavioral indications not strongly supported...

Financial Vulnerability Among Medicare Managed Care Enrollees

Consumer Assessment of Health Plans Survey (CAHPS) data show that Medicare managed care plans often receive low satisfaction scores from certain vulnerable populations. This article describes findings from a qualitative study with beneficiaries about their Medicare managed care experiences. Focus groups were stratified by participant race/ethnicity and self-described health status. Yet particip...

Cause-Specific Mortality among Medicare Enrollees