Measuring follow-up care between primary care and specialty behavioral health settings for children and adolescents

ABSTRACT

Although children’s behavioral health conditions are regularly presented in primary care, studies of follow-up care that is provided in a specialty behavioral health setting are few. This study measured follow-up care by extracting claims from the Marketscan Medicaid and Commercial databases for outpatient services and prescription drugs for youth aged 2 through 18 years during 2014. Analyses examined whether follow-up care occurred within 28 days. The total percentage of children who received follow-up care was 12.9% (Medicaid) and 13.5% (private insurance). Follow-up care rates are low for the measure. Study findings suggest that additional research is needed in this area.

KEYWORDS:

• Primary care
• follow-up care
• care coordination
• children
• adolescents
• mental health

Disclaimer

The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) or the US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

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