Daily living activities and quality of life: The impact of Medicaid on clients at Greater Cincinnati Behavioral Health Services

ABSTRACT

Medicaid is best described as the foremost public financial framework that provides health care coverage to low-income families, the elderly, and individuals living with disabilities in the nation. In this study, the mental health assessment scores of the clients at Greater Cincinnati Behavioral Health Services and their Medicaid enrollment status are reviewed. The presented study utilized (N = 4,707) fields of client data, which was routinely collected by the Greater Cincinnati Behavioral Health Services (GCB) administrative department and stored in an agency database. The study site utilizes two assessment tools to measure a client’s mental health status: The Daily Living Activities (DLA-20): Mental Health and the GCB Ohio Consumer Outcomes Survey. Quality of Life scores taken from the Ohio Consumer Outcome Survey revealed, however, to be higher in GCB clients with an active Medicaid status as compared to those with an inactive Medicaid status. Active Medicaid clients’ pre and posttest scores for the DLA-20 assessment had an average of 41.0. The DLA-20 paired sample had a statistical significance of (p = .013). The Ohio Consumer Outcomes Survey paired sample showed a statistical significance of (p = .000). At the significance level of 0.05, this appears to have a greater statistical significance than the DLA-20 paired sample. In conclusion, the Medicaid health care program provides clients with the coverage for their mental health services delivered at GCB and, after regarding the results of this study, appears to have a positive impact on their state of mental health.

KEYWORDS:

• Aging
• behavioral health
• daily living activity
• Medicaid
• mental health
• quality of life