Patterns of outpatient use of mental health services for medicaid beneficiaries under a prepaid mental health carve-out

This study examines the impact of a mental health carve-out, the Utah Prepa id Mental Health Plan (UPMHP), on use of outpatient mental health services by Medicaid beneficiaries with schizophrenia. Data were collected through i nterviews with the same group of Medicaid schizophrenic beneficiaries. A pr e/post comparison with a contemporaneous control group examined the impact of the program on type of outpatient services used by beneficiaries. The re sults indicate a greater reliance on medically-oriented outpatient mental h ealth services in treatment of beneficiaries under the UPMHP. Medicaid bene ficiaries with schizophrenia in the UPMHP group received relatively fewer d ay treatment visits, but relatively more medication visits and individual t herapy visits over the first 3 1/2 years of the program.