Medicaid Kids Admitted to ED Often Don't Get Follow-up Care

A substantial proportion of young Medicaid beneficiaries taken to the hospital as a result of self-harm are discharged without receiving emergency mental health assessments or follow-up outpatient mental health care, according to a report in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. A retrospective analysis of national 2006 Medicaid claims data and other sources found that of youth 10 to 19 years old admitted to the emergency department (ED) for self-harm, most patients (72.9%) were discharged to the community. Thirty-nine percent of discharged patients received a mental health assessment in the ED and a roughly similar percentage (43.0%) received follow-up outpatient mental health care. 

Read more about suicide among young people in Psychiatric News and a book by American Psychiatric Publishing, Concise Guide to Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Fourth Edition.

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