In the second year of the SAMHSA CFRI IDIQ contract, Careplots and Westat are collaborating to conduct five major studies aimed at addressing critical behavioral health policy questions. These studies will analyze complex issues such as crisis care services, financing for bereavement support, the impact of mental health and substance use disorders on postpartum outcomes, behavioral care conditions and service use among dual-eligible and non dual Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, and the value of integrating physical and behavioral healthcare.
Careplots’ data scientists will leverage large-scale claims and enrollment data within the CMS VRDC’s Databricks environment, working with comprehensive datasets like Medicare Fee-for-Service, Medicare Advantage, Pharmacy data, the Master Beneficiary Summary File, and Medicaid T-MSIS files.
The Year 2 studies include:
1. Behavioral Health Crisis Care Continuum Services: This study will utilize innovative methods to analyze crisis events, trends, and longitudinal patterns to identify treatment services, recurrence reasons, and outcomes.
2. Impact of Mental Health and Substance Use Treatment on Obstetric Outcomes: This analysis will assess whether perinatal mental health and substance use disorder treatments influence obstetric and mental health outcomes.
3. Incidence of Behavioral Care conditions in Dual Eligible populations and differences in Behavioral Health Resource Use: Focusing on behavioral health services for dual-eligible beneficiaries identified with SUD and MH, this study will compare service use and costs with other Non Dual Eligible beneficiary groups aiming to understand service categories that are over- or under-utilized.
4. Value of Integrated Health for Behavioral Health Patients in ACOs: Using Medicare and Medicaid claims data, this study will evaluate the cost of care for patients with mental health or substance use disorders in different ACO models across the country and simulate the value opportunity for integrating physical and behavioral health services demostrating revenue opportunity for providers and cost savings for public payers.
5. Financing Bereavement Services: This study will assess Medicaid claims to understand how the loss of a parent or child affects healthcare utilization and costs, particularly in physical and mental health services.
About Careplots
Careplots is dedicated to transforming healthcare through data-driven insights, providing innovative data solutions to government agencies, healthcare organizations, research institutions, and consumers.
About Westat
Westat’s mission is to improve lives through research, offering services that help clients achieve better outcomes in health, education, social policy, and transportation.
About SAMHSA CFRI
The Center for Financing Reform and Innovation (CFRI) is a SAMHSA initiative that focuses on behavioral health financing to drive innovation and address service delivery challenges.