In the first year of the SAMHSA CFRI IDIQ contract, Careplots partnered with Westat to complete three significant quantitative studies. These analyses provided critical insights into mental health and substance use disorder prevention, screening, and treatment, using seven years of comprehensive claims and enrollment data within CMS VRDC’s Databricks environment. The studies leveraged extensive datasets, including 100% Research Identifiable Files (RIF) for Medicare Fee-for-Service (Parts A and B), Medicare Advantage (Part C), Pharmacy data (Part D), Master Beneficiary Summary File (MBSF), and Medicaid T-MSIS demographic, claims, and provider files.
The studies delivered include:
- Coverage of Selected Behavioral Health Services among Older Medicare and Medicaid Beneficiaries. This report analyzed the costs and disparities in behavioral health services for older adults enrolled in Medicaid, Medicare, or Medicare Advantage. It explored coverage and gaps in eligibility requirements for mental health and substance use disorder services, highlighting variations across payer types and the additional costs affecting service access.
- Public Financial Investments in Behavioral Health. Examining public funding for behavioral health services from 2016-2021, this report analyzed spending by service type, state, provider type, and demographic differences. It explored the types of services that receive public funds and how these funds are allocated across regions and populations.
- National Gaps in Health Care Access and Health Insurance Among LGB Populations. This study investigated the rates of substance use, suicidality, and mental illness among LGB individuals compared to straight individuals. Using propensity score matching, it assessed whether disparities remained statistically significant when controlling for age, race, educational level, marital status, and financial hardship.
About Careplots
Careplots is dedicated to transforming healthcare through data-driven innovation, offering comprehensive data solutions to government agencies, healthcare providers, research institutions, and consumers.
About Westat
Westat’s mission is to improve lives through research, providing innovative services to help clients achieve better health, education, social policy, and transportation outcomes.
About SAMHSA CFRI
The Center for Financing Reform and Innovation (CFRI) is a SAMHSA initiative that focuses on understanding behavioral health financing to drive innovation and address challenges in service delivery and access.