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A national study reveals that uninsured children seeking treatment for a mental health disorder in the emergency department are more likely than those with private insurance to be transferred to another hospital.
The study, conducted by researchers from UC Davis Children's Hospital and the Department of Psychiatry of UC Davis, showed differences in the decisions to admit or to transfer children with mental health emergencies based on the type of patient's insurance.
More hospital transfers for children without insurance
For this study, the researchers evaluated a national sample of 9,081 acute mental health events among children in emergency departments. They examined the patient's insurance coverage and the decision of a hospital to admit or transfer patients with a mental health disorder.
"We found that uninsured children are 3.3 times more likely to be transferred than those with private insurance," said Jamie Kissee Mouzoon, Research Manager for the Pediatric Telemedicine Program at the University of Ottawa. 39, UC Davis Children's Hospital and the first author of the study. "The rate was even higher in patients with bipolar disorder, attention deficit, conduct disorder and schizophrenia."
Inequalities in mental health emergencies
The study shows that there may be gaps in the provision of equitable and quality care to pediatric patients with mental health emergencies, based on their insurance coverage.
Transferring a child creates an additional burden for the patient, his family and the health system as a whole. This can worsen overpopulation in busy emergency services, increase the cost of care and increase family costs.
According to James Marcin, lead author of the study, regulations have been put in place to prevent SUs from making treatment decisions based on patient insurance. The transfer of a patient for a reason other than the clinical need should be avoided
"Unfortunately, financial incentives are sometimes hard to ignore and may even be unconscious," said Marcin. "What we found in this study is consistent with other research that shows that patients without health insurance are more likely to be transferred from one clinic to another or one from another. hospital to each other. "
Marcin is also Director of the UC Davis Health and Technology Center and leads the UC Davis Health Telemedicine Program. He is investigating ways in which telemedicine – video tours delivered to children seeking care in remote emergency services – could be a solution to the tendency to transfer the patient to another hospital.
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Material provided by University of California – Davis Health. Note: Content can be changed for style and length.
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