Disparities in Hospital Services Utilization Among Patients with Mental Health Issues: A Statewide Example Examining Insurance Status and Race Factors from 1999-2010

Authors

Viann N. Nguyen-Feng, Eastern Virginia Medical SchoolFollow
Hind A. Beydoun, Eastern Virginia Medical SchoolFollow
Michael K. McShane, Old Dominion UniversityFollow
James D. Blando, Old Dominion UniversityFollow

Keywords

mental health; insurance; racial disparities

Disciplines

Epidemiology | Health Policy | Mental and Social Health | Public Health | Race and Ethnicity

Abstract

There exist many disconnects between the mental and general health care sectors. However, a goal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010 is to change this by improving insurance access and the intersection of mental and general health care. As insurance status intersects with race, the present study examines how race, insurance status, and hospital mental health services utilization differ across groups within the state of New Jersey. The present study aims to determine trends in hospital mental health care utilization by insurance status and race from 1999 to 2010. The rate of self-pay for mental health disorders in the Black population was significantly higher than the rate for Whites and Asians during this period. However, though Asian mental health utilization increased the most over the 11-year period, the Asian population had the slowest growth in self-pay rates. ANOVA tests demonstrated significant differences in the rate of self-pay mental health cases between race groups (p

Recommended Citation

Nguyen-Feng, Viann N.; Beydoun, Hind A.; McShane, Michael K.; and Blando, James D. (2014) "Disparities in Hospital Services Utilization Among Patients with Mental Health Issues: A Statewide Example Examining Insurance Status and Race Factors from 1999-2010," Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice: Vol. 8: Iss. 2, Article 7.
Available at: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/jhdrp/vol8/iss2/7