Effects of Maryland’s Affordable Care Act Medicaid Health Home Waiver on Quality of Cardiovascular Care Among People with Serious Mental Illness

Background: Nineteen US states and D.C. have used the Affordable Care Act Medicaid health home waiver to create behavioral health home (BHH) programs for Medicaid beneficiaries with serious mental illness (SMI). BHH programs integrate physical healthcare management and coordination into specialty mental health programs. No studies have evaluated the effects of a BHH program created through the Affordable Care Act waiver on cardiovascular care quality among people with SMI. Objective: To study the effects of Maryland’s Medicaid health home waiver BHH program, implemented October 1, 2013, on quality of cardiovascular care among individuals with SMI. Design: Retrospective cohort analysis using Maryland Medicaid administrative claims data from July 1, 2010, to September 30, 2016. We used marginal structural modeling with inverse probability of treatment weighting to account for censoring and potential time-dependent confounding. Participants: Maryland Medicaid beneficiaries with diabetes or cardiovascular disease (CVD) participating in psychiatric rehabilitation programs, the setting in which BHHs were implemented. To qualify for psychiatric rehabilitation programs, individuals must have SMI. The analytic sample included BHH and non-BHH participants, N = 2605 with diabetes and N = 1899 with CVD. Main Measures: Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) measures of cardiovascular care quality including annual receipt of diabetic eye and foot exams; HbA1c, diabetic nephropathy, and cholesterol testing; and statin therapy receipt and adherence among individuals with diabetes, as well as HEDIS measures of annual receipt of cholesterol testing and statin therapy and adherence among individuals with CVD. Key Results: Relative to non-enrollment, enrollment in Maryland’s BHH program was associated with increased likelihood of eye exam receipt among individuals with SMI and co-morbid diabetes, but no changes in other care quality measures. Conclusions: Additional financing, infrastructure, and implementation supports may be needed to realize the full potential of Maryland’s BHH to improve cardiovascular care for people with SMI.