Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Substance Use Treatment in Medicaid Managed Care in New York City: The Role of Plan and Geography

Abstract

Objective: The aim was to assess the magnitude of health care disparities in treatment for substance use disorder (SUD) and the role of health plan membership and place of residence in observed disparities in Medicaid Managed Care (MMC) plans in New York City (NYC).

Data source: Medicaid claims and managed care plan enrollment files for 2015-2017 in NYC.

Research design: We studied Medicaid enrollees with a SUD diagnosis during their first 6 months of enrollment in a managed care plan in 2015-2017. A series of linear regression models quantified service disparities across race/ethnicity for 5 outcome indicators: treatment engagement, receipt of psychosocial treatment, follow-up after withdrawal, rapid readmission, and treatment continuation. We assessed the degree to which plan membership and place of residence contributed to observed disparities.

Results: We found disparities in access to treatment but the magnitude of the disparities in most cases was small. Plan membership and geography of residence explained little of the observed disparities. One exception is geography of residence among Asian Americans, which appears to mediate disparities for 2 of our 5 outcome measures.

Conclusions: Reallocating enrollees among MMC plans in NYC or evolving trends in group place of residence are unlikely to reduce disparities in treatment for SUD. System-wide reforms are needed to mitigate disparities.