Medicaid Costs and Outcomes for Patients Treated in an Outpatient Telepsychiatry Clinic.

Abstract

Importance: Evidence of cost savings attributable to indicated and timely care remain rare in psychiatry. Interventions to provide evidence-based psychiatric care to Medicaid patients that lower total costs of care are particularly challenging.

Objective: To investigate Medicaid costs and care outcomes associated with use of an outpatient telepsychiatry clinic.

Design, setting, and participants: This cross-sectional study analyzed Medicaid patients using and not using the services of an outpatient telepsychiatry clinic (Frontier Psychiatry, Billings, Montana) in 2022. Data analysis was performed from June to September 2024.

Exposure: Receipt of care through an outpatient telepsychiatry clinic.

Main outcomes and measures: Differences in Medicaid costs and cost subtypes between telepsychiatry patients and controls were assessed. Quality metrics, including inpatient hospitalizations, hospital readmissions, and admissions from the emergency department, were also compared.

Results: In total, there were 2686 patients using the outpatient telepsychiatry clinic's services (1665 female [62.0%]; mean [SD] age, 30.55 [14.67] years) and 2686 propensity-matched controls (1665 female [62.0%]; mean [SD] age, 31.37 [15.92] years). Across categories examined, the telepsychiatry patients had care costs per member per month (PMPM) similar to those for propensity-matched control patients ($685.5 [95% CI, $632.9-$738.2] vs $734.0 [95% CI, $645.7-$822.3]; P = .10) over the study period. PMPM costs to Medicaid from the telepsychiatry clinic's patients were higher for professional services vs control patients ($464.0 [95% CI, $443.4-$484.5] vs $388.4 [95% CI, $368.1-$408.7]; P < .001) but were lower for inpatient hospitalization fees ($201.6 [95% CI, $146.2-$228.7] vs $260.6 [95% CI, $220.2-$341.5]; P = .04). Telepsychiatry clinic patients had a 38.0% lower mean annualized hospitalization rate per 1000 patients than controls (274.3 [95% CI, 237.1-311.6] hospitalizations per 1000 patients vs 442.6 [95% CI, 396.5-488.7] hospitalizations per 1000 patients; P < .001) and a 17.9% lower rate of admissions from the emergency department (patients vs controls, 299.7 admissions [47.7%] vs 519.0 admissions [58.1%]).

Conclusions and relevance: In this cross-sectional study of 5372 patients, use of an outpatient telepsychiatry clinic's services was associated with decreases in inpatient hospitalization rates and lower rates of admissions from the emergency department, with similar costs to Medicaid. These findings suggest that outpatient telepsychiatry care could play an important role in reducing hospital admissions among patients enrolled in Medicaid.