Impacts of family-informed care for people with disabilities enrolled in Medicaid managed care

ABSTRACT This paper explores the impact of family-informed care on Medicaid enrollees with disabilities’ unmet needs for medical services and long-term services and supports (LTSS) and family members’ appraisal of the services received by those enrollees within a Medicaid managed care program in one Midwestern state. Families play an important role in the lives of people with disabilities. However, little is understood about the relationship between unmet needs of people with disabilities and the degree to which their family informs the care they receive. Regression analyses were performed on 700 surveys that were partially completed by a Medicaid enrollee with a disability and partially by a family member. After controlling for enrollee and family demographics/factors and family involvement in day-to-day activities, family members who reported higher levels of the family-informed care had higher appraisals of the services received by enrollees and those enrollees reported fewer unmet medical and LTSS needs. Findings highlight the importance of including family members in healthcare decision-making within social policies and programs, such as Medicaid managed care. Additional research is needed to promote best practices in family-informed care when desired by adults with disabilities.