Healthcare Access for a Diverse Population with Schizophrenia Following the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic

COVID-19 has had a disproportionate impact on the most disadvantaged members of society, including minorities and those with disabling chronic illnesses such as schizophrenia. We examined the pandemic’s impacts among New York State’s Medicaid beneficiaries with schizophrenia in the immediate post-pa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Community mental health journal 2024, Vol.60 (1), p.72-80
Main Authors: Horvitz-Lennon, Marcela, Leckman-Westin, Emily, Finnerty, Molly, Jeong, Junghye, Tsuei, Jeannette, Zelevinsky, Katya, Chen, Qingxian, Normand, Sharon-Lise T.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Beneficiaries
Black white differences
Chronic illnesses
Community and Environmental Psychology
COVID-19
COVID-19 - epidemiology
Ethnic differences
Ethnicity
Health behavior
Health care access
Health care policy
Health services
Health Services Accessibility
Healthcare Disparities
Hospitalization
Humans
Inpatient care
Life threatening
Medicaid
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Mental disorders
Mental health
Minority groups
Original Paper
Pandemics
Patient admissions
Pneumonia
Psychiatry
Racial differences
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia - epidemiology
Schizophrenia - therapy
United States - epidemiology
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Summary:COVID-19 has had a disproportionate impact on the most disadvantaged members of society, including minorities and those with disabling chronic illnesses such as schizophrenia. We examined the pandemic’s impacts among New York State’s Medicaid beneficiaries with schizophrenia in the immediate post-pandemic surge period, with a focus on equity of access to critical healthcare. We compared changes in utilization of key behavioral health outpatient services and inpatient services for life-threatening conditions between the pre-pandemic and surge periods for White and non-White beneficiaries. We found racial and ethnic differences across all outcomes, with most differences stable over time. The exception was pneumonia admissions—while no differences existed in the pre-pandemic period, Black and Latinx beneficiaries were less likely than Whites to be hospitalized in the surge period despite minorities’ heavier COVID-19 disease burden. The emergence of racial and ethnic differences in access to scarce life-preserving healthcare may hold lessons for future crises.
ISSN:0010-3853
1573-2789
DOI:10.1007/s10597-023-01105-1