The Status of Prenatal Care among Medicaid Managed Care Patients in Connecticut

• Published in: Evaluation & the health professions 2000-12, Vol.23 (4), p.409-421
• Main Authors: van Hoof, Thomas J., Casey, Barbara A., Tate, Janet P., Linnane, James J., Petrillo, Marcia K., Meehan, Thomas P.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescents; Adult; Antenatal care; Cesarean Section - utilization; Connecticut; Female; Health care; Health technology assessment; Humans; Length of Stay - statistics & numerical data; Managed care; Managed Care Programs - standards; Managed health care; Medicaid; Medicaid - standards; Outcome and Process Assessment (Health Care); Patients; Pregnancy; Pregnancy in Adolescence; Pregnant adolescent girls; Prenatal Care; Prenatal Care - standards; Prenatal Care - utilization; Prenatal development; Program Evaluation; Quality Indicators, Health Care; United States; USA; Women; Young Children
• ISSN: 0163-2787; 1552-3918
• DOI: 10.1177/01632780022034697

Providing quality prenatal care to high-risk, pregnant adolescents represents an important challenge to health care providers and health plans. Using national prenatal care guidelines, this study sought to evaluate the quality of important processes and outcomes of prenatal care delivered to women age 21 years and younger enrolled in three health plans serving the Connecticut Medicaid population. Some important findings include 93% compliance with recommended processes of prenatal care, an 11% C-section rate, an average length of hospital stay of 4.0 days for women having a C-section, and a 10% premature delivery rate. Opportunities for improvement include 40% failing to begin prenatal care in the first trimester, 31% not receiving the recommended number of prenatal care visits, and 8% delivering a low-birth-weight infant. This study provides important descriptive information on processes and outcomes of care for pregnant adolescents within Medicaid Managed Care and also identifies opportunities for improvement.