Impact of Shared Plans of Care on Healthcare Utilization by Children with Special Healthcare Needs and Mental Health Diagnoses.

Abstract

We assessed how shared plans of care (SPoC), a care coordination tool, impact healthcare utilization of a cohort of children with special healthcare needs (CSHCN) and mental health conditions. Data, including emergency department (ED) visits, hospitalizations, and primary care visits, were collected through chart review of CSHCN. A Poisson generalized linear mixed model was used to analyze healthcare utilization data for CSHCN. Our results showed a decrease in primary care visits, hospitalizations, and ED visits for CSHCN after SPoC implementation, though only primary care visits reached significance. Mental health care visits were specifically found to decrease by 39% following employment of SPoC. The use of SPoCs in CSHCN had a positive impact on healthcare utilization suggesting widespread use of this tool improved care coordination in this population.