| Description |
Medicaid serves an essential role in the promotion of children's health. Recognizing the risk of uninsurance during the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. government required states to provide continuous coverage for Medicaid enrollees through the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. The temporary protections provided during this period have since ended, and now families are at risk of losing coverage for eligibility or procedural reasons through the redetermination process. Studies have explored changes in type and rates of health insurance coverage since the end of the continuous enrollment period (CEP), yet coverage rates for different demographics and in medical settings remain underexplored. Emergency Departments (EDs) act as a crucial part of the social safety net for Utah families. Especially for families with unmet social needs (USN) and/or limited English proficiency, EDs serve an essential means of accessing medical care. In this thesis using data from a real world prospective efficacy study understanding the benefit of social needs screening, community-based service referrals, and telephonic follow-up within the Primary Children's Hospital ED, I explore the changes in insurance rates among those utilizing the ED during and after the CEP. Further, in an effort to understand any potential times of the day where targeted USN intervention could make the most impact, I assessed changes in USN throughout the day. First, I show that the uninsurance rate of patients in the ED increased statistically significantly since the end of the CEP. Increases in Spanish-speaking patient uninsurance drive this difference. Second, I show no differences in USN distribution during the day indicating no specific high-impact period for targeted USN intervention. |
