Racial Disparities in Outpatient Mental Health Service Use Among Children Hospitalized for Traumatic Brain Injury

OBJECTIVE To examine racial differences in mental health service utilization after hospitalization for traumatic brain injury (TBI) among children with Medicaid insurance. DESIGN AND MAIN MEASURES Retrospective analysis of the MarketScan Multi-State Medicaid database from 2007 to 2012 was performed. Outpatient mental health service utilization (psychiatric and psychological individual and group services) was compared at TBI hospitalization, from discharge to 3 months and from 4 to 12 months after discharge, between children of non-Hispanic white (NHW), non-Hispanic black (NHB), Hispanic, and "Other" racial groups. Multivariable mixed-effects Poisson regression models with robust standard errors were utilized. RESULTS A total of 5674 children (aged