Abstract
Background: Mississippi Bridge to Independence (B2I) was Mississippi’s Money Follows the Person (MFP) program seeking to rebalance the state’s long-term care system by transitioning Medicaid beneficiaries from institutional living to home- and community-based settings (HCBS). Success of initial transitions has been documented in state cost-savings and participants’ quality of life increases. However, reinstitutionalization poses a challenge to sustaining a positive outcome for the initiative. Purpose: Therefore, the purpose of this research is to identify the underlying causes of participants’ reinstitutionalization. Methods: The Quality of Life (QoL) survey designed by Mathematica Policy Research was used to measure variables in 7 categories. Data was collected from 399 participants in face-to-face interviews over a 4-year period (2012– 2016). Results: Among participants, 71.9% (n = 287) completed the B2I program successfully, whereas 8.27% (n = 33) were reinstitutionalized. Utilizing the logistic regression model, results determined elderly people were 15 times and those with physical disabilities were 5 times more likely to be reinstitutionalized than those with intellectual disabilities. Among 7 QoL variables, 2 were found to be significant: “Happiness” and “Choice and Control.” Conclusion: Implications from this study can be important to sustaining the project, developing new policies, and advancing community-supportive infrastructure in Mississippi.
Recommended Citation
Choi, H.
(2023). Using Medicaid Data to Identify Factors that Predict Reinstitutionalization of Mississippians with Disabilities and Elderly People.
Journal of Public Health in the Deep South, 1(1), 9.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.55533/2996-6833.1024