BACKGROUND: TennCare, beginning in January 1994, channeled all Medicaid-eligible patients into managed care while expanding Medicaid coverage to large numbers of previously uninsured patients. We assessed the impact of TennCare on (1) coronary revascularization of patients who had had an acute myocardial infarction (AMI), (2) the likelihood of the patient having a usual provider of care after discharge from the hospital, and (3) health and functional status 1 to 3 years after the index AMI. METHODS AND RESULTS: With the use of 1996 to 1997 survey data from 438 patients hospitalized for AMI in 1993 and 1995 who were under age 65 years at the index admission, multivariate analysis was used to calculate effects of TennCare on utilization and outcomes. TennCare patients were as likely as privately insured patients to have received coronary revascularization within 30 days of the index AMI (odds ratio 0.87, P =.69). Persons enrolled in TennCare and in traditional Medicaid who received a revascularization procedure were much less likely to have received coronary angioplasty than coronary bypass surgery than were the privately insured (TennCare: odds ratio 0.37, P =.05; Medicaid: odds ratio 0.28, P =.08). Virtually all TennCare enrollees (94%) reported having a usual provider of care in the year before the survey versus 85% for privately insured patients with AMI in 1995 (P =.05). On health and functional status, TennCare enrollees overall fared as well as those with private insurance. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that TennCare brought patients who otherwise would have been uninsured or enrolled in Medicaid into the medical mainstream, measured both in terms of utilization of services and health and functional status.
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