Effects of the Vermont Mental Health and Substance Abuse Parity Law

Table C.4: Determinants of the Level of Mental Health Service Use: Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont, 1996-1999

  Log of Number of Outpatient Mental Health Visits per User Log of Number of Inpatient/Partial Mental Health Days per Usera
Intercept 1.175***
(0.021)
1.641***
(0.273)
Age (40 and over omitted)    
   18 and under 0.045***
(0.016)
0.061
(0.178)
   19 to 29 0.001
(0.020)
-0.258
(0.201)
   30 to 39 0.073***
(0.013)
-0.028
(0.169)
Gender (Female omitted) -0.033***
(0.011)
-0.059
(0.126)
Subscriber Status (Dependent omitted) 0.060***
(0.012)
-0.215
(0.146)
County (Chittenden omitted)    
   Addison 0.032
(0.022)
0.665**
(0.269)
   Bennington 0.010
(0.020)
0.269
(0.268)
   Caledonia/Essex/Orleans -0.178***
(0.021)
0.282
(0.214)
   Franklin/Grand Isle -0.104***
(0.027)
0.217
(0.261)
   Lamoille -0.001
(0.027)
0.482
(0.397)
   Orange -0.093***
(0.028)
0.108
(0.318)
   Rutland -0.093***
(0.021)
-0.389
(0.300)
   Washington -0.032*
(0.017)
0.215
(0.207)
   Windham/Windsor -0.021
(0.016)
0.288
(0.198)
Diagnosis    
   Major Depression/Bipolar Disorder/Schizophrenia 0.129***
(0.014)
0.305**
(0.143)
   Mild/Moderate Depression 0.227***
(0.013)
-0.063
(0.120)
   Adjustment Reaction 0.173***
(0.012)
-0.155
(0.129)
   Dual Diagnosis (MH/SA) -0.013
(0.043)
0.110
(0.178)
Line of Business (VFG omitted)    
   Basic -0.040***
(0.014)
0.219
(0.162)
   Comp 0.001
(0.012)
-0.024
(0.150)
Quarter -0.006***
(0.002)
-0.017
(0.019)
Managed Care for MH/SA (1 = yes) -0.156***
(0.017)
-0.177
(0.189)
Parity (1 = yes) 0.069***
(0.020)
0.204
(0.221)
R-Square 0.025 0.129
F 32.07*** 1.48*
N 28,304 252
Dependent Variable Mean 1.294 1.842
Sources: Original analysis of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont claims/encounter data by Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.
   
a The dependent variable reflects an inpatient-day equivalence, where two days of "partial" treatment are counted as one day of inpatient treatment
   
* Significantly different from zero at the .10 level, two-tailed test.
** Significantly different from zero at the .05 level, two-tailed test.
*** Significantly different from zero at the .01 level, two-tailed test.
   
S.E. = Standard error.

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