The U.S. Government Accountability Office has performed a limited study of the utilization of Medicaid behavioral health services in Medicaid expansion states.
The study, based on data from New York, Washington, Iowa, and West Virginia, found that the two most heavily utilized behavioral health services were diagnostic and psychotherapy services and that more than two-thirds of behavioral health patients were prescribed anti-depressants. More people sought help for mental health challenges that for substance abuse problems.
Medicaid officials in the selected states concluded that enrollment in Medicaid enhanced access to behavioral health care.
Learn more about the study’s findings in the GAO report Medicaid Expansion: Behavioral Health Treatment Use in Selected States in 2014, which can be found here.