Childhood Injuries in Connecticut's Medicaid Managed Care Program

This study describes childhood injuries and injury-related care using encounter data from a Medicaid managed care program. Enrollment and encounter data for federal fiscal year 2000 were used to identify children who received treatment for an injury, to identify risk fac- tors, and to describe injury-related care. Twenty percent of children were treated for an injury. Preschool-age children and adolescents, males, whites, and residents ofnonurban areas were at greatest risk. Sixty per- cent of injured children received emergency care or were hospitalized. Length of hospital stay for treatment of injuries was 33 percent longer than admissions for other conditions. I•-codes were rarely reported. One of five children in Connecticut's Medicaid managed care program was treated for an injury in a one-year period. Medicaid managed care data can be used to determine the percentage of children who experience injuries, to identify risk factors, and to describe injury-related care.