Medicaid reimbursement program for immediate postpartum long-acting reversible contraception improves uptake regardless of insurance status.

Objective: To evaluate whether a Medicaid reimbursement program for immediate postpartum long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) is associated with an increased rate of LARC uptake.

Study Design: We conducted a retrospective cohort study comparing patients who delivered at a large, urban, tertiary medical center one year before and after Missouri Medicaid coverage changed to reimburse immediate postpartum LARC in October 2016. Patients were identified through the electronic medical record and excluded if they delivered prior to 24 weeks gestation or had a contraindication to immediate postpartum LARC. The primary outcome was placement of immediate postpartum LARC, which we examined overall and stratified by insurance type. We used multivariable logistic regression to determine the impact of the policy change while adjusting for appropriate confounders.

Results: A total of 6,233 eligible patients delivered during the study period: 3105 before and 3128 after the change in reimbursement for immediate postpartum LARC. Patients delivering after the policy change were more likely to be Hispanic, have commercial insurance or be uninsured, and have a BMI >30. Placement of immediate postpartum LARC increased from 0.7% pre- to 9.7% postpolicy change (aOR 15.6; 95% CI 10.1-24.2). In our stratified analysis, immediate postpartum LARC uptake increased for patients with Medicaid (aOR 15.8; 95% CI 9.9-25.4) and commercial insurance (aOR 9.7; 95% CI 3.0-31.8).

Conclusion: The change in Missouri Medicaid reimbursement for placement of immediate postpartum LARC had systemic impact with an increase in postpartum LARC uptake in all patients, regardless of insurance provider.

Implications: Insurance reimbursement has the power to influence hospital policy and patient care. Overall, changes to Medicaid reimbursement increased access to postpartum LARC for all patients at a large academic institution, regardless of insurance status.