The role of care coordination and out‐of‐home placement in youth dental and vision care visits

Care coordination has been proposed as an approach to promote access to services for youth with complex health and mental health needs. Youth with behavioral health needs are at increased risk of out‐of‐home placement, an experience which may also impact service utilization. Using a sample of administrative and public health insurance record data for youth with mental health needs, we assessed the relationships between care coordination and out‐of‐home placement on service utilization of dental and vision care. Findings suggest that placement is significantly associated with increased likelihood of accessing dental and vision care. The onset of care coordination is associated with a small but significant increase in vision care use. Regulatory and policy directives for out‐of‐home care providers in the USA may be facilitating access to dental and vision care services for youth in placement. Key Practitioner Message: • Youth in placement were more likely to have dental and vision care visits; • Onset of care coordination was not associated with increased dental and vision care.