Ohio’s Assessment Survey

The 2012 Ohio Medicaid Assessment Survey (OMAS) conducted by RTI International was able to deliver needed health and healthcare data to public and private organizations to provide insight into the health status of the state’s Medicaid and Medicaid-eligible populations. The sample size interviewed included 22,929 adults 19 and older and 5,515 children up to age of 18.

Administered by Ohio Medicaid with the assistance of the Ohio Colleges of Medicine Government Resource Center, the OMAS is the key to assessing how Ohioans are in terms of clinical healthcare, insurance status, chronic and acute conditions, and mental health, along with surveying health status stressors such as poverty, joblessness, and low socioeconomic status.OMAS is a random digit dial telephone survey designed to measure the health system experiences of Ohioans with interviews conducted in English and in Spanish. Ohio Medicaid covers 13.8 percent of adults ages 19-64, 7.5 percent seniors, and 41.2 percent are children. The adults at 54.4 percent in the age range of 19-54 and 46.4 percent of children are covered by employer-sponsored health insurance. However, 17.3 percent of adults ages 19-64 and 4.8 percent of children are uninsured.

Key survey findings report adults are experiencing fair and poor health status and obesity has increased. Among children, it was found that they experience fair and poor health status with asthma increasing over time. However, overweight and obese status has decreased slightly among children 11-17 years old.

The new adult population eligible for Medicaid as a result of ACA looks similar to their parents on Medicaid. The survey shows that the newly Medicaid eligible have higher risk behaviors for alcohol use and slightly higher prescription pain reliever misuse. In general there is lower use of medical care except for the use of specialty care however; there is a higher prevalence of chronic diseases in the Medicaid eligible population.

When surveyed as to their access to care, 6.6 percent of Medicaid enrolled adults and 8.0 percent of other adults do not have a usual source of care. The survey also showed that in the past 12 months, 43.4 percent of adults and 28.5 percent of children enrolled in Medicaid had one or more visits to the Emergency Room.

 For more information, go to www.grc.osu.edu or call the Ohio Colleges of Medicine Government Resource Center at 614-366-0017.