• Madeleine K Kanaley, Ashley A Dyer, Olivia R Negris, Jamie L Fierstein, Christina E Ciaccio, Ruchi S Gupta, and Lucy A Bilaver.
• Center for Food Allergy and Asthma Research, Institute for Public Health and Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, 750 N Lake Shore Dr, Ste 680, Chicago, IL 60611. Email: l-bilaver@northwestern.edu.
• Am J Manag Care. 2020 Dec 1; 26 (12): 505-512.

ObjectivesTo describe food allergy (FA)-related service utilization and identify factors associated with guideline-informed care among Medicaid-enrolled US children with FA.Study DesignRetrospective cohort study.MethodsWe used the 2012 Medicaid Analytic eXtract files to identify children with an FA diagnosis. FA-related services including outpatient allergist visits, emergency department (ED) visits, epinephrine autoinjector prescription fills, and diagnostic testing were identified. Factors associated with services were assessed using logistic regression. Kaplan-Meier survival curves evaluated the time to guideline-informed care, and proportional hazard models determined associated socioeconomic characteristics.ResultsThere were 64,276 Medicaid-enrolled children younger than 20 years who had at least 1 claim with an FA diagnosis in 2012. Minority children and those living in a high-poverty county were less likely to have visited an allergist for FA or received diagnostic testing but more likely to have an FA-related ED visit compared with White children and those not living in a high-poverty county. Survival analyses found that of children seen for FA-related primary care or an ED visit, rates of allergist follow-up visits were 21% and 17%, respectively, and rates of epinephrine autoinjector prescription fills were 39% and 41%. Significant associations with guideline-informed care were found by race/ethnicity, dense population, and high-poverty counties.ConclusionsAlthough guideline-informed FA care includes follow-up with an allergist and epinephrine autoinjector prescription, this study finds low probabilities of timely service utilization after medical visits, as well as socioeconomic disparities in care.

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