Initial View of the Medicaid Expansion and Public Health Emergency on Hospital Encounters in Missouri

by Timothy McBride, PhD and Eliot Jost, MBA,MPH | September 2023

An expansion of the Missouri Medicaid program was approved by voters in Missouri through the passage of a constitutional amendment in August 2020, later upheld by the Missouri Supreme Court in July 2021. This policy brief reviews changes in hospital encounters over time in Missouri, before and after the start of the Medicaid expansion, concentrating on emergency department encounters and inpatient encounters, and the “payer mix” of those visits, which is the source of payment the hospitals receive.