Additional authors include April Grady, Dhaval Patel and Jessica Nysenbaum, formerly of Manatt Health Strategies.

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a progressively debilitating genetic condition that affects red blood cells and can result in a variety of serious medical complications, reduced life expectancy and diminished quality of life. SCD occurs in about 1 in every 365 Black or African-American births and 1 in every 16,300 Hispanic-American births. Medicaid covered 66 percent of sickle cell disease hospitalizations in 2004 and 58 percent of emergency department visits for the disease between 1999 and 2007.

In a new article prepared with funding from bluebird bio and published in PLOS ONE, Manatt Health examines the characteristics of those with sickle cell disease using Medicaid data from four states with large populations that account for more than one-third of Medicaid program enrollment.

To read the full article, click here.