This year’s State Health Research and Policy Interest Group meeting, held on Saturday, June 13 in conjunction with the AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting, featured research on current and emerging issues facing state health policy professionals as a means to fostering dialogue between health services researchers, policy analysts, and policymakers and informing decision-making.
The one-day meeting included six panels presenting on a variety of state-level health policy and research topics, including delivery system and payment reform, strategies for evaluating the impact of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), access and utilization issues, the impact of benefit design under the ACA, and early assessments of Medicaid expansion.
The meeting agenda and select presentations are now available on AcademyHealth’s website. A few highlights from the meeting include:
- Stephen Zuckerman of the Urban Institute presented on the participating Multi-Payer Advanced Primary Care Practice (MAPCP) Demonstration states’ progress in adopting the patient-centered medical home model. His presentation also explored the participating providers’ perception of the MAPCP Demonstration in facilitating practice transformation and their concerns about the future of the practices with the MAPCP funding ending.
- Patrick Redmon of Berkeley Research Group shared his research on Maryland’s All-Payer Demonstration Model, which included an overview of the model’s design, an analysis of its initial performance, and a discussion of the emerging challenges that could impact the model’s long-term success.
- Tami Gurley-Calvez of the University of Kansas Medical Center focused on her evaluation of the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City’s Marketplace Coverage Initiative (MCI), which sought to expand awareness of the health insurance marketplace and boost enrollment within two states that are relying on the federally-facilitated marketplace and have not expanded Medicaid.
- Joseph Thompson of University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences provided insight into the early impact of Arkansas’s Health Care Independence Program, the state’s Medicaid expansion program that provides premium assistance to the newly eligible beneficiaries who enroll in coverage through the health insurance exchange.
