SHADAC will be highlighting these papers through webinar presentations in the coming months and will send out notifications when the events are scheduled.
SHARE-Sponsored Theme Issue of HSR: State Health Policy Research
The journal Health Services Research has released a Theme Issue on State Health Policy Research sponsored by the State Health Access Reform Evaluation (SHARE) grant program. The Theme Issue focuses on the implementation and outcome of state efforts to expand health insurance coverage and access to health care services under reform. A number of articles by SHADAC researchers, SHARE grantees, and the broader health services research community are featured in the Theme Issue, which opens with an editorial from SHADAC Director Lynn Blewett and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Coverage Team Director Katherine Hempstead. Drs. Blewett and Hempstead highlight the importance of state health services and policy research and the data to support it.
Jen Ricards Presents on APCD Expert Panel
SHADAC Senior Research Fellow Jen Ricards, MS, presented on a panel of experts gathered in Boston on November 4th to discuss the opportunities, challenges and lessons learned in accessing and leveraging All Payer Claims Databases (APCDs) to support health services research. The panel, hosted by the Network for Excellence in Health Innovation (NEHI), highlighted existing APCD models, the opportunities and challenges for expanded data access and use, and the potential for APCDs to evolve over time. View the webcast and access supporting materials.
Updating the ACS with Marketplace Questions: Comments Deadline December 30th
Comments on the recent Federal Register notice about the modification of American Community Survey (ACS) are due on December 30th. The current comment period presents an opportunity to voice support for adding insurance questions related to the Health Insurance Marketplace so that the new health insurance landscape can be accurately tracked. Please direct comments to Jennifer Jessup at the Department of Commerce at jjessup@doc.gov. For further details on the Federal Register notice and suggested comment wording, visit the SHADAC blog.
State News
California: CHIS Estimates Available for Small Geographic Areas
Health information from the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS)—the nation’s largest state health survey—is now available at the ZIP code, city, and legislative district level. The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research created the AskCHIS Neighborhood Edition, or AskCHIS NE, a web tool that allows users to customize searches, compare and pool small geographic areas, and map and chart their results. (An existing companion web tool, AskCHIS, allows users to find health data at the county, region, and state levels.) Estimates are available for a wide range of topics, including health insurance coverage, chronic conditions, health behaviors, and access to care.
Colorado: Understanding Why the State's Uninsured Lack Coverage
A new report from the Colorado Health Institute examines data from the 2013 Colorado Health Access Survey (CHAS) to determine why some Coloradans continued to forego coverage after the first ACA open enrollment period. The reason cited most often (by 82.0 percent of uninsured respondents overall) was cost, with the importance of cost increasing with age and varying by geography. The report offers potential enrollment strategies to address the most common reasons cited for foregoing coverage.
West Virginia: Insurance Marketplace Evaluation, Year One
The West Virginia Health Research Center (HRC), in partnership with the Health Policy Division of the West Virginia Offices of the Insurance Commissioner, is conducting a five-year evaluation of the health, economic, and consumer marketing outcomes of the Health Insurance Marketplace in West Virginia. The results from the first year of the evaluation are now available as a series of five reports: (1) Marketplace Background, Evaluation Plan, and Data Sources; (2) Awareness and Interest; (3) Enrollment Numbers and Experiences; (4) Economic Theories of Decision Making and Baseline Data; and (5) Baseline Status of Health in West Virginia. Among key findings: 67.3 percent of West Virginians who responded to a household survey prior to the first ACA open enrollment reported that they were not at all familiar with the Marketplace, and only 26.3 percent reported that they were aware of financial help for the purchase of Marketplace coverage.
Resources
Marketplace Enrollment Reports for Open Enrollment Period 2
SHADAC is tracking marketplace enrollment reports for State Based Marketplaces throughout Open Enrollment Period 2. The reports, organized by state, are accessible via interactive map. Also available are marketplace reports from the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), Medicaid/CHIP enrollment reports from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and SHADAC marketplace-wide enrollment summaries. Open Enrollment Period 2 goes through February 15, 2015.
NHIS: Early Release Program for January-June 2014
The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) released health insurance coverage estimates from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) for January-June 2014 as part of its early release program. The estimates show a 3.4 percent decline in the national rate of nonelderly (ages 18-64) uninsured, from 20.4 percent in 2013 to 17.0 percent in the first half of 2014. A SHADAC analysis of the state-level data found a decrease in uninsurance for people of all ages between 2013 and 2014 in 10 of the 11 states for which year-over-year estimates were available. These decreases were significant in only three of the states (California, Ohio, and Pennsylvania). See SHADAC’s analysis and Lynn Blewett's blog on the new estimates.
The SHADAC Data Center has added estimates from the NHIS to its data portfolio: State-level estimates of health insurance coverage and health care use, access, and affordability using data from the 2012 NHIS are now available. Analyses were conducted at the Minnesota Census Research Data Center because state identifiers—which are restricted data—were needed to produce these estimates.
New 3-Year and 5-Year ACS Estimates Released
The U.S. Census Bureau has released new American Community Survey (ACS) 3-Year Estimates and 5-Year Estimates. The 3-Year Estimates are based on ACS data collected between January 1, 2011, and December 31, 2013, and are available for populations of 20,000 or more. Coverage estimates from the 2011-2013 3-year ACS, along with coverage estimates from the single-year 2013 ACS, are now available in the SHADAC Data Center. The new ACS 5-Year Estimates are based on the pooled years 2009-2013. These estimates are available for geographic areas down to the census tract and block group level. County-level coverage information by state for 2009-2013 is available through an interactive SHADAC map.
Conference Summary - Medicaid on the Eve of the Affordable care Act: What Are the Research Priorities?
The Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs and Urban Institutehave released summary documentation from their co-sponsored November 2013 conference, “Medicaid on the Eve of the Affordable Care Act: What Are the Research Priorities?” The conference was held with the goal of identifying high-priority research questions and gaps in research knowledge related to changes in the Medicaid program occurring under the ACA. SHADAC Deputy Director and Senior Research Fellow Julie Sonier, MPA, spoke to the group about research and data needs for monitoring and implementing the ACA with respect to enrollment and coverage.
