Southern Institute on Children and Families Releases New Report

The Southern Institute on Children and Families has released a new report titled "Medicaid and CHIP Retention: A Key Strategy to Reducing the Uninsured."  Southern Institute's website, or click here to view the report.

The new report summarizes information from an eight-state initiative funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and offers new approaches to reducing the number of uninsured by maximizing and maintaining the enrollment of eligible children and families in public health coverage programs across all states. The report suggests that states can benefit from examining renewal processes, understanding and effectively using data to measure renewal outcomes, surveying consumers about their renewal experiences, and reviewing consumer communications. Click here to learn more about the Retention Initiative, or click here to view the report.

In an effort to contribute to the research base about retention in public health coverage programs, SHARE is currently funding four studies of public program enrollment initiatives. We anticipate releasing results in 2010. The studies are as follows:

• Evaluation of 12-Month Continuous Eligibility in Medicaid
  (Click here to read about this study.)
  
  Principal Investigator: E. Richard Brown, Ph.D.
  Institution: UCLA

• Evaluating Wisconsin's BadgerCare Plus Reform Package: Effects on Enrollment, Efficiency, and Churning
  (Click here to read about this study.)
  
  Principal Investigator: Thomas Oliver, Ph.D., M.H.A. | Co-Principal Investigator: Tom Deleire, Ph.D.
  Institution: University of Wisconsin, Madison

• Evaluating the Impact of Outreach and Enrollment Strategies in California
  (Click here to read about this study.)
  
  Principal Investigator: Michael R. Cousineau, Dr.P.H.
  Institution: University of Southern California

• Assessing the First Use of Auto-Enrollment for a State Coverage Expansion
  (Click here to read about this study.)
  
  Principal Investigator: Stan L. Dorn, J.D. | Co-Principal Investigator: Sharon K. Long, Ph.D.
  Institution: Urban Institute, Washington, D.C.