Webinar Podcast Available: Prospective Benefit Design for the Medicaid Expansion Population
Dr. Lindsey Leininger, Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, discussed the predictive capacity of self-reported health measures for the purposes of prospective benefit design on a SHARE webinar on October 16, 2013. The analysis, which was funded through a SHARE grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, indicates that self-reported health measures are sufficiently predictive of utilization and cost outcomes to be used as a predictive tool for programmatic purposes. This finding has potentially significant implications as states prepare to absorb millions of previously uninsured enrollees—about whose health care needs relatively little is known—into their expanded Medicaid programs in 2014. Click hereto access the podcast and presentation materials.
John Graves in HealthAffairs: Understanding State Variation in Health Insurance Dynamics
Dr. John Graves, Assistant Professor at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, published findings from hisSHARE-sponsored researchin the September 2013 issue of HealthAffairs. Inthe article, Dr. Graves and coauthor Dr. Katherine Swartz, Professor at Harvard School of Public Health, use a small-area estimation approach to estimate differences across states in percentages of adults losing health insurance and in the lengths of their uninsured spells. They categorize states based on estimated incidence of uninsured spells and spell duration, for which they found wide interstate variation. Drs. Graves and Swartz recommend that states tailor enrollment outreach and retention efforts for the ACA coverage expansions according to their own mix of types of coverage lost and durations of uninsured spells.
Lindsey Leininger Presents SHARE-Sponsored Research at 26th Annual State Health Policy Conference
Dr. Lindsey Leininger, Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago,presented findingsfrom herSHARE-funded research on October 11, 2013, at the 26th Annual State Health Policy Conference, hosted by the National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP). Dr. Leininger spoke on a panel titled,“The State Buzz from AcademyHealth’s Annual Research Meeting,”about the utility of self-reported health measures gathered at the time of Medicaid enrollment for predicting health care utilization and thereby informing Medicaid benefit design.
Amanda Kowalski Discusses Massachusetts Health Reform at Yale University Insitution for Social and Policy Studies
Dr. Amanda Kowalski, Assistant Professor of Economics at Yale University, was invited to present findings from herSHARE-sponsored researchat a conference on September 27, 2013, sponsored by the Yale University Institution for Social and Policy Studies and the Office of Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy. The conference,"Ready to Launch: The Affordable Care Act and U.S. Health Policy,"examined the policy principles underlying the ACA, the implications of the law for Connecticut residents, and how the ACA could be improved. Dr. Kowalski spoke in particular about how the experiences of Massachusetts can inform what the state of Connecticut can expect to see under the ACA. View the event podcast.
Donna Spencer at the American Evaluation Association: Data and Methods Used for SHARE Research
SHARE Deputy Director Donna Spencer presented findings from a systematic review of the data and methods used for SHARE-sponsored research on a panel at the 27th Annual Conference of the American Evaluation Association on October 18, 2013. Dr. Spencer outlined the frequency with which four categories of data--federal and state survey data, claims data, administrative data, and qualitative data--were used and discussed the methodological and practical lessons learned from grantee experiences with these data types, whether used singly or in combination. She pointed out that there is a wealth of data available for health reform evaluation research, and new potential data sources (e.g., health insurance marketplaces) are emerging as ACA implementation continues. View Dr. Spencer's presentation.
Grantee Spotlight
Tom DeLeire, PhD
Dr. Tom DeLeire is Principal Investigator on a SHARE-funded project analyzing the health care utilization patterns among a Medicaid expansion population in Wisconsin: low-income uninsured childless adults newly eligible for Medicaid under Wisconsin's BadgerCare Plus Core Plan. This project is examining several questions including (1) if and how service utilization changes after Medicaid enrollment; (2) how utilization patterns may differ between enrollees coming from prior safety net coverage and those who did not have such coverage; and (3) whether any apparent difference in utilization between those enrollees who had been chronically uninsured and those who had been episodically uninsured shows up in pent-up demand. Dr. DeLeire is Professor of Public Policy at Georgetown University, where his research focuses on labor and health economics. Learn more.
Hirth, R. (presenter), Gibson, T., McKellar, M., Cliff, E., & Fendrick, A. October 28, 2013. "The Clinical and Economic Impact of an Innovative 'Clinically Nuanced' Benefit Design for Connecticut State Employees." Presentation.Yale School of Public Health HPM Colloquium in Health Services Research, New Haven, CT.
