The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is soliciting proposals to fund studies of state-level health reform through the SHARE grant program. RWJF seeks to fund timely, policy-relevant studies with strong empirical designs to improve the collective understanding of health reform at the state level and to inform policy and the reform implementation process. Up to $1.3 million will be available under this solicitation to accommodate eight to 12 studies, with individual project funding ranging from $50,000 to $150,000. The deadline to submit proposals under this call is June 1, 2016, at 3:00 p.m. ET. Click here to access the full call for proposals, with details about potential research questions, eligibility and selection criteria, and the application process.
New SHARE Brief: Using HCUP Data for State Health Policy Analysis
The SHARE grant program has released a new brief examining the use of administrative data for the purpose of state health policy analysis. In particular, the brief highlights the hospital administrative data available from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) and presents a case study of Peter Cunningham's SHARE-supported research, which uses HCUP's State Inpatient Databases (SID) to evaluate the impacts of an early ACA Medicaid expansion on inpatient hospital utilization. Controlling for national trends, Dr. Cunningham and his research team at Virginia Commonwealth University found an increase in inpatient volumes at California hospitals relative to comparison states following California's early Medicaid expansion. View the brief to learn more.
Richard Hirth Publishes SHARE-Funded V-BID Analysis in HealthAffairs
In the April 2016 issue of HealthAffairs, Richard Hirth (University of Michigan) and his research team published findings on the effectiveness of a value-based insurance design (V-BID) program for Connecticut state employees. The SHARE-funded analysis focuses on the effects of Connecticut’s Health Enhancement Program (HEP), which is a voluntary program for state employees that incorporates V-BID principles by encouraging consumers to utilize high-value medical services. The authors found that, among HEP enrollees relative to comparison groups, the use of targeted services and adherence to medications for chronic conditions increased, while emergency department use decreased over a two year time period. Access theHealthAffairs article.
Dr. Hirth's co-author and University of Michigan colleague, A. Mark Fendrick, spoke about the team's research findings at a HealthAffairs briefing in Washington, DC, on April 7th. View the briefing recap, orview an infographic highlighting the team's findings.
SHARE-Funded Analysis Wins NIHCM Foundation Health Care Research Award
The research team of Martin Hackmann (Pennsylvania State University), Jonathan Kolstad (University of California, Berkeley), and Amanda Kowalski (Yale University) won the 22nd Annual NIHCM Foundation Health Care Research Award for their SHARE-funded analysis, "Adverse Selection and the Individual Mandate: When Theory Meets Practice," published in the American Economic Review. The analysis shows that the individual mandate in Massachusetts reduced adverse selection and costs in the state's individual market, with an estimated annual welfare gain of $51 million. An independent panel of judges highlighted the policy relevance of the findings as the federal individual mandate continues to face political challenges.
Grantee Spotlight
Peter Cunningham, PhD
Peter Cunningham is the principal investigator on a SHARE-funded project examining the impact of California’s early Medicaid expansion on inpatient and emergency department utilization at safety net and non-safety net hospitals using data from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP). He is a Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University with research interests in public and private health care coverage trends, access to medical care for the uninsured, the effects of high medical bills and costs on access, and the viability of the health care safety net. Dr. Cunningham formerly worked as a senior fellow at the Center for Studying Healthy System Change. Learn more.
Cunningham, P. January 21, 2016. "The Effects of Early Medicaid Expansions in California on Hospital Inpatient Utilization." Presentation. Richmond, VA: Virginia Commonwealth University, Department of Health Behavior and Policy Seminar.
Gollust, S. April 13, 2016. "Geographic Variation in Media Messaging about the Affordabe Care Act and Associations with Insurance Enrollment." Presentation. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota, Health Policy and Management Research Seminar.
Gollust, S. April 19, 2016. "Geographic Variation in ACA-Related Media Messages and Health Insurance Enrollment." Presentation. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Center for Health Administration Studies Michael M. Davis Lecture.
