SHARE Quarterly Update: July - September 2014

 

Announcements

SHARE Awards Ten New Grants

SHARE announced ten new grant awards to fund research that addresses health reform issues and the early impacts of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on coverage, health care utilization, and affordability. This is SHARE’s fourth round of grant funding since the program began in 2006. The awards, which range from $95,000 to $150,000, support projects that address a variety of topics, including health insurance coverage, safety net hospital utilization, demand for health care among the newly-insured, and physician participation in Medicaid, among others. Further information about the new studies and about other SHARE-funded projects is available here.  
 

SHARE Findings Published in Health Services Research

Findings from two SHARE-funded research projects were published in Health Services Research (HSR) during the third quarter of 2014. 

In “The Effects of Expanding Public Insurance to Rural Low-Income Childless Adults,” Marguerite Burns (University of Wisconsin-Madison) and her co-authors analyze health system claims data and Medicaid enrollment data to examine utilization before and after a Medicaid coverage expansion to childless adults in rural Wisconsin. The authors conclude that public insurance expansions to childless adults do have the potential to impact the use of health care, with the ACA coverage expansions likely to increase the use of inpatient and outpatient services.  

In “Using Self-Reported Health Measures to Predict High-Need Cases among Medicaid Eligible Adults,” Laura Wherry (University of Michigan) and her co-authors examine data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) to assess the ability of different self-reported health measures to prospectively identify individuals with high future health care needs among Medicaid-eligible adults. The authors find that self-reports of prior utilization provide the greatest predictive improvement, followed by self-reported information on health conditions and health-related quality of life. 
 

Amanda Kowalski Presents Brookings Paper Based on SHARE Modeling

Amanda Kowalski, Assistant Professor at Yale University, presented an analysis of the influence of state-level policy decisions on early ACA impacts at the Fall 2014 Brookings Panel on Economic Activity, in Washington, DC. The analysis, released as a Brookings Paper on Economic Activity, uses data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) and a model developed underDr. Kowalski’s SHARE grant to look at the impact of state policy decisions on welfare outcomes in the individual insurance market for the first half of 2014. Dr. Kowalski found that Maine saw the largest welfare gain among market participants, at $126 per month per participant over the first six months of 2014. In contrast, Oregon saw the largest decrease in welfare, with a drop of $66 per market participant per month.  
 

SHARE Podcasts: Medical Homes Measures, Individual Mandate

Two SHARE webinar podcasts are now available for download and streaming.

“Medical Homes Measures in Household Survey Data,” was broadcast on September 29th and features Urban Institute researchers Lisa Clemans-Cope and Victoria Lynch, who presented findings from their analysis of the validity of the current standard survey-based measure used to study the patient centered medical home for children. SHADAC Investigator and survey methodologist Kathleen call responded to the presentation. Access the corresponding SHARE issue brief.

“The Individual Mandate: Theory and Practice,” was originally broadcast on August 21st and features Dr. Amanda Kowalski, Assistant Professor at Yale University, who discussed the extent to which Massachusetts’ individual coverage mandate mitigated adverse selection in the state’s individual market. Dr. Kowalski was joined by Nancy Turnbull, Senior Lecturer at Harvard University, who discussed the mandate from her perspective as a board member of the Massachusetts insurance exchange and former Deputy Commissioner of Health Policy at the Massachusetts Division of Insurance. View the SHARE issue brief on this topic.
 

Data Sources for Monitoring and Evaluating Health Reform at the State Level

A new SHARE report takes a high-level look at the data sources used in research and evaluation projects funded by SHARE. The report considers four major categories of data used—household survey data, medical claims data, enrollment data, and qualitative data—based on a review of SHARE grantee documentation and products. The report identifies each of the data sources within these categories, examines how the data sources were used, and details researcher insights about the advantages and disadvantages of each data source for supporting state policy research. 
 

Grantee Spotlight

Jeanene Smith, MD, MPH

Jeanene Smith, Administrator of the office of Oregon Health Policy Research (OHPR), is Principal Investigator on a SHARE-funded project that is evaluating the effects of Coordinated Care Organizations--Oregon's version of ACOs for the Medicaid population--on health care access, patient health, quality of care, costs, and utilization. Dr. Smith has been with OHPR since 2000 and has expertise on a range of health policy topics. She has also played a key role in the development and direction of the Oregon Health Research and Evaluation Collaborative (OHREC), an ongoing partnership between local academic health services researchers and the state’s Medicaid division. Learn more.
 

SHARE Publications and Presentations

Avery, K., Au-Yeung, C., Spencer, D., & Worrall, C. 2014. “Data Sources Used for Monitoring and Evaluating Health Reform at the State Level.” SHARE Report. Minneapolis, MN: SHADAC.

Burns, M.E., Dague, L., DeLeire, T., Dorsch, M., Friedsam, D., Leininger, L.J., Palmucci, G., Schmelzer, J., & Voskuil, K. 2014. "The Effects of Expanding Public Insurance to Rural Low-Income Childless Adults." Health Services Research. Published online before print. DOI: 10.1111/1475-6773.12233 

Clemans-Cope, L., Lynch, V., & Call, K.T.  September 29, 2014. “Medical Homes Measures in Household Survey Data.” SHARE Webinar. Minneapolis, MN: SHADAC

Kaplan, R. 2014. “Evaluating the Impact of Extending Dependent Coverage to Young Adults under Health Reform: Project looks at state and then federal policy changes.” Program Results Report Brief. Princeton, NJ: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

 

Kowalski, A.E. 2014. “The Early Impact of the Affordable Care Act State-by-State.” Fall 2014 Brookings Paper on Economic Activity. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution.

Kowalski, A.E., & Turnbull, N. August 21, 2014. “The Individual Mandate: Theory and Practice.” SHARE Webinar. Minneapolis, MN: SHADAC.

Matras, H. 2014. “Looking at the Impact of a Public Health Care Expansion: Assessing the impact on health system capacity and cost-of-coverage expansion under health reform.” Program Results Report Brief. Princeton, NJ: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

State Health Access Reform Evaluation. 2014. “SHARE Grant Award Information, 2014.” SHARE Report. Minneapolis, MN: SHADAC.

Wherry, L.R., Burns, M.E., & Leininger, L.J. 2014. “Using Self-Reported Health Measures to Predict High-Need Cases among Medicaid-Eligible Adults.” Health Services Research. Published online before print. DOI: 10.1111/1475-6773.12222
 

News and Events

Tom DeLeire, Jill Rissi to Present at APPAM, APHA

Tom DeLeire of Georgetown University and Jill Rissi of Portland State University will present findings from SHARE-funded research projects at the upcoming annual conferences of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM) and the American Public Health Association (APHA). Dr. DeLeire will present “The Effects of Expanding Public Insurance on the Use of Preventive Care” on November 7, 2014, at the 2014 APPAM Fall Research Conference in Albuquerque. Dr. Rissi will present “Achieving the Triple Aim in Oregon: Effects of Coordinated Care Organization Implementation on Access, Quality, and Cost,” on November 17, 2014, at the 142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition in New Orleans.  
 

SHARE Research in the News

“Does the Individual Mandate Cut Uninsured Rates?” 
Sarah Wheaton, Politico, August 22, 2014 (subscription required for full access)
Grantee: Amanda Kowalski, Yale University
 

Calls for Papers, Upcoming Conferences

View a comprehensive list of upcoming conferences and workshops.
 

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