Medicaid Outcomes Distributed Research Network: Examining Quality Improvement for Medicaid Programs (MODRN EQUIP)

AcademyHealth's Evidence-Informed State Health Policy Institute, as the Administrative Coordinating Center for the Medicaid Outcomes Distributed Research Network, supports the 12 state-university research teams to develop opioid use disorder (OUD) quality measures that can be constructed at the provider level, incorporate patient experience, and center health equity. 

State Medicaid agencies play a critical role in covering OUD treatment, as more than half (54 percent) of individuals who need OUD treatment use Medicaid to pay for these expenses. Despite past efforts of expanding the continuum of care and improving the quality of OUD care, underdeveloped OUD quality measures remain a persistent issue.   

This limitation hinders opportunities for targeted intervention and thorough evaluation of policy effects, creating a need for research and policy partnerships. MODRN EQUIP will draw on robust university-state partnerships in 12 states accounting for 24 percent of U.S. Medicaid enrollment to support efforts to improve OUD quality.   

With funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) Initiative, the University of Pittsburgh, in collaboration with AcademyHealth's Evidence-Informed State Health Policy Institute, and Medicaid Outcomes Distributed Research Network state-university partnerships in twelve states will engage multi-stakeholder experts, including Medicaid clinicians, OUD treatment providers, quality measurement experts with Medicaid programs and management care plans, and beneficiaries to address the underdevelopment of OUD quality measures at the provider level. Efficient and sustainable OUD quality measures developed and implemented by MODRN EQUIP will guide quality improvement initiatives and Medicaid policy decisions.    

Throughout the five years of funding, MODRN EQUIP, led by Multi-Principal Investigators Julie Donohue, Ph.D. and Andrew Barnes, Ph.D. aims to:  

1. Develop and describe provider-level OUD treatment quality measures. Project 1 analyzes Medicaid claims and enrollment data and engages Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin and is led by Project Directors Marguerite Burns, Ph.D. and Evan Cole, Ph.D., M.P.H.  
2. Measure OUD patient-reported outcomes and experiences in treatment. Project 2 utilizes Medicaid patient surveys and interviews linked with Medicaid claims and engages Michigan and Virginia, led by Project Directors Andrew Barnes, Ph.D. and Sarah Clarke, M.P.H.  
3. Implement an OUD quality improvement initiative in Medicaid. Project 3 examines the feasibility and effectiveness of a practice-level quality improvement intervention for OUD in 10 intervention clinics in Ohio. Project 3 is led by Project Directors Dushka Crane, Ph.D., L.S.S.B.B. and Adam J. Gordon, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.P., D.F.A.S.A.M.