AcademyHealth Blog

Welcome to the AcademyHealth blog, together with our members, we promote interaction across the health research and policy arenas by bringing together a broad spectrum of players to share their perspectives. Here we offer important perspectives from people passionate about expanding access to care, reducing costs and improving quality, as well as updates on AcademyHealth activities relevant to the community.

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States Work to both Adopt and Suspend Medicaid Waiver Demonstrations

Substance Use Disorder continues to be a focus of waiver activity in the states as research provides insights on what’s working and what’s not in Medicaid innovation. Meanwhile, work requirement policies are being both suspended and increased across various states.

Posted Feb 4, 2020

Topics Insurance, Medicare & Medicaid Access to Care

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Bridging Clinical and Research to Action and Impact

In this fourth post in a series leading up to Health Datapalooza and the National Health Policy Conference, Rasu Shrestha highlights ways clinicians and researchers can move their findings faster into policy, health systems and tech development.

Posted Jan 31, 2020 By Rasu Shrestha, M.D., M.B.A.

Topics Using Health Data Hospitals & Health Systems Health Datapalooza National Health Policy Conference

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States Experiment with Cross State Comparison to Evaluate Medicaid Waivers for Substance Use Disorder Services

Virginia, Maryland, and West Virginia employed several innovative evaluation strategies to conduct cross-state comparisons for insights around both the impact and implementation of 1115 waivers.

Posted Jan 30, 2020 By Peter Cunningham, PhD, Cynthia Woodcock, M.B.A., Nathan Pauly, Ph.D.

Topics Insurance, Medicare & Medicaid Access to Care

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Why We Need Less Data and More Story in the Evidence We Present

In the second of a two-part series, guest author Andy Krackov discusses visualizing your findings in ways that are accessible to a broader audience.

Posted Jan 29, 2020 By Andy Krackov

Topics Using Health Data Analytic Tools

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How Clinicians, Patients, and Policymakers can Reduce Harmful Overmedication in Older Americans

Shannon Brownlee and Judith Garber of AcademyHealth organizational affiliate, Lown Institute, highlight key recommendations to eliminate medication overload in older adults.

Posted Jan 28, 2020 By Shannon Brownlee, MSc, Judith Garber

Topics Quality Improvement Public & Population Health

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Embedded Pragmatic Trials for Alzheimer’s Disease: Difficult to Define and Implement, but Desperately Needed

Posted Jan 27, 2020 By Jill Harrison, Ph.D.

Topics Delivering Better Care Public & Population Health

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Learning from Past Progress to Advance the Future of Digital Health

Ashish Atreja reflects on advances in digital health and identifies trends to watch for the future in this third of a series of blog post prior to Health Datapalooza and the National Health Policy Conference.

Posted Jan 24, 2020 By Ashish Atreja, M.D., M.P.H., FACP

Topics Using Health Data National Health Policy Conference Health Datapalooza

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Don’t Blame Your Audience if They’re Not Leveraging Your Data

In the first of a two-part series, guest author and data strategist Andy Krackov outlines practical tips on making sure your data is noticed by the right people.

Posted Jan 22, 2020 By Andy Krackov

Topics Translation, Dissemination & Implementation Using Health Data

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Access to Big Data: A Catalyst for Policy Change

RWJF’s Health Data for Action Program, managed by AcademyHealth, awards 19 new studies

Posted Jan 15, 2020 By Megan Collado, M.P.H.

Topics HSR Resources & Methods Using Health Data

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States Identify Top Medicaid Policy Areas for Future Multi-state Data Analysis

Results from an AcademyHealth investigation highlight four shared Medicaid policy priorities across 22 states: substance use disorder, behavioral health integration, maternal mortality, and social determinants of health.

Posted Jan 13, 2020 By Susan Kennedy, M.P.P., M.S.W.

Topics Using Health Data Data Sharing Insurance, Medicare & Medicaid