Insurance, Medicare & Medicaid

The Evidence-Informed State Health Policy Institute kicks off the new year by sharing 2021 highlights, as well as projects our team, in collaboration with our Network members, are working on in 2022.

Effective social determinants of health programming requires flexibility, agility, and a continuous improvement mindset to transition to whole-person care.

With funding from the CDC Foundation, AcademyHealth’s Evidence-Informed State Health Policy Institute and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, in collaboration with five Southern state-university partnerships, publish timely findings on prenatal syphilis screening rates among Medicaid enrollees.

Despite a need for financing reforms that better incentivize addressing patient whole health and wellness, the lack of clear standardization of social determinants of health screening tools, interoperable data collection systems, lack of robust health-related social services expenditure data, and financing uncertainties and insecurities present significant challenges for value-based payment arrangements, according to this analysis.

At this early stage of social determinant of health incorporation, many states are targeting their programming, particularly screening and care management/coordination, towards high-risk populations, such as beneficiaries in substance use disorder treatment or those with significant behavioral health needs, children with complex care needs, beneficiaries living with HIV, and individuals with multiple comorbidities.

The Evidence-Informed State Health Policy Institute (ESHPI) developed a COVID-19-related research agenda exploring how Medicaid can examine the long-term impact on beneficiaries and the program.

With the recent expiration of the federal eviction moratorium and the heightened focus on social determinants of health during the COVID-19 pandemic, this new cross-state analysis of permanent supportive housing programs is timelier than ever.

With funding from the National Institutes on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Medicaid Outcomes Distributed Research Network (MODRN) members and AcademyHealth conducted key informant interviews with nine states to describe the roles that Medicaid programs have taken to address the opioid epidemic and their policy and operational decisions.

As lead clinicians for their states with responsibility for overseeing clinical care and stewardship of resources, Medicaid Medical Directors share their perspectives on clinical matters related to the FDA’s Accelerated Approval Program.