Using Health Data

The lack of high quality, accessible national claims data has long been a roadblock to robust Medicaid research and subsequent evidence-based policymaking in the United States. While the release of TAF marked a significant improvement, research faculty with AcademyHealth’s Medicaid Data Learning Network (MDLN) outline important steps that state and federal policy makers can take to improve data quality, accessibility, and usability.

AcademyHealth organizational member Aptive Resources partnered with the Department of Veterans Affairs to better address Veteran suicide through improved data collection, working with subject matter experts, and identifying policy gaps.

Top health data experts held an exclusive conversation with AcademyHealth's organizational members on the status, challenges, and opportunities for stakeholder engagement with the Biden-Harris Administration’s attempt to make health data more equitable.

In its first year, the Medicaid Data Learning Network (MDLN) facilitated expert presentations and collaboration among TAF experts and member research teams by hosting an in-person meeting at AcademyHealth's Annual Research Meeting (ARM) and eight virtual learning sessions. This publication presents a summary of the findings from the first year of the Medicaid Data Learning Network, including key takeaways for the research and policy communities from each learning session.

Through a range of activities, AcademyHealth seeks to advance data equity, support data learning networks, and expand data access. We are also announcing a new call for proposals from Health Data for Action, a signature research program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

There is a need to make concerted efforts to include foreign-born populations in HSR and this may mean shirking traditional methods.

With the end of the federal Public Health Emergency, scrutiny at the border, and exciting news for Dreamers, much is changing for foreign-born U.S. residents

The need for more robust data on immigrant subpopulations and their health leaves many health services research questions unanswered as this population grows.