The explosion of health-related data has created new opportunities to understand how health care is delivered, paid for and preserved. Health services evidence helps us understand how to identify, validate, share and analyze data to improve health.
At the December meeting Harnessing Medicaid to Improve Health Equity: A Research and Policy Agenda, researchers, policy administrators, and other key stakeholders discussed the various data challenges that hamper progress toward health equity, and shared resources and approaches to improve data definitions, collection, and utilization.
Our third post in the Health Equity Blog series summarizes a discussion by researchers and policy administrators outlining opportunities for states to further health equity through managed care organizations. Representatives from Michigan also shared their efforts to embed health equity throughout their state’s Medicaid program.
AcademyHealth member Bianca Frogner, with funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, highlighted data on the health services research (HSR) workforce and how the field has evolved over the last five years. Her findings were recently published in the journal Health Services Research.
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 November edition of the Blueprint provides an update on the end of the Paradigm Project and continuation of efforts to create real and lasting change in how we do, communicate, and use HSR.
With the 2022 Call for Abstracts now open, watch the video reel highlighting key points from the 2021 Annual Research Meeting closing plenary in which experts discussed revamping the public health system by investing in data infrastructure, a diverse workforce, and research.
Health data and research ethicist, Dr. Camille Nebeker, reviews existing and emerging ethical considerations for health research using new data and methods, and uses an original framework to analyze several case examples – that demonstrate the relationships between domains of research and key ethical principles.
The Preparedness and Treatment Equity Coalition (PTEC) is supporting four teams develop implementable, data-driven research to decrease inequity in the health care system. These projects were identified in partnership with AcademyHealth and a work group comprised of PTEC members and partners.
While disadvantage indices are increasingly recognized as a valuable tool to help promote health and prioritize equity, future use of these tools must include investments in data infrastructure, community partnerships, and further evaluation.
