A 2018 awarded grant under the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Research in Transforming Health and Health Care Systems program, managed by AcademyHealth.
This project is funded as part of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s “Research in Transforming Health and Health Care Systems” program, which seeks to build the evidence base on the potential effects of policies or policy changes intended to transform health. The goal of this project is to provide a real-time assessment of the impact of work requirement policies in Arkansas that could inform other states as they begin to implement or propose these policies. Focusing on Arkansas Works, the Medicaid expansion program established by Arkansas’ Section 1115 demonstration waiver, the researchers will address the following questions: 1) What is the early experience of Arkansas as the first state to implement a work requirement? 2) Are there changes in the risk and demographic profiles of the Arkansas Works population in early implementation of the work requirement? 3) Are Arkansas Works beneficiaries in counties with higher unemployment rates differentially affected by the work requirement? 4) What is the rate of re-enrollment of individuals terminated in the first wave of terminations due to non-compliance with the work requirement? Deliverables will include a project work plan and final narrative and financial reports. The grantee will also produce paper(s) suitable for publication and present findings at national research meetings and to other stakeholder audiences as appropriate, including policymakers at the federal, state, and local levels, as part of the deliverables for this grant.
Dr. Joe Thompson is president and CEO of the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement Read Bio
Grant Number: 76041
Grant Period: 12/1/2018 – 2/15/2020
Budget: $178,081
Arkansas Medicaid Work and Community Engagement Requirement: Community Response
Arkansas Center for Health Improvement | July 2019