Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser.

SHARE Grantee Newsletter - March 12, 2010

News from Grantees

Why Didn't Rhode Island's HEALTHpact Initiative Meet Expectations?

Edward Miller and the SHARE research team led by Vincent Mor have released an issue brief
presenting summary findings from their evaluation of Rhode Island’s HEALTHpact initiative.

HEALTHpact mandated that Rhode Island’s health insurance carriers develop insurance
products designed specifically to encourage take-up of coverage in the small-group market.
To date, however, the program has reached less than 10% of its enrollment cap. Miller and
co-authors conducted an evaluation of HEALTHpact to determine the reasons for the
program’s low take-up. They identify several key lessons learned from this evaluation,
recommending that future small-group reforms (1) provide subsidies for coverage; (2)
garner broker and insurer support; (3) ensure well-resourced government outreach and
oversight; and (4) design wellness incentives carefully.

This research is based on 23 in-depth key informant interviews, document review and
analysis of enrollment data, and the brief is based upon a longer, in-depth report.

Link to the issue brief, “Rhode Island’s HEALTHpact Plan: Lessons for Small-Group Reform.”
View the full report, “Small-Group Health Insurance Reform in the States: Lessons from
Rhode Island’s HEALTHpact Plan.”

Joel Cantor: Dependent Coverage Expansions Less

Effective than Hoped
The next webinar in SHARE's Great Research Conversations Series will feature grantee Joel
Cantor, Director of Rutgers University Center for State Health Policy. Joel will present
findings from his research on state policies that attempt to reduce uninsurance among
young adults by expanding the definition of "dependent" for the purposes of dependent
coverage. These policies are politically popular due to their relative simplicity and their
minimal costs to government. Joel's presentation will build upon the
preliminary results from his recent issue brief, "Dependent Coverage Expansions:
Estimating the Impact of Current State Policies," where he reveals the limited impact of
these efforts. The date for the webinar will be announced soon, along with registration
instructions. Stay tuned!

Read Joel's recent issue brief on dependent coverage expansions.

SHARE and SHADAC News

SHARE Webinar Available for Viewing: Tax-Based Medicaid/CHIP

Outreach
SHARE’s first webinar, "Using Income Tax Information to Target Medicaid and CHIP
Outreach," was broadcast on February 24th, and a recording of the event is now available
for viewing on SHARE's website.

The webinar features presentations by SHARE grantee David Idala, Director of Medicaid
Policy Studies at The Hilltop Institute (University of Maryland, Baltimore County), and
Brenda Freshour-Johnston, Outreach Coordinator at the Iowa Department of Human
Services. The speakers present results and identify lessons learned from the use of state
tax data in Maryland and Iowa to target outreach and enrollment efforts for public insurance
programs. Key lessons for future efforts involve inter-agency data-sharing, income
measurement, articulation of healthcare questions on tax forms, and the development of
enrollment tracking mechanisms.

Watch the webinar.

SHADAC's Enhanced CPS Variables Available for Public Use

SHADAC's "enhanced" insurance coverage estimates from the Current Population Survey
(CPS) are now available for public use. These estimates are adjusted to account for
methodological changes in the CPS that have resulted in known consistency problems when
estimating coverage over time.

Microdata users can download the enhanced variables through the Integrated Public Use
Microdata Series (IPUMS), a public use microdata resource at the Minnesota Population
Center. For information on how the enhanced variables are constructed and what is needed
to ensure a complete extract, refer to SHADAC's technical brief, "Using SHADAC-Enhanced
Current Population Survey Health Insurance Coverage Microdata." For those who don't
want to work with the microdata, estimates can still be run using either the regular or
enhanced CPS at SHADAC's Data Center.

Link to IPUMS.
Access SHADAC's technical brief on the enhanced CPS microdata.
Link to the Data Center.

SHADAC Welcomes New Deputy Director, Julie Sonier

SHARE is happy to announce that Julie Sonier has joined the SHADAC staff as the
program’s new Deputy Director. Prior to her arrival at SHADAC, Julie served as Director of
the Health Economics Program at the Minnesota Department of Health, where she provided
information and analysis on a wide range of issues to executive branch officials, legislators,
and other stakeholders to support data-driven policy decisions. Julie holds a master’s
degree in public affairs from Princeton University and was a federal budget and policy
analyst in Washington, D.C., before beginning her work in Minnesota. We are excited to
welcome Julie to the SHADAC team.

State Reform News

Minnesota DHS Announces Suggested Rates for Medical Homes

Program
As a component of the Minnesota’s 2008 health reform legislation, the state will start
paying for primary care coordination through medical homes in July 2010. Patients insured
through state-subsidized health plans for the poor and disabled and through the health plan
for state employees will be eligible for medical home services. On March 5th, the Minnesota
Department of Human Services announced its suggested rates for the medical homes
program, recommending an average monthly payment of $31.39 to doctors for a given
patient receiving care coordination. This rate would vary according to patient health and
would increase for non-English-speaking patients and for those with severe mental illness.
The state anticipates that investing in medical homes will produce savings equivalent to
expenditures in six months through reduced spending on other medical services, such as
preventable ER visits.

Learn more about Minnesota’s health care homes payment methodology.

Grantee Action Items

Call for Proposals for APPAM's 2010 Fall Research Conference
The Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM) is currently accepting
proposals for its 32nd Annual Fall Research Conference. The theme for the conference is
“Making Fair and Effective Policy in Difficult Times,” and it will be held November 4-6, 2010,
in Boston, MA. The deadline for submitting proposals is Thursday, March 18, 2010.

View the full call for proposals.

RWJF Coverage Team News

MaxEnroll Releases Diagnostic Assessment Report on Enrollment and

Retention
Maximizing Enrollment for Kids (MaxEnroll) has released a report synthesizing the strengths
and weaknesses of the Medicaid/CHIP enrollment and retention systems in each of its eight
grantee states. This assessment provides a baseline evaluation for these states as they
work to increase enrollment and retention of children in their Medicaid and CHIP programs.
The report focuses on four central themes: (1) process improvement and paperwork
reduction; (2) data analysis and integration; (3) leadership capacity, agency coordination
and culture; and (4) consumer, community and stakeholder engagement.

Read the MaxEnroll synthesis report.

Link to the individual state assessments.

AcademyHealth Webinar on Multilevel Modeling: March 25th

AcademyHealth will be hosting a webinar on multilevel modeling (MLM) for health systems
research, to be led by Adam Carle, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of
Cincinnati School of Medicine. Dr. Carle will provide a brief conceptual overview of
multilevel modeling and will demonstrate the application of MLM for public health
questions. The webinar is scheduled for Thursday, March 25, 2010, from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30
p.m. (Eastern). Click here for further details about webinar content and registration.

Registration Open for AcademyHealth 2010 Annual Research Meeting

AcademyHealth will be hosting its 2010 Annual Research Meeting (ARM) on June 27-29, in
Boston, MA. Registration is now open, and discounts are available for those who register by
April 28th. The preliminary meeting agenda, travel details, and registration rates are
available online at www.academyhealth.org/arm. The State Health Research and Policy
(SHRP) Interest Group has also opened registration for its annual meeting, which will be
 held on June 26th as an adjunct to the ARM. To register for the ARM and/or the SHRP
Interest Group meeting, visit www.academyhealth.org/arm/register.

Save the Date: NASHP 23rd Annual State Health Policy Conference
The National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) has announced that its 23rd annual
State Health Policy Conference will be held October 4-6, 2010, in New Orleans, LA. Further
information will be posted at www.nashp.org as it becomes available.

Send Us Your News!

If you have news items that you would like SHARE to highlight, please send them to
Caroline Au-Yeung at butle180@umn.edu.

SHARE is a National Program Office funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to fund, synthesize and
disseminate evaluations of state health reform. Periodically, SHARE will send a newsletter outlining upcoming
events, grantee activities and updates on our funded projects. For more information, visit SHARE's web site,
www.statereformevaluation.org.

You are receiving this email because you opted in at our website. Click here to unsubscribe.

Our mailing address is:

State Health Access Reform Evaluation (SHARE)
SHADAC, University of Minnesota
2221 University Avenue SE, Suite 345
Minneapolis, MN 55414

Copyright (C) 2009 State Health Access Data Assistance Center (SHADAC). All rights reserved.