Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Panel: Helping States Use Evidence-Based Research to Improve Health Care Purchasing, Delivery, and Transparency

(Health Policy)

States are purchasers of health care for large and varied populations—including those in Medicaid and CHIP, state employees and retirees, and those enrolling in state marketplaces– making them well positioned to pursue reforms that increase transparency, improve purchasing efficiency, and maximize the quality of care delivered to beneficiaries. While the Affordable Care Act ushered in a variety of new possibilities for state experimentation and innovation, states needed research expertise to help them understand how to best plan for and deploy their resources. The presenters in this panel will showcase recent work using evidence-based research to provide customized technical assistance (TA) to states to help them further their health reform goals. The first presenter will review TA provided to California to help the state collect, report, and interpret data on the pathways to publicly subsidized health care coverage. The second presenter will review TA efforts supporting multiple states trying to design and test innovative, state-based initiatives to improve health care quality, reduce costs and address population health. This talk will describe how evidence-based research supports the delivery of TA to states to advance the implementation of delivery system and payment reform efforts. The third presenter will describe TA to help states assess the financial impact and sustainability of Medicaid expansion decisions, including how TA providers collected and curated data on maximizing federal matching dollars and explored state revenue strategies to support states’ efforts to adopt and sustain expansions.