Our staff are nationally recognized experts on collecting and applying sound data to inform public health, health care reform strategies, federal healthcare policy, and health policy decisions at both the state and federal levels. We rely on both qualitative and quantitative data sources to identify and frame policy options and bring long-standing qualifications in tapping federal survey data sources. We provide direct technical assistance to individual states, create forums to support state-to-state peer learning, and more broadly conduct targeted research and policy analysis as well as translate technical information into content that is accessible and informative to decision-makers.
Below, you'll find examples of SHADAC projects and blogs in this area of expertise.
Related SHADAC Projects
Technical Assistance to States
SHADAC provides on-demand, quick turnaround technical assistance as part of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s (RWJF's) State Health & Value Strategies (SHVS), a program that connects state officials with experts in the field to support them in transforming their health care systems to be affordable, equitable, and innovative. SHADAC provides analytic and evaluation support to state officials with the goal of helping them use sound data to inform policy decisions on topics such as Medicaid, state health policy, federal health care policy, health equity, health care affordability, quality measurement, coverage and access expansions, health insurance exchanges, and population health.
Other recent work with SHVS has focused on the implications and impact of the 2025 federal budget reconciliation bill on states, including tracking state-specific estimates of the impacts of proposed changes to Medicaid, as well as tracking state-specific estimates of the impacts of proposed changes to marketplace coverage.
Another ongoing area of support is helping state agencies improve the quality and collection of enrollee demographic data with the goal of addressing disparities among different populations. For instance, SHADAC provided a recent Expert Perspective on the disability gap in Medicaid, with analysis showing that more than two-thirds of Medicaid enrollees who self-identify as having a disability are not enrolled through the program's disability pathway.
Additionally, SHADAC works with states on their specific questions or challenges both one-on-one and through a peer-learning group aimed at discussing specific operational challenges related to data collection, coding, and analysis.
Minnesota Equitable Health Care Task Force
Researchers from SHADAC and the UMN Division of Health Policy and Management (HPM), including Division Head Dr. Jean Abraham as Principal Investigator, worked collaboratively to support the work of the Equitable Health Care Task Force convened by the Minnesota Department of Health. Together, the UMN HPM and SHADAC team conducted both rapid and in-depth literature reviews and syntheses to identify promising health care practices and public policy supports in five main topic areas—integration of health care and public health, whole person health, culturally appropriate care, care navigation and health literacy, and value-based payment models—that work to address disparities in access, quality, and outcomes among priority population segments, with the ultimate aim of helping the Task Force produce draft recommendations to promote a more equitable health care system.
SHADAC and UMN HPM communicated findings through presentations to MDH and the Task Force; production of multiple materials, such as a Resource Guide, which includes innovations and state case study examples from a broad-based evidence scan across all five topic areas and a Policies and Practices Guide; and ad hoc technical research support.
Single-Payer Project: Critical Review of Single-Payer Studies
In Minnesota in 2023, SF 2740 and HF 2798 called for the establishment of a state-based, single-payer plan called the Minnesota Health Plan (MHP) along with additional legislation including financial support for an economic analysis to model impact of the MHP proposal. The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) contracted with a UMN-SHADAC team to conduct a comprehensive review of selected already existing state and federal efforts to model single-payer legislative proposals. This project’s goal was to critically review existing state and federal modeling efforts of single-payer proposals to better understand the data sources and methodological approaches used, including the incorporation of scholarly evidence into modeling assumptions. The deliverable from this project informed MDH’s Request for Proposals process to identify a contractor to conduct an analysis of the benefits and costs of a universal health care finance system.
The UMN-SHADAC team, led by PI Dr. Jean Abraham, conducted a scan of all 50 states and the District of Columbia to identify states with single-payer legislation and related empirical analyses of the proposed impact. Using this scan and recommendations from the UMN-SHADAC team, MDH responded with a final list of five states (CA, NM, OR, VT, and WA) and one national study (CBO) for the team to review. Next, the UMN-SHADAC team developed a structured template to extract relevant information from each study.
The UMN-SHADAC team summarized the critical review findings in a memo, focusing on how the characteristics of the models reviewed align with requirements articulated in Minnesota’s single-payer legislation. Read that memo here.
Public Health Implications of Cannabis Policy in Minnesota
SHADAC and the University of Minnesota’s Cannabis Research Center (CRC) have released a brief using data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) to understand issues related to public health implications of Minnesota cannabis use prior to its 2023 legalization. Along with providing key background information and context on cannabis policy in the United States, this brief specifically examines three oft cited concerns with cannabis legalization: the prevalence of cannabis use; cannabis abuse and dependence (i.e., addiction); and driving under the influence of cannabis. The data in this brief are intended to serve as starting points for discussions on the public health impacts of Minnesota cannabis policy. Read the brief in full here along with this accompanying blog post.
Past Work
Minnesota Long-Term Services and Supports: Demographics Report, Future Utilization & Payments, Projection Model
Lynn Blewett, founding Director of SHADAC, worked alongside researchers at Purdue University to author a report on utilization, cost, and demographics of populations that use Long-Term Services and Supports (LTSS) in Minnesota. This was conducted as part of a larger study, Own Your Future 3.0: Planning for Minnesotans’ LTSS Needs, sponsored by Minnesota’s Department of Human Services, Aging and Adult Services Division. SHADAC researchers and collaborators on this project worked towards the objectives of studying current and future use of Long-Term Services and Supports (LTSS) for older Medicaid enrollees and the general older population in Minnesota, describing LTSS service utilization and expenditures for Minnesota’s older population in 2016-2021, and estimating future Medicaid LTSS utilization and expenditures using demographic data, areas of need, and other information. SHADAC has also collaborated with the Minnesota Department of Human Services to develop a model estimating future Medicaid utilization and spending in Minnesota for long-term services and supports (LTSS). The spreadsheet model leveraged data from the American Community Survey (ACS), the state’s Medicaid Management Information System (MMIS), and the state’s Survey of Older Minnesotans to define current Medicaid cohorts and use, calculate projections of future eligibility, and delineate predictors of LTSS service use under different economic and policy assumptions. See the publications and resources made for this project here.
Leveraging 1332 State Innovation Waivers to Stabilize Individual Health Insurance Markets
Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), SHADAC researchers documented the strategies and rationale of the first three states to receive federal approval to establish state reinsurance programs with federal funding—Alaska, Minnesota, and Oregon—via Section 1332 State Innovation Waivers in order to address the volatility of their individual health insurance markets. SHADAC identified challenges, facilitators, and lessons learned during the waiver application and implementation processes that could be helpful for states considering similar state health policy action and for federal regulators interested in supporting similar state initiatives. Learn more about the project here.
Strategies to Increase Access to Medications for Opioid Use Disorder during the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond
SHADAC researchers, along with Hennepin Healthcare researcher Tyler Winkelman, authored a Milbank Foundation policy brief that examines the federal healthcare policy and state policy changes put in place to improve access to medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) during the COVID-19 pandemic, during which time MOUD became especially challenging to access because MOUD patients are typically required to have as many as six in-person clinic visits a week. The authors conclude with federal and state policy recommendations based on their analysis. Read the brief here.
Assessment of State Health Information Exchange Policy
On behalf of the Connecticut Health Foundation, SHADAC authored a policy brief exploring the launch of a new statewide health information exchange (HIE)—the Health Information Alliance— in Connecticut. In addition to providing context for the state’s new HIE, the brief also offers an overview of the current landscape in Connecticut related to information exchange and describes opportunities and potential obstacles going forward, such as the need for robust provider participation, provision of incentives to ensure participation, and the development of a long-term funding and patient engagement strategy. To inform this work, SHADAC researchers conducted a review of select national and state literature and organized interviews with key stakeholders both in Connecticut and in other states that are further along with statewide HIE efforts, with the goal of helping policymakers and those interested in patient care and population health understand where the state is today, what’s coming, and what to consider for success.
State-Based Reinsurance Programs via 1332 State Innovation Waivers
SHADAC maintains a frequently updated resource highlighting state reinsurance policies passed using a 1332 waiver. This information is presented in an interactive map that provides an overview of the different stages of states' 1332 waiver reinsurance applications. Check it out here.
Related SHADAC Blogs
15 Years of the Affordable Care Act: More Americans Than Ever Have Health Insurance Coverage
We take a look at what the Affordable Care Act is, how it’s changed America’s insurance coverage rates, and the impact of the ACA on uninsured populations in this blog.
What Is a “Countercyclical” Policy or Program?
This "Basics Blog" reviews what countercyclical government policies and programs are and how they work. Learn more here.
Opinions on Minnesota Medicaid: New Survey Asks Minnesotans about Minnesota Medical Assistance, the State’s Medicaid Program
In May 2025, the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) partnered with the State Health Access Data Assistance Center (SHADAC) at the University of Minnesota on a survey to assess how Minnesotans perceive the Minnesota Medicaid program (known as Medical Assistance in Minnesota). Read the findings in this blog.