Dr. Janet Coffman, a health services researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, presented results from the 2015 survey on California physician participation in the state's Medicaid program, Medi-Cal. Dr. Coffman examined physician acceptance of new patients overall and by specialty type, practice type, and region. She also considered how these results compare to different benchmarks for assessing adequacy of physician supply and how current Medi-Cal physician supply compares to the supply in previous years.
Alan Mckay, CEO of Central California Alliance for Health (CCAH), a Medi-Cal managed care plan serving members in three Central California counties, provided several examples of strategies employed by CCAH to address physician access challenges. These efforts fall into four areas: (1) increasing physician supply, (2) supporting physician retention, (3) promoting the best use of the available healthcare workforce, and (4) reducing the need for physician services.
The California law that requires the state's Medical Board to administer a mandatory physician survey is set forth in Section 2425.3 of California's Business and Professions Code. Access the full text of the law.
Kathleen Call Co-Authors Article on Barriers to Health Care Utilization
September 15, 2016:
SHADAC Investigator Kathleen Thiede Call co-authored an article recently released by Medical Care. The article, “Barriers to Care and Health Care Utilization Among the Publicly Insured,” examines the effect of selected barriers (including perceived patient, provider, and system-level barriers) on past-year health care access as well as the magnitude of those barriers on health care utilization.
The research team included Elizabeth M. Allen (University of Minnesota); Kathleen T. Call (University of Minnesota); Timothy J. Beebe (Mayo Clinic); Donna D. McAlpine (University of Minnesota); and Pamela Jo Johnson (University of Minnesota).
The authors, led by Elizabeth Allen, found that multiple types of barriers are associated with delayed and foregone care; however, system-level barriers and discrimination have the greatest effects on health care-seeking behavior. SHADAC provided help with sampling, weighting, and administrative support for this project.
Publication
SHADAC Newsletter - September 2016
The SHADAC newsletter contains updates on SHADAC activities, news from the states, resource updates, and blog highlights. Subscribe to our newsletter here.
SHADAC's 2016 report on employer-sponsored insurance is accompanied by state-level summary tables of key ESI characteristics. These can be downloaded as one file for all 50 states and the District of Columbia or chosen individually by clicking on the map below.
Evaluation of the Minnesota Accountable Health Model: First Annual Report
The State Innovation Model (SIM) Program is sponsored by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and administered by CMS’s Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI). SIM provides funding and support to states to transform their public and private health care payment and service delivery systems with the aims of lowering health system costs, maintaining or improving health care quality, and improving population health.
In 2013, Minnesota received a SIM award to implement and test the Minnesota Accountable Health Model. Between October 2013 and December 2016, the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) and the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) are implementing the Model across the state of Minnesota.
The State Health Access Data Assistance Center (SHADAC) is managing the state-level self-evaluation efforts for the Minnesota Accountable Health Model project during 2015 and 2016 under a contract with DHS and in collaboration with both DHS and MDH. Five goals have been identified for Minnesota's self-evaluation. These goals include:
Document the activities carried out under the Minnesota Accountable Health Model.
Document the variation in design, approaches, and innovation in Minnestoa Accountable Health Model activities and programs.
Identify opportunities for continuous improvement in Minnesota Accountable Heatlh Model activities and programs.
Examine how the Model has contributed to advancing the goals of SIM in Minnesota.
Identify lessons learned for sustaining the Minnesota Accountable Health Model beyond Minnesota's SIM grant.
This report describes the activities conducted during, and the results from, the first year of this two-year evaluation.