Focus Area

State Health Policy Leadership

Content Type:

  • Blog Post

    State Medicaid Agencies’ Multifaceted Response to the Opioid Epidemic

    January 2022 Evan S. Cole Susan Kennedy Julie Donohue, PhD

    To advance knowledge about the multiple facets of state Medicaid policy adoption and implementation, these researchers conducted in-depth interviews in 2019 with policy officials from nine states — Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin — that participate in a multistate Medicaid collaborative project: the Medicaid Outcome Distributed Research Network (MODRN). More

  • Blog Post

    In Celebration of CMS’ Call to Medicaid and CHIP Action: It’s Both Great and Not Enough

    December 2021 Kate McEvoy

    Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure and Director Daniel Tsai’s recent Health Affairs blog post on their strategic vision for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program was a welcome call for building on Medicaid’s many historical successes. More

  • Increasing Access to Medications for Opioid Use Disorder: Policy Strategies During and After the COVID-19 Pandemic

    Publication

    Increasing Access to Medications for Opioid Use Disorder: Policy Strategies During and After the COVID-19 Pandemic

    October 2021 Caroline M. Au-Yeung Lynn A. Blewett Tyler Winkelman

    Policy Points Policymakers should make permanent important policy changes put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic that have improved access to… More

  • More Information Needed: How CMS Can Best Partner with State Medicaid Agencies

    Blog Post

    More Information Needed: How CMS Can Best Partner with State Medicaid Agencies

    September 2021 Elena Nicolella Christopher F. Koller

    England States Consortium Systems Organization’s Elena Nicolella and the Milbank Memorial Fund’s Christopher F. Koller say that CMS leadership will need to consider the health information technology support and tools that state Medicaid agencies will need to be full partners in these efforts. More

  • Blog Post

    State Health Policy Decisions: What Does Federalism Have to Do with It?

    July 2021 Rachel Block

    States sometimes forge new paths in health policy. For example, Washington State recently created the first long-term care insurance law and… More

  • Addressing COVID-19 Health Disparities: Opportunities for Medicaid Programs

    Publication

    Addressing COVID-19 Health Disparities: Opportunities for Medicaid Programs

    June 2021 Aasta Thielke Pam Curtis Valerie King

    This work was funded through the Medicaid Evidence-based Decisions Project (MED). The MED project is a collaboration of state agencies. MED produces… More

  • Putting a Human Face on Government: Indiana’s 211 Hotline

    News Article

    Putting a Human Face on Government: Indiana’s 211 Hotline

    June 2021 Martha Hostetter Sarah Klein

    Moving 211 into the Indiana’s Family and Social Services Administration has given Hoosiers a single point of entry to a wide range of services and supports. It has also offered state leaders a better understanding of the unmet needs of residents and enabled them to better coordinate between state agencies and community-based organizations. More

  • The Need to Expand Buprenorphine Prescribing to Treat Opioid Use Disorder

    Blog Post

    The Need to Expand Buprenorphine Prescribing to Treat Opioid Use Disorder

    May 2021 Alexandra Duncan Jared Anderman Ian Reynolds Bradley D. Stein

    Copublished with The Pew Charitable Trusts and Deerfield Management Despite overwhelming research showing that three approved medications to treat… More

  • Strengthening Primary Care and Improving Population Health: Nebraska’s Approach

    News Article

    Strengthening Primary Care and Improving Population Health: Nebraska’s Approach

    April 2021 Martha Hostetter Sarah Klein

    In Nebraska, a cadre of independent clinicians, health plan administrators, with a state legislator have partnered over the last decade to strengthen the state’s primary care infrastructure. In a new article, Martha Hostetter and Sarah Klein look at the progress advanced by these leaders, who are working today with the dean of the University of Nebraska’s School of Public Health to align health plans and providers around shared population health goals. More

  • Medicaid Delivery System Reforms to Combat the Opioid Crisis

    Publication

    Medicaid Delivery System Reforms to Combat the Opioid Crisis

    March 2021 Susan Kennedy Logan Sheets

    Most state Medicaid OUD care delivery innovations can be categorized into two main areas: 1) health homes and 2) warm handoffs and care transitions. This brief provides an overview of these approaches and offers recent examples from state Medicaid programs. More