Insights

HMA Insights: Your source for healthcare news, ideas and analysis.

HMA Insights – including our new podcast – puts the vast depth of HMA’s expertise at your fingertips, helping you stay informed about the latest healthcare trends and topics. Below, you can easily search based on your topic of interest to find useful information from our podcast, blogs, webinars, case studies, reports and more.

Show All | Podcast | Blogs | Webinars | Weekly Roundup | Videos | Case Studies | Reports | News | Solutions

Filter by topic:

Receive timely expert insights on topics you care about.

Select Topics

1056 Results found.

Brief & Report

Medication-assisted treatments (MAT) issue brief addresses objections and misconceptions

Download

A new issue brief authored by HMA Principal Donna Strugar-Fritsch, MPA, BSN, dispels myths about, and objections to, the use of medication-assisted treatments (MAT) to treat opioid addiction. The brief is a clear and concise look at MAT, how and why it works, and what its use can mean for those impacted by opioid use disorder.

The brief lays out common misconceptions about MAT and provides evidence-based responses to each, including supporting citations. It also includes objections to treating addiction in criminal justice settings and is a valuable tool for anyone working to expand access to MAT.

Objections addressed in the brief include treating a drug addiction with a drug, abuse of buprenorphine, abstinence-based treatment, methadone myths and more. It underscores the evidence basis for MAT as a key tool in reducing relapse and overdose death.

The brief was published by the California Health Care Foundation.

Case Study

Collective Impact Evaluation of Aging in Place, Aging in Community Strategic Plan

Download

The Challenge:
WEHO initiated the development of a five-year strategic plan – Aging in Place, Aging in Community (AIP) – to help the city evolve as a community where aging is embraced and where people can remain in the housing of their choice for as long as possible. The city’s strategic plan built on the city’s existing policies and programs, such as arts and cultural events, lifespanfriendly housing, senior services, and other approaches to wellness, while responding to the demographic trend of people living longer and living independently in their homes. West Hollywood is home to LGBTQ community members; long-term HIV survivors; Russian-speaking emigrants, many of whom are 80 and 90 years of age; Baby Boomers reaching retirement age;
and a large population of single head of household families. As a caring and supportive city, demonstrated by 31 years of proactive and progressive policies and services, it was important to WEHO to be able to measure their progress in this work.

WEHO needed an evaluator to create and implement an evaluation plan to determine whether the investments into the initiative were resulting in the desired changes. WEHO engaged HMA Community Strategies (HMACS) to advise on advanced evaluation planning during the completion of the strategic plan, and then contracted HMACS for the full evaluation to measure the impact of the strategic plan across the community.

Brief & Report

HMA MACPAC report, care coordination in integrated care programs serving dually eligible beneficiaries

Download

A team of HMA colleagues including Sarah Barth, Sharon Silow-Carroll, Esther Reagan, Mary Russell and Taylor Simmons completed a study for the Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC) to examine care coordination requirements for several Medicare-Medicaid integrated care models.

The study’s final report, Care Coordination in Integrated Care Programs Serving Dually Eligible Beneficiaries – Health Plan Standards, Challenges and Evolving Approaches, is posted to the MACPAC website.

Brief & Report

Engagement with community-based organizations key to achieving health equity & wellness for Medicaid populations

Download

A new issue brief from AcademyHealth, in partnership with Health Management Associates (HMA) and the Disability Policy Consortium (DPC), showcases the vital role that community-based organizations (CBOs) can play in advancing health equity and wellness for individuals and communities in Medicaid payment and care delivery system reform.

The brief provides five key lessons from CBOs in New York City and reactions to those lessons from CBOs in Massachusetts. Together, these perspectives provide a compelling case to elevate the role of CBOs in reform.

The authors, including HMA’s Ellen Breslin and Heidi Arthur, call for the development of a National Blueprint for Advancing Health Equity Through Community-Based Organizations to facilitate greater cross-sector collaboration between CBOs and HCOs.

Read the full brief here or on the AcademyHealth website.

Brief & Report

HMA colleagues conduct impact assessments of proposals developed by California future health workforce commission

Download

A team of HMA colleagues, including Carrie Cochran, Helen DuPlessis, Kelly Krinn, Nora Leibowitz and Ryan Mooney, along with Healthforce Center at the University of California, San Francisco conducted impact assessments on recommendations developed by the California Future Health Workforce Commission.

The assessments were provided to the commission and used to help determine which of more than 30 proposals would be part of the commission’s final report. In addition, Nora Leibowitz summarized commissioner dissents with the draft recommendations and organized the outstanding issues for the report.

The final report, which identifies a doctor shortage in California and mechanisms for addressing the problems, included the supporting work by HMA.

Download the impact assessments below.

Brief & Report

White paper prepared by HMA aligns CenteringPregnancy with value-based payment models

Download

In, “Aligning Value-Based Payment with the CenteringPregnancy Group Prenatal Care Model: Strategies to Sustain a Successful Model of Prenatal Care,” HMA authors Diana Rodin, MPH, and Margaret Kirkegaard, MD, MPH, review new opportunities to promote improved outcomes and lower costs in maternity care though value-based payment strategies. Prepared for the Centering Healthcare Institute, it demonstrates specifically how CenteringPregnancy can be an effective, financially sustainable model of maternity care, that meets the goals of value-based payment contracts.

The report examines:

  • Value-based payment in Medicaid maternity care
  • Alternating payment models in maternity care across states
  • CenteringPregnancy as a model of prenatal group care – outcomes, evidence, cost and savings
  • CenteringPregnancy alignment with value-based payment framework

The complete white paper can be downloaded below.

Brief & Report

Report examines Medicaid program features, challenges, and changes in the territories

Download

Medicaid was designed to serve low-income and vulnerable individuals, but it operates differently in the U.S. territories than it does in the states. While the federal share varies based on per capita income for each state, federal funding for Medicaid in the territories is subject to a statutory cap and a fixed federal matching rate. Following recent hurricanes, typhoons and the North Korean missile crisis, which have damaged infrastructure and limited tourism, the fiscal issues for territories have been exacerbated. This is in addition to the larger share of people living in poverty that are in fair or poor health in the territories.

In a recently published issue brief, Kaiser Family Foundation’s Program on Medicaid and the Uninsured Policy Analyst Cornelia Hall and Associate Director Robin Rudowitz, along with HMA Principal Kathy Gifford, surveyed and interviewed territory Medicaid officials to identify the key issues and trends in the programs for the territories.

Key findings include:

  • The reliance on Affordable Care Act funds for Medicaid programs, which are set to expire in September.
  • Enrollment increases due to recent hurricanes.
  • Benefits and delivery systems differ in the territories.
  • Provider shortages.

View below for the full issue brief.

Brief & Report

Average Sales Price Reimbursement: Significant Savings from Prior Benchmark

Download

Prior to the enactment of the Medicare Prescription Drug and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA), the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 had set reimbursement for drugs and biologics provided incident to physician services under Part B of the Medicare Program at 95% of Average Wholesale Price (AWP). AWP as a benchmark was subject to a variety of criticisms and reports indicating that in most cases it significantly exceeded providers’ costs. As a result, the Congress created Average Sales Price (ASP) as a benchmark intended to more accurately reflect the cost to physicians and hospitals of furnishing Part B drugs. The shift from AWP based reimbursement to ASP reimbursement created significant savings for Medicare and its beneficiaries beginning January 1, 2005 and continuing under current law. The Moran Company was asked by PhRMA to analyze the impact the switch to the ASP system had on Part B medicine spending relative to the prior AWP reimbursement methodology.

Brief & Report

Report conducted by HMA addresses alarming youth suicide trends across Colorado

Download

On January 3, 2019, Colorado Attorney General Cynthia H. Coffman released the study, Community Conversations to Inform Youth Suicide Prevention. The multi-layered study, conducted by HMA, focused on the four Colorado counties with the highest youth suicide rate.

HMA designed a multi-pronged strategy to the study with the goal of learning about opportunities and approaches to youth suicide prevention in each of the four counties, and across Colorado. The team conducted 42 stakeholder interviews and also facilitated 34 focus groups with adults and youth from various communities and sectors. For comparison, focus groups were also conducted with school staff and parents in two counties, where youth suicide rates were lower and/or there had not been recent suicide clusters.

HMA also reviewed information about current suicide prevention activities and resources, traditional and social media coverage related to suicide, and publicly available information on school policies and procedures related to suicide prevention and postvention in the aftermath of a student suicide or suicide attempt.

Key findings:

Risk factors attributing to youth suicide:

  • Pressure and anxiety about failing
  • Social media and cyber bullying
  • Lack of pro-social activities
  • Lack of connection to a caring adult
  • Judgement and lack of acceptance in the community.
  • Substance use, mental health disorders and trauma history
  • Adult suicides in the community

Barriers to suicide prevention:

  • Not enough resources to effectively implement youth suicide prevention, intervention and postvention activities
  • Each county faces lack of resources and funding for public health and social services programs
  • Lack of equitable distribution of resources across agencies
  • Lack of mental health providers in these communities who accept Medicaid
  • Communities with more mental health resources have few providers who are trained to work with youth or the providers only accept adults
  • Stigma associated with seeking help
  • Stigma against LGBTQ+ individuals limits the places and resources from which those individuals seek help