Section 1115 Waiver Evaluation
Evaluating Wisconsin’s BadgerCare Plus health insurance program and reforms, in partnership with the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. BadgerCare Plus is Wisconsin’s Medicaid and SCHIP programs, providing health insurance for most Wisconsin children and many low and middle income families. The waiver currently in effect and undergoing evaluation is Wisconsin’s 2014 federal waiver pertaining to parents, caretaker adults, and childless adults.
ACA-subsidized coverage for near poor adults
Awarded funding by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, under its Research in Transforming Health & Health Care Systems program, our team is conducting a study to assess changes to Medicaid and ACA eligibility, and the effects of fully subsidized public coverage relative to partially subsidized private coverage for near-poor adults.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation previously awarded grants to our team under two rounds of its State Health Access Reform Evaluation (SHARE) initiative. This funding has supported study of BadgerCare Plus enrollment, efficiency, and churning of covered members, and currently supports assessment of Core Plan utilization by childless adults and the predictive value of the health needs assessment.
Our team also previously conducted evaluation under Wisconsin’s State Health Access Program (SHAP) award from HRSA. DHS in 2013 procured from the Institute an evaluation of the changes that took effect under DHS Medicaid Efficiencies initiative. Our team previously evaluated changes to Badgercare under Wisconsin’s federal waivers adopted in 2008 and in 2012.
Prescription Drug Coverage
Conducting an evaluation of the SeniorCare prescription program for low-income elderly, under contract with the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.
View final evaluation report, submitted to DHS April 2019.
Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders (MHSUD)
Our team is a founding member of the Medicaid Outcomes Distributed Research Network (MODRN) under the leadership of AcademyHealth.
MODRN is a collaborative effort to analyze data across multiple states to facilitate learning among Medicaid agencies, currently focusing on the treatment quality and outcomes of opioid use disorder (OUD).
Our Wisconsin team works with MODRN partners, both univerisities and Medicaid agencies, in Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Our objectives are to provide a comprehensive assessment of OUD treatment quality and outcomes in Medicaid, and to inform policy decisions on coverage and payment for evidence-based OUD treatments in Medicaid.