- ACA Implementation & State Health Reform
- Coverage and Access
- Federal/State Issues
- Medicaid and CHIP
- Population and Public Health
- Providers and Services
- Acute Care
- Assisted Living
- Behavioral Health
- Case Management
- Child Development Services
- Chronic Care Management
- Community Health Centers
- Developmental Screening
- Early Childhood Services
- Emergency Care
- EPSDT
- Family Planning
- Federally Qualified Health Centers
- Home & Community Based Services
- Hospitals
- Long Term Services & Supports
- Mental Health
- Nursing Homes
- Oral Health
- Preventive Care
- Primary Care
- Safety Net Providers
- Quality, Cost, and Health System Performance
- Adverse Event Reporting
- Care Transitions
- Comparative Effectiveness
- Cost Sharing
- Delivery System Reform
- Fraud and Abuse
- Health Care Workforce
- Health Information Technology
- Managed Care
- Medical Homes & Health Homes
- Medical Malpractice
- Patient Safety
- Payment Reform
- Performance Measurement
- Provider Payment Policy
- Quality Oversight
- Specific Populations
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State Policymakers' Guide for Advancing Health Equity through Health Reform Implementation
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) offers states multiple policy levers to improve health status and care for racial and ethnic minority populations through delivery system reforms, public health and community interventions, and insurance coverage, as well as provisions specific to disparities reduction. This report synthesizes the experiences of teams from seven states (Arkansas, Connecticut, Hawaii, Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio, and Virginia) that participated in a learning collaborative to advance health equity using select ACA and state policy levers. The report also presents opportunities for state and federal collaborations to strengthen these efforts, as well as important lessons for advancing health equity.
An accompanying issue brief provides a high-level summary of the full report.
August 2012» -
Using Report Cards to Measure Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities: State Experience
State agencies identify, document, and act on data related to racial and ethnic health and health care disparities in various ways. One type of document states produce is a “report card,” or a publication that uses data from race/ethnicity-specific measures to assign letter grades that rate the state's performance. This issue brief, prepared by NASHP for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), focuses on New Mexico’s experience using report cards to measure racial and ethnic health disparities.
Click to download the report (PDF).
September 2011 -
Using Geographic Information to Target Health Disparities: State Experience
This brief describes how two states, Rhode Island and Virginia, have used particular data collection techniques along with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to analyze and map race and ethnicity data. Virginia uses GIS with multi-level spatial analysis, while Rhode Island uses GIS in conjunction with Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR). This brief, prepared by NASHP for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), also discusses how both states utilize these techniques to target interventions aimed at reducing disparities. View the full report here.
September 2011» -
Reducing Racial and Ethnic Disparities Through Health Care Reform: State Experience
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) provides an opportunity for states to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in health and health care. As states roll out health care reform implementation, they can use disparities data to inform their actions. This issue brief was prepared by NASHP for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). It provides examples of how states can integrate health equity into health care reform and insurance exchange implementation.
August 2011» -
Assessing the Costs of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities: State Experience
Health disparities cost the United States billions of dollars in direct medical expenditures in addition to the human costs. In an effort to improve quality and contain costs states are taking steps to measure these costs and address disparities. This issue brief, which features Virginia and Rhode Island, was prepared by NASHP authors Carrie Hanlon and Larry Hinkle for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). It focuses on tools, challenges, and strategies states use to measure the costs of health disparities.
June 2011» -
State Documentation of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities to Inform Strategic Action
This report, prepared by NASHP for the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, summarizes how leading states analyze state and federal race/ethnicity data in strategic plans and reports aimed at reducing racial and ethnic disparities in health status and health care. It features Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island, and Utah, but also notes activity in Arizona, California, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, and Virginia. Lessons from leading states can provide guidance for others exploring ways to launch or enhance health equity, consumer engagement, quality improvement, or cost containment initiatives.
Read full report here:
January 2011 -
State Uses of Hospital Discharge Databases to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Disparities
This report summarizes how leading states that participate in the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) and their clients use hospital discharge data on patient race/ethnicity to inform state health care disparities reduction activities. The report features California, Florida, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin HCUP Partners, but also notes activity in Connecticut, Georgia, New Jersey, and South Carolina. Partner States’ experiences demonstrate that patient race/ethnicity data are an important tool for informing state initiatives and producing policy- and practice-relevant publications to support health equity.
September 2010» -
Enhancing State and Local Capacity to Promote Healthy Weight in Children: Addressing Disparities in the Real World
This report provides practical information that states and community groups can use to implement projects aimed at reducing disparities in childhood overweight. It offers a snapshot of 15 state and local initiatives that are designed to address the issue and includes lessons learned from a discussion with representatives of the 15 projects. The report is divided into four sections, each one of which provides a general overview, elaborates on key themes, relevant examples from state projects, and information about tools that are available for use by interested parties.June 2005 -
State Purchasing and Regulation of Health Care Services: A Snapshot of Strategies to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities
As policy makers – and as purchasers of health care services for a sizable share of the market – states have unique opportunities to leverage their regulatory and purchasing power to address racial and ethnic health disparities. This study provides a snapshot of the use of purchasing and the regulation of health care services to reduce these disparities and examines the involvement of states’ Offices of Minority Health in the purchasing and regulation of health care services.
The report is available here:
State Purchasing and Regulation of Health Care Services
April 2002 -
Advancing Health Equity through State Implementation of Health Reform
Aetna FoundationThursday, July 21, 20112:00 pm - 3:30 pmEDTRegister hereWebinar Presentation:View Webinar HereThe Affordable Care Act (ACA) provides opportunities for states to make lasting and comprehensive systems change in their approaches to achieving health equity for their most vulnerable populations. Through provisions in areas such as coverage and access, prevention, care coordination, population health, and quality and efficiency, the Act offers state policymakers a broad range of policy levers for improving health care and the health status of their racial and ethnic minority populations.
With support from the Aetna Foundation, the National Academy for State Heath Policy is hosting a webinar to highlight the opportunities presented by health care reform to advance state health equity agendas. In addition to featuring national health equity experts and information on how states are using the ACA to achieve health equity, this webinar will announce the NASHP State Health Equity Learning Collaborative, an initiative to help state policymakers maintain momentum towards achieving health equity while implementing federal health care reform.
Webinar Contact:arichardson@nashp.orgWebinar Upload:
