Studying Medicaid claims data related to the medical-home model to help Pennsylvania develop the evidence base for health reform

The Foundation's program, State Health Access Reform Evaluation (SHARE), was designed to support research and evaluation of state health reform initiatives and develop an evidence base for future state and federal reform initiatives.This project will study the impact of integrating behavioral/medical care among patients with co-morbid chronic medical conditions (diabetes, COPD, asthma, and/or heart failure) and psychiatric/substance use disorder(s) on health care utilization and costs. The study will first evaluate utilization and costs for this population before and after the implementation of Pennsylvania's Chronic Care Initiative (CCI; a medical home initiative that does not integrate behavioral health), hypothesizing that Medicaid patients with co-morbid chronic health and mental health/substance abuse diagnoses who are treated at a CCI clinic will have comparable pre-post CCI results as those treated in traditional clinical settings. The researchers will also look at pre-post utilization/costs for patients who are treated in Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) with integration of behavioral health, comparing these utilization/cost numbers to those for similar patients treated at FQHCs that have not integrated behavioral health. Deliverables will include a report describing the two components of the project (CCI and FQHC) and providing an integrated summary for policymakers at the State of Pennsylvania Department of Health. The investigators will also produce manuscripts for peer-reviewed journals and a policy brief and will participate in a SHARE-sponsored webinar.

Grant Details

Amount Awarded $200,000.00

Awarded on: 6/21/2012

Time frame: 7/1/2012 - 6/30/2014

Grant Number: 70165