The AcademyHealth 2010 Annual Research Meeting (ARM), June 27-29 at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, offers a rich and exciting slate of invited and peer-reviewed research sessions, methods training workshops, and networking opportunities. Plenary speakers include journalist Julie Rovner and surgeon/author Atul Gawande who will provide their perspectives on the politics of health care and the opportunities for health services research to improve clinical practice. The agenda features several sessions that are of interest to state policymakers, including:
- Coverage Expansion During a Time of Fiscal Crisis: How Are States Responding?
- This session will provide an overview of state coverage expansions at a time of fiscal constraint. Panelists will examine the use of Medicaid waivers for coverage expansions; provide an update on coverage expansions from a relatively resource-rich state, Massachusetts; and review the expansion activities in a less-resourced state, West Virginia. Information will also be provided on the state expansion activities funded under the new HRSA State Health Access Program, focusing on the implementation and evaluation of public-private partnerships. A leading expert in state health policy will provide comments on the future role of the states in developing and implementing access and coverage.
- All-Payer Claims Databases and Health Policy Research
- This roundtable discussion will examine states’ progress to implement all-payer claims databases (APCDs), and provide examples of the cost, quality, and other data analysis that may be generated from an APCD. A reactor panel will discuss how APCD data may benefit health services researchers, state policymakers, health plans, employer coalitions, consumers, and provider organizations.
- Issues in Implementing Key Elements of Reform: Exchanges, Insurance Regulations and Enforcement of Individual and Employer Mandates
- The issue of health reform and the growing number of uninsured has been a persistent policy issue on both state and national political agendas. A variety of approaches—or combination of approaches—has been considered in an effort to address this problem. These include: the development of an exchange, an employer mandate, an individual mandate, and new or revised insurance regulations, among others. This session will provide insight into the issues that need to be considered in implementing these elements of reform based on the experience of states and municipalities that have adopted such approaches.
View the full agenda at www.academyhealth.org/arm/agenda.
Join more than 2,200 researchers, practitioners, and policy analysts to examine the critical challenges in health care. For travel details and registration rates, visit www.academyhealth.org/arm.
