Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System is one of Maine’s standard health behavior surveillance systems, data from which informs policy development, program planning, and other public health interventions for chronic disease prevention. This project will assist the Maine BRFSS coordinator and the Maine CDC to achieve BRFSS objectives. Muskie School staff will update the BRFSS interactive web query as well as maintain multiple-year standardized datasets, add the most recent year of data, and update documentation. Muskie staff will also perform other analyses as necessary, including multivariate and trend analyses to help the Maine CDC better understand prevalence, risk factors and disease management for health behaviors and conditions (such as diabetes, asthma, and cardiovascular disease) that impose a heavy burden on the residents of Maine and its health care system.
A project funded by State Health Access Reform Evaluation (SHARE) to inform federal and state implementation of the Medicaid expansions under the ACA by estimating the size and characteristics of rural residents likely to be newly eligible. The study will provide nationally representative information that identifies the extent to which rural residents live in states that have already expanded coverage to low-income adults; how many eligible individuals have participated; the characteristics of the remaining pool of the rural uninsured; and the potential impact of Medicaid expansions on rural primary care and delivery system capacity.
The purpose of this Maine Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) Pilot is to improve quality of care, efficiency, and patient/family satisfaction provided by primary care practices. Its premise is that the resources provided to practices through the Pilot (including enhanced payments, training, consultation, and learning collaborative) will help them transform themselves and reach a higher level of functionality as medical homes, which in turn will lead to improvements in quality of care, efficiency, and patient/family satisfaction. The three-year Pilot was convened by MaineCare, the Maine Quality Forum, and Quality Counts. The participating payers are MaineCare (Maine Medicaid), Aetna, Anthem, and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care. Three aspects of the Pilot are being evaluated by the Muskie School of Public Service: 1) patient’s experiences; 2) the implementation process and interim results during Year 1; and 3) changes in the quality and efficiency of primary care. This report focuses on findings from the implementation evaluation. The objectives of the implementation evaluation are to
• Profile the characteristics of the Pilot practices
• Describe the practices’ objectives and strategies for implementing the Pilot
• Describe the implementation process during Year 1
• Provide practical guidance to the practices, the Pilot conveners, and MaineCare
• Develop profiles of the Pilot practices for use in the quality and efficiency evaluation
• Make recommendations for use by evaluators of other PCMH pilots
[article abstract]: In response to continuing concerns about escalating health care costs and poor quality care, many health plans have adopted a strategy called
The authors studied the early impact of Part D on older or disabled Medicaid beneficiaries who had prescription drug coverage prior to Part D through MaineCare ("dual eligibles") or the DEL benefit; local and statewide organizations that work with and advocate for Medicare beneficiaries, which often stepped forward to help make Part D work for the beneficiaries; and Medicare beneficiaries who were not duals or DEL enrollees.
Project staff will conduct a telephone survey of parents of 1200 current enrollees, 300
disenrollees, and 300 new enrollees of a sample of the MaineCare population; it will be stratified by traditional
Medicaid, Medicaid expansion, and Separate Child Health Program populations. The survey collects information on
satisfaction with MaineCare providers and services, unmet needs, provider education practices, health status, health
behaviors, insurance, and parent's employment status. The survey instrument was revised in 2006 to include several
measures from the National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH), including medical home, children with special
health care needs (CSHCN), and specific physical and mental health conditions. Because past surveys identified a
high prevalence of overweight among children on MaineCare, the survey instrument also includes a series of items
designed to measure physical activity and nutrition behaviors among children.
More than 95,000 children are enrolled in MaineCare, the State?s Medicaid and SCHIP program, which provides health coverage to low-income children in the Maine. State and federal policymakers are interested in monitoring the health status of children in the MaineCare program and the quality of care they receive. The purpose of this project is to obtain consumer feedback about MaineCare services, to learn about the health status and health behaviors of this population, and to understand reasons parents disenrolled their children from MaineCare. Project staff will conduct a telephone survey of a sample of parents with children on MaineCare, including current enrollees, new enrollees, and disenrollees. Findings from the survey report will be used to improve understanding of the needs of children on MaineCare and to develop quality improvement initiatives.
This is a subcontract to advise and participate in the development of 3 issue papers on the policy implications of findings from a survey of Vermont households on insurance status and related issues.
Maine, in partnership with the State of Vermont was awarded a five-year Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA) Quality Demonstration Grant to "test promising ideas for improving the quality of children's health care." The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) is the designated lead agency for the federally-funded initiative. The Improving Health Outcomes for Children (IHOC) project promotes the use of quality measures and information technology to improve Medicaid member children's timely access to quality care.
Under IHOC's Category C, Maine and Vermont will assess and support pediatric practices operating as patient-centered medical homes in their respective states. Maine will also pilot learning initiatives for the Pediatric PCMH Pilot sites and other pediatric practice settings including implementation of the current American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Bright Futures Guidelines for Health Supervision of Infants, Children, and Adolescents, Third Edition.
Cooperative agreement through the University of Minnesota, to monitor and evaluate the Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Grant Program (Flex Program). The monitoring project is assessing the impact of the Flex Program on Critical Access Hospitals and their communities and the role of states in achieving overall program objectives.
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