Risk-based contracting for high-need Medicaid beneficiaries: The Arkansas PASSE program.

The high cost of health care for people with behavioral health (BH) conditions or intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) in the United States led one state to implement the Provider-led Arkansas Shared Savings Entity (PASSE) program. PASSE is a managed care model that puts provider-led organizations at risk for the highest need people with BH conditions or IDD in Medicaid, a public health insurance program for low-income residents. Drawing on key informant interviews and payment models across the United States, we describe the PASSE program, how it compares with state Medicaid programs for similar populations, and prospects for the program.

Improving quality of life assessments for high-need adult Medicaid service users with mental health conditions.

Purpose: There is a lack of consensus on how to evaluate health and social service programs for people with mental health (MH) conditions. Having service users be the primary decision makers in selecting outcome measures can inform a meaningful evaluation strategy. We sought to identify the quality of life (QoL) survey preferences of high-need adult service users with MH conditions.

Financial Performance of Hospitals in the Appalachian Region Under the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program and Hospital Value-Based Purchasing Program.

Purpose: The Hospital Readmission and Reduction Program (HRRP) and Hospital Value-Based Purchasing Program (HVBP) propose to improve quality of patient care by either rewarding or penalizing hospitals through inpatient reimbursement. This study analyzes the effect of both programs on profitability of hospitals located in the Appalachian Region (AR) compared to hospitals in Appalachian states and the rest of the United States.

Methods: This study used a retrospective research design with a longitudinal unbalanced panel dataset from 2008 to 2015.

Lack of Impact of the 2009 USPSTF Guidelines on Rates of Mammography Screening.

Background: In November 2009, the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) changed their mammography screening guidelines from recommending a screen every 1-2 years for women older than 40 years. The revised guideline recommends against regular screening for women aged 40-49 and recommends biennial screening for women aged 50-74.

Research Design: We used autoregressive integrated moving-average (ARIMA) time series modeling to estimate the effect of the USPSTF 2009 guidelines on trends in screening rates.

Financial Performance of Hospitals in the Mississippi Delta Region Under the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program and Hospital Value-based Purchasing Program.

Background: Previous studies showed that the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP) and the Hospital Value-based Purchasing Program (HVBP) disproportionately penalized hospitals caring for the poor. The Mississippi Delta Region (Delta Region) is among the most socioeconomically disadvantaged areas in the United States. The financial performance of hospitals in the Delta Region under both HRRP and HVBP remains unclear.