Medicaid and the Promise for Cure.

Importance: Cell and gene therapies are revolutionizing the treatment landscape for children and adults with rare diseases and can be life-changing for patients and their families. Successful implementation of these new therapies into clinical practice depends on their accessibility and affordability, particularly through publicly funded Medicaid agencies, which cover many children and adults with rare diseases.

Objective: To provide a framework to broadly assess cell and gene therapies, evaluate payment options, and ensure equitable access through the lens of publicly funded Medicaid programs.

Protection motivation unmasked: Applying protection motivation theory to skepticism toward COVID-19 mask and vaccine mandates.

Variants of COVID-19 have sparked controversy regarding mask and/or vaccine mandates in some sectors of the country. Many people hold polarized opinions about such mandates, and it is uncertain what predicts attitudes towards these protective behavior mandates. Through a snow-ball sampling procedure of respondents on social media platforms, this study examined skepticism of 774 respondents toward these mandates as a function of the Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) of health.

Protection Motivation Theory and Intentions to Receive the COVID-19 Vaccine.

Declared a "public health threat of international concern" by the World Health Organization, the COVID-19 virus has caused the deaths of over half a million individuals in the United States in just the first 23 months after detection. The vaccine has recently been introduced to reduce this public health threat. However, due, in part, to the rapidity with which the vaccine was developed, many individuals display vaccine hesitancy.

Bridging Health and Temporary Housing Services for Medicaid Members Experiencing Homelessness: Program Impact on Health Care Utilization, Costs, and Well-being.

This study assesses the effect of participation in a temporary housing program on health care utilization, health services cost, and overall well-being for Medicaid members experiencing homelessness. Medicaid administrative claims were used in difference-in-differences analyses to compare utilization and cost of participants with those of individuals on a waiting list for the program (non-participants). Surveys were used to assess changes in well-being of participants from program entry to exit.