Jim Stimpson, Ph.D., director of the Center for Health Policy in the College of Public Health, is the recipient of a State Health Policy grant from the Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI) and the National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP).
Dr. Stimpson is the principal investigator on “State Level Analysis of Telehealth Policies,” one of five research projects receiving grants to analyze state health reform initiatives and policy trends. Each one-year grant is for approximately $150,000.
The goal of the grant program is to evaluate and report on state health policy initiatives, with the overall purpose of improving the value delivered by the U.S. health care system. HCCI and NASHP convened an independent committee of health policy experts to review submitted grant proposals.
“Telehealth is a tool we can use to meet the needs of people in underserved areas, especially the rural areas,” Dr. Stimpson said. “We will examine and compare policies in all 50 states to discover best practices that support and expand telehealth services.
“A more favorable environment for telehealth, particularly those services covered by Medicaid, will lead to higher use of services and lower health care costs,” he said. “This could make a significant impact on such chronic diseases as diabetes and heart disease.”
Private and public data will be examined, Dr. Stimpson said, including Medicaid data for the entire United States. He also will have access to HCCI’s repository of commercial claims data for more than 50 million insured Americans — one of the largest private health insurance claims databases of its kind.
“Future action in health care reform will occur largely at the state level,” said Trish Riley, executive director at NASHP. “State policymakers implementing reforms need research like this to inform their thinking, offer models, and share real world lessons from other states’ experience.”
Dr. Stimpson expects to have preliminary data by the end of this year.