[{"id":33,"date":"2026-05-04T14:50:54","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T14:50:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/?p=33"},"modified":"2026-05-04T14:50:56","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T14:50:56","slug":"behind-the-surveys-best-wishes-to-two-of-our-unsung-heroes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/2026\/05\/04\/behind-the-surveys-best-wishes-to-two-of-our-unsung-heroes\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind The Surveys: Best Wishes To Two of Our Unsung Heroes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Although the VCU Office of Medicaid Evaluation was recently launched, its foundation has been years in the making. Well before the office officially opened, extensive background work helped shape our ability to deliver evidence-based analyses of state and federal Medicaid programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This work would not have been possible without the dedication of students, staff, and key stakeholders who worked together to develop the Office\u2019s evaluation methodology. For several years, our team has led representative surveys of thousands\u00a0of Medicaid members to allow them to advocate for their needs and provide information on how policy changes may impact them. Over time, we have designed and administered a wide range of surveys examining program areas including Addition and Recovery Treatment Services, Managed Long-Term Services and Supports, Maternal and Child Health initiatives, and Medicaid Expansion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As the Office continues to grow, we want to recognize the individuals who helped make this work possible; specifically, the talented undergraduate students who are graduating this Spring. Their contributions have been instrumental in building a strong analytical foundation, from mailing preparation, and inputting responses to capturing detailed notes from survey participants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We are proud to highlight Amulya Chowdhory B.S. and Diana Correa Cabrera, B.S.\u00a0 They both have assisted in multiple surveys focused on the experiences of Medicaid members, including those who are in their postpartum period, have substance use disorder, are newly enrolled or newly disenrolled, are older, or require long-term services and supports. They have also supported surveys that capture the experiences of people who support Medicaid members, including healthcare providers, care managers, and caregivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1000\" data-src=\"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1436\/2026\/05\/B866F3A6-152A-41B1-B977-743AC21E03D6-1024x1000.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-34 lazyload\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1436\/2026\/05\/B866F3A6-152A-41B1-B977-743AC21E03D6-1024x1000.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1436\/2026\/05\/B866F3A6-152A-41B1-B977-743AC21E03D6-300x293.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1436\/2026\/05\/B866F3A6-152A-41B1-B977-743AC21E03D6-768x750.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1436\/2026\/05\/B866F3A6-152A-41B1-B977-743AC21E03D6-1536x1501.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1436\/2026\/05\/B866F3A6-152A-41B1-B977-743AC21E03D6-2048x2001.jpeg 2048w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 1024px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 1024\/1000;\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Amulya Chowdhory, B.S.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Amulya joined our team in 2023 during her freshman year of college. While assisting with numerous surveys, she earned her Bachelors of Science in Biology and Psychology with minors in Pre-Health and Chemistry, graduating with honors; recognizing her academic excellence and determination. After graduating next month, she is heading back to VCU to attend VCU\u2019s Medical School for a MD degree. We are excited that she will continue working with us while completing her medical training and look forward to her continued contributions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"764\" height=\"1024\" data-src=\"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1436\/2026\/05\/Headshot_DianaCC-1-764x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-36 lazyload\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1436\/2026\/05\/Headshot_DianaCC-1-764x1024.jpg 764w, https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1436\/2026\/05\/Headshot_DianaCC-1-224x300.jpg 224w, https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1436\/2026\/05\/Headshot_DianaCC-1-768x1030.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1436\/2026\/05\/Headshot_DianaCC-1.jpg 1083w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 764px) 100vw, 764px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 764px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 764\/1024;\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Diana Correa Cabrera, B.S.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Diana has been working with our team for over a year. She is graduating with a Bachelor\u2019s of Science in Psychology with a minor in Sociology. Following graduation, she plans to take a gap year before enrolling in graduate school for Mental Health Counseling, with the goal of becoming a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC). During her gap year, she intends to work as a Qualified Mental Health Professional Trainee (QMHP-T) to develop her skills. We appreciate her dedication in assisting with quite a few surveys and other important tasks during her tenure with the Office of Medicaid Evaluation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Please join us in celebrating and congratulating these two essential members of our team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Written by Sherline Pierre-Louis. Photos courtesy of Amulya Chowdhory and Diana Correa Cabrera.<\/em><a id=\"_msocom_1\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Although the VCU Office of Medicaid Evaluation was recently launched, its foundation has been years in the making. Well before the office officially opened, extensive background work helped shape our ability to deliver evidence-based analyses of state and federal Medicaid programs. This work would not have been possible without the dedication of students, staff, and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2005,"featured_media":37,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[12,79,80,81,82,7,16,83],"class_list":["post-33","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-addiction-and-recovery-treatment-services","tag-amulya-chowdhory","tag-diana-correa-cabrera","tag-managed-long-term-services-and-supports","tag-maternal-and-child-health-evaluation","tag-medicaid","tag-medicaid-expansion","tag-office-of-medicaid-evaluation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2005"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":30,"date":"2025-05-14T15:43:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-14T15:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/?p=30"},"modified":"2025-05-29T15:45:26","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T15:45:26","slug":"examining-the-effects-of-expanding-the-medicaid-adult-dental-benefit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/2025\/05\/14\/examining-the-effects-of-expanding-the-medicaid-adult-dental-benefit\/","title":{"rendered":"Examining The Effects of Expanding The Medicaid Adult Dental Benefit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Department of Health Policy recently prepared an evaluation report for the Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services (DMAS) that examined the effects of the expanded Medicaid Adult Dental Benefit on Emergency Department utilization in Virginia hospitals for non-traumatic dental visits. Presented to DMAS in March 2025, the report was authored by Department of Health Policy professor and interim chair Dr. Peter Cunningham Ph.D.; Healthcare Policy and Research Ph.D. candidate and VCU School of Dentistry Associate Professor Shillpa Naavaal, B.D.S., M.S., M.P.H.; Department of Health Policy Healthcare Data Analyst and incoming HCPR Ph.D. student Sherline Pierre-Louis; and Department of Health Policy Research Assistant Mallory Brown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On July 1, 2021, Virginia implemented comprehensive dental coverage for all Medicaid-enrolled adults. This allowed thousands of adult Virginians to receive full dental coverage for the first time. Prior research had shown that lack of access to preventive and outpatient dental care services led to greater use of hospital emergency departments for non-traumatic dental issues. Therefore, in studying the effect of the Medicaid adult dental benefit, researchers expected that dental-related ED visits would decrease after the dental benefit was implemented. This report showed the results of an evaluation assessing the effects of the adult dental benefit on dental-related ED use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Using Medicaid administrative claims data, Department of Health Policy researchers conducted an analysis of trends in dental-related ED use between July 2019 and June 2023 (two years before and two years after the start of the new dental benefit). The major findings from this analysis are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Young adults (ages 21-34) benefited the most from the new dental benefit in terms of a decrease in dental-related ED visits. There was a modest 6% decrease in dental-related ED use between the year prior to the start of the benefit and the 2nd year after the benefit (1.4 visits per 10,000 members). However, a difference-in-difference analysis suggests a larger impact of the new benefit for young adults \u2013 a decrease of 7.5 ED visits per 10,000 members compared to children and youth, who already had dental coverage and were therefore unaffected by the new benefit.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Most adult members (70%) did not use preventive or other outpatient dental services during the first year of the new benefit, and they experienced a 24% increase in dental-related ED visits during the study period. In contrast, members who used preventive dental care during the first year of the new dental benefit saw no change in dental-related ED visits.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>There has been a general upward trend in dental-related ED visits after a sharp decrease during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is consistent with more general trends in use of the ED among Medicaid members, and may reflect changes in Medicaid member characteristics and health system factors that are external to Medicaid.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>In sum, there is compelling evidence that the new adult dental coverage has already benefitted young adults, who have by far the highest rates of dental-related ED visits among all age groups. Greater use of the dental benefit among Medicaid members will likely result in even greater decreases in ED use in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div data-wp-interactive=\"core\/file\" class=\"wp-block-file\"><object data-wp-bind--hidden=\"!state.hasPdfPreview\" hidden class=\"wp-block-file__embed\" data=\"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1436\/2025\/05\/Final.ED-Medicaid-dental-benefit-report.3.18.25-2.pdf\" type=\"application\/pdf\" style=\"width:100%;height:600px\" aria-label=\"Embed of Final.ED-Medicaid-dental-benefit-report.3.18.25-2.\"><\/object><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-9ee3ad40-6b74-4674-aba2-e304845a0e2a\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1436\/2025\/05\/Final.ED-Medicaid-dental-benefit-report.3.18.25-2.pdf\">Final.ED-Medicaid-dental-benefit-report.3.18.25-2<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1436\/2025\/05\/Final.ED-Medicaid-dental-benefit-report.3.18.25-2.pdf\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-9ee3ad40-6b74-4674-aba2-e304845a0e2a\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Department of Health Policy recently prepared an evaluation report for the Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services (DMAS) that examined the effects of the expanded Medicaid Adult Dental Benefit on Emergency Department utilization in Virginia hospitals for non-traumatic dental visits. Presented to DMAS in March 2025, the report was authored by Department of Health [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2005,"featured_media":8,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[77,41,78,75,7,16,15,76,36,11,67],"class_list":["post-30","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-medicaid-expansion","tag-adult-dental-benefit","tag-department-of-health-policy","tag-emergency-department-visits","tag-mallory-brown","tag-medicaid","tag-medicaid-expansion","tag-peter-cunningham","tag-sherline-pierre-louis","tag-shillpa-naavaal","tag-virginia-department-of-medical-assistance-services","tag-virginia-medicaid"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2005"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":28,"date":"2024-12-09T15:39:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-09T15:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/?p=28"},"modified":"2025-05-29T15:42:37","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T15:42:37","slug":"considering-the-neighborhood-context-the-relationship-between-food-and-housing-insecurity-and-healthcare-use-among-virginia-medicaid-expansion-members","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/2024\/12\/09\/considering-the-neighborhood-context-the-relationship-between-food-and-housing-insecurity-and-healthcare-use-among-virginia-medicaid-expansion-members\/","title":{"rendered":"Considering the neighborhood context: The relationship between food and housing insecurity and healthcare use among Virginia Medicaid expansion members"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>For a new article published by Health Services Research, several VCU Department of Health Policy faculty members, students, and alums collaborated with other faculty from the VCU School Of Public Health and several officials from the Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services (DMAS) to examine the relationships between healthcare use and food and housing insecurity among Virginia Medicaid members who were initially covered as part of the 2019 expansion of Virginia Medicaid services to additional adults living in poverty. Article authors include several Department of Health Policy members, including alum Hannah Shadowen, Ph.D. candidate Sarah Marks, assistant professor Anika Hines, professor and interim chair Peter Cunningham, and professor Andrew Barnes; along with Department of Biostatistics professor Roy Sabo, School of Family Medicine professor Alexander Krist, and Virginia DMAS officials Olufemi Obembe, Andrew Mitchell, and Chethan Bachireddy. In the article, they explain that food insecurity is associated with less primary care and more emergency department use, but this relationship differs depending on the neighborhood in which members live. They found that efforts to coordinate medical and social service benefits, and to consider local context, may increase access to necessary care.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"hesr14416-sec-0010-title\">1 INTRODUCTION<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Medicaid expansion provides insurance for low-income individuals with minimal or no premiums or co-pays.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full\/10.1111\/1475-6773.14416?campaign=wolearlyview#hesr14416-bib-0001\">1<\/a><\/sup>&nbsp;Medicaid expansion is associated with decreased healthcare costs for families, changes in healthcare utilization, and improvements in health-related social needs (HRSN).<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full\/10.1111\/1475-6773.14416?campaign=wolearlyview#hesr14416-bib-0002\">2<\/a>\u2013<a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full\/10.1111\/1475-6773.14416?campaign=wolearlyview#hesr14416-bib-0004\">4<\/a><\/sup>&nbsp;More specifically, low-income families living in Medicaid expanded states were 11% less likely to have any out-of-pocket spending.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full\/10.1111\/1475-6773.14416?campaign=wolearlyview#hesr14416-bib-0002\">2<\/a><\/sup>&nbsp;Further, Medicaid expansion enrollment has been associated with reductions in difficulty paying medical bills.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full\/10.1111\/1475-6773.14416?campaign=wolearlyview#hesr14416-bib-0003\">3<\/a>,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full\/10.1111\/1475-6773.14416?campaign=wolearlyview#hesr14416-bib-0005\">5<\/a><\/sup>&nbsp;Consequently, Medicaid expansion is associated with changes in healthcare utilization and HRSN. Medicaid expansion is associated with increases in primary care utilization and decreases in emergency department (ED) utilization for ambulatory sensitive conditions.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full\/10.1111\/1475-6773.14416?campaign=wolearlyview#hesr14416-bib-0006\">6<\/a>\u2013<a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full\/10.1111\/1475-6773.14416?campaign=wolearlyview#hesr14416-bib-0008\">8<\/a><\/sup>&nbsp;While Medicaid expansion\u2019s association with healthcare affordability, access, and social needs have each been studied separately, the relationship between HRSN and healthcare utilization in Medicaid expansion members is unclear.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full\/10.1111\/1475-6773.14416?campaign=wolearlyview#hesr14416-bib-0009\">9<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Previous studies show that individuals make trade-offs between paying for HRSN and health care.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full\/10.1111\/1475-6773.14416?campaign=wolearlyview#hesr14416-bib-0010\">10<\/a>,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full\/10.1111\/1475-6773.14416?campaign=wolearlyview#hesr14416-bib-0011\">11<\/a><\/sup>&nbsp;Individuals experiencing HRSNs use less preventive or routine health care,<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full\/10.1111\/1475-6773.14416?campaign=wolearlyview#hesr14416-bib-0012\">12<\/a>\u2013<a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full\/10.1111\/1475-6773.14416?campaign=wolearlyview#hesr14416-bib-0014\">14<\/a><\/sup>&nbsp;experience greater delays in doctor\u2019s visits,<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full\/10.1111\/1475-6773.14416?campaign=wolearlyview#hesr14416-bib-0012\">12<\/a>,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full\/10.1111\/1475-6773.14416?campaign=wolearlyview#hesr14416-bib-0014\">14<\/a><\/sup>&nbsp;forgo routine check-ups, and lack a usual source of care compared with their food or housing secure counterparts.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full\/10.1111\/1475-6773.14416?campaign=wolearlyview#hesr14416-bib-0013\">13<\/a><\/sup>&nbsp;Additionally, food insecurity is significantly associated with frequent ED visits among adults.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full\/10.1111\/1475-6773.14416?campaign=wolearlyview#hesr14416-bib-0015\">15<\/a>,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full\/10.1111\/1475-6773.14416?campaign=wolearlyview#hesr14416-bib-0016\">16<\/a><\/sup>&nbsp;Together, this suggests that households are constrained by household resources, including time, financial resources, and mental energy.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full\/10.1111\/1475-6773.14416?campaign=wolearlyview#hesr14416-bib-0017\">17<\/a><\/sup>&nbsp;Therefore, individuals experiencing HRSN may not have the mental, financial, or time resources to use any health care or may not use primary care for nonurgent issues and instead opt for emergency room care that is often lower barrier and always available. However, these studies often focus on populations with heterogenous insurance coverage, making it unclear how individuals with Medicaid expansion coverage, that requires no or very limited co-pays or premiums for the individual, may navigate these competing needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The trade-off between competing needs may be different for individuals with Medicaid expansion coverage. Evidence suggests individuals with HRSN have higher rates of chronic disease and thus have an increased need for primary care.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full\/10.1111\/1475-6773.14416?campaign=wolearlyview#hesr14416-bib-0018\">18<\/a>\u2013<a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full\/10.1111\/1475-6773.14416?campaign=wolearlyview#hesr14416-bib-0020\">20<\/a><\/sup>&nbsp;However, Medicaid may not address previously described barriers to accessing primary care for individuals experiencing HRSN in samples with heterogenous insurance coverage. For example, lack of paid sick leave is more common among individuals facing food insecurity and is not ameliorated by Medicaid coverage, making it a potential barrier to care for individuals enrolled in Medicaid.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full\/10.1111\/1475-6773.14416?campaign=wolearlyview#hesr14416-bib-0021\">21<\/a><\/sup>&nbsp;The relationship between food and housing insecurity and healthcare utilization in Medicaid expansion populations is unclear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Importantly, access to food, housing, and health care occurs within the larger community context shaped by rurality and segregation. For example, the supply of primary care providers (PCPs) per capita is lower in rural areas than that in urban areas leading to increases in travel barriers for rural individuals.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full\/10.1111\/1475-6773.14416?campaign=wolearlyview#hesr14416-bib-0022\">22<\/a>\u2013<a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full\/10.1111\/1475-6773.14416?campaign=wolearlyview#hesr14416-bib-0025\">25<\/a><\/sup>&nbsp;Due to these difficulties in accessing care, individuals experiencing HRSN in rural areas may not use primary care as frequently as individuals experiencing HRSN in urban areas. Similarly, residential segregation, defined as the historic, intentional physical separation of races by enforced residence in certain areas,<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full\/10.1111\/1475-6773.14416?campaign=wolearlyview#hesr14416-bib-0026\">26<\/a><\/sup>&nbsp;has led to fewer healthcare providers in predominately Black communities leading to systematically differential opportunities by neighborhoods.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full\/10.1111\/1475-6773.14416?campaign=wolearlyview#hesr14416-bib-0027\">27<\/a>,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full\/10.1111\/1475-6773.14416?campaign=wolearlyview#hesr14416-bib-0028\">28<\/a><\/sup>&nbsp;Likewise, in a systemically racist society, access to secure sources of food and stable housing differ by neighborhood racial composition by design.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full\/10.1111\/1475-6773.14416?campaign=wolearlyview#hesr14416-bib-0029\">29<\/a>\u2013<a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full\/10.1111\/1475-6773.14416?campaign=wolearlyview#hesr14416-bib-0033\">33<\/a><\/sup>&nbsp;Thus, residents in predominately Black neighborhoods may have greater barriers to primary care that are amplified if individuals are also experiencing food and housing insecurity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This study aimed to understand relationships between food and housing insecurity and the use of primary and emergency department care among Medicaid expansion members. To do this, we used a sample of newly enrolled Virginia Medicaid expansion members to understand if there was an association between experiencing food and housing insecurity at the time of enrollment and healthcare use in the subsequent year of enrollment. Further, we assessed if this relationship was moderated by community-level rurality and residential segregation. We hypothesized that individuals experiencing HRSN at enrollment would have reduced primary care use and increased ED use compared with individuals not experiencing these HRSN. We further hypothesized that members with HRSN would use less primary care and more ED care after enrollment compared to members without HRSN if they lived in rural or predominately Black or low-income neighborhoods compared with urban or predominately White neighborhoods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Read the full article&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/1475-6773.14416\">here<\/a>. Top Photo by By Martin Kraft, CC BY-SA 3.0, via&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=62928141\">Wikimedia<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For a new article published by Health Services Research, several VCU Department of Health Policy faculty members, students, and alums collaborated with other faculty from the VCU School Of Public Health and several officials from the Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services (DMAS) to examine the relationships between healthcare use and food and housing insecurity [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2005,"featured_media":29,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[74,5,72,46,66,41,69,34,70,16,73,15,71,53,42,11,67],"class_list":["post-28","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-medicaid-expansion","tag-alexander-krist","tag-andrew-barnes","tag-andrew-mitchell","tag-anika-hines","tag-chethan-bachireddy","tag-department-of-health-policy","tag-food-insecurity","tag-hannah-shadowen","tag-health-services-research","tag-medicaid-expansion","tag-olufemi-obembe","tag-peter-cunningham","tag-roy-sabo","tag-sarah-marks","tag-vcu-school-of-public-health","tag-virginia-department-of-medical-assistance-services","tag-virginia-medicaid"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2005"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":26,"date":"2024-07-30T15:36:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-30T15:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/?p=26"},"modified":"2025-05-29T15:39:24","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T15:39:24","slug":"how-virginia-reformed-medicaid-to-accelerate-access-to-addiction-treatment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/2024\/07\/30\/how-virginia-reformed-medicaid-to-accelerate-access-to-addiction-treatment\/","title":{"rendered":"How Virginia Reformed Medicaid To Accelerate Access To Addiction Treatment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>For a new article in Health Affairs, former&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dmas.virginia.gov\/\">Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services (DMAS)<\/a>&nbsp;Chief Medical Officer Chethan Bachireddy and DMAS Senior Program Advisor Ashley Harrell collaborated with Department of Health Policy professor Andrew Barnes on an extensive article detailing the reforms made to Virginia Medicaid\u2019s addiction treatment processes between 2017 and 2022. In the article, they explain how expanding Medicaid to cover a larger percentage of Virginia\u2019s low-income residents, increasing provider participation in Medicaid programs, and creating targeted programs such as ARTS (Addiction and Recovery Treatment Services) helped create improvements in Virginia\u2019s treatment of substance use disorders.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Addiction treatment is essential to addressing the worsening overdose crisis in the United States. Drug&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/nida.nih.gov\/research-topics\/trends-statistics\/overdose-death-rates\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">overdose deaths in the United States increased more than 50 percent<\/a>&nbsp;since the COVID-19 pandemic, from 70,630 deaths in 2019 to 107,941 deaths in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Opioids are involved in the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/nida.nih.gov\/research-topics\/trends-statistics\/overdose-death-rates\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">vast majority of fatal overdoses<\/a>.&nbsp;And so, medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) are an essential component of effective treatment. However,&nbsp;only&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/jamanetwork.com\/journals\/jamanetworkopen\/fullarticle\/2807964\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">22 percent of individuals who could benefit from MOUD<\/a>&nbsp;actually receive them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Notably, Medicaid \u2014 which&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kff.org\/medicaid\/issue-brief\/the-opioid-epidemic-and-medicaids-role-in-facilitating-access-to-treatment\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">covers almost 40 percent<\/a>&nbsp;of all those with opioid use disorder&nbsp;(OUD) \u2014 has the potential to improve access to effective addiction treatment through thoughtful policies that expand coverage, increase provider willingness to offer services, and facilitate high-quality patient-provider interactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The recent experience of Virginia Medicaid is illustrative. From 2017 to 2022, the agency implemented targeted reforms in each of these areas. These efforts contributed to a 486 percent increase in&nbsp;Medicaid-participating addiction treatment providers and a 592 percent increase in Medicaid members receiving MOUD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As the former chief medical officer and current senior program adviser of Medicaid in Virginia two of us (Bachireddy and Harrell, respectively) played a key role in these reforms. Below, we describe these reforms in greater detail, results achieved, and future directions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Expanding Coverage<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Insurance coverage is fundamental. Without it, many individuals with substance use disorders will not be able to access and pay for care. Alarmed by the rise in overdose deaths across the state, in April 2017, Virginia responded by introducing a new Medicaid benefit called&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dmas.virginia.gov\/for-providers\/addiction-and-recovery-treatment-services\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Addiction and Recovery Treatment Services or ARTS<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Read the full article&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthaffairs.org\/content\/forefront\/virginia-reformed-medicaid-accelerate-access-addiction-treatment\">here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For a new article in Health Affairs, former&nbsp;Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services (DMAS)&nbsp;Chief Medical Officer Chethan Bachireddy and DMAS Senior Program Advisor Ashley Harrell collaborated with Department of Health Policy professor Andrew Barnes on an extensive article detailing the reforms made to Virginia Medicaid\u2019s addiction treatment processes between 2017 and 2022. In the article, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2005,"featured_media":27,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[12,5,13,65,66,41,68,6,11,67],"class_list":["post-26","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","tag-addiction-and-recovery-treatment-services","tag-andrew-barnes","tag-arts","tag-ashley-harrell","tag-chethan-bachireddy","tag-department-of-health-policy","tag-drug-overdose-deaths","tag-opioid-use-disorder","tag-virginia-department-of-medical-assistance-services","tag-virginia-medicaid"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2005"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":24,"date":"2024-06-12T15:29:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-12T15:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/?p=24"},"modified":"2025-05-29T15:35:40","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T15:35:40","slug":"study-indicates-positive-outcomes-for-new-approach-to-medicare-medicaid-dual-enrollment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/2024\/06\/12\/study-indicates-positive-outcomes-for-new-approach-to-medicare-medicaid-dual-enrollment\/","title":{"rendered":"Study Indicates Positive Outcomes for New Approach to Medicare\/Medicaid Dual Enrollment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>By&nbsp;<strong>Annie Powell, W&amp;M Arts &amp; Sciences News<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Navigating the complexity of either Medicare or Medicaid is challenging. Those challenges are compounded for people enrolled in both programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A team of researchers from William &amp; Mary, Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services studied the potential benefits of integrating care for dually enrolled Medicare and Medicaid members. Their findings will be published in June 2024 in&nbsp;<em>JAMA Health Forum<\/em>, a leading health policy journal published by the American Medical Association. William &amp; Mary\u2019s Jennifer Mellor, professor of economics and director of the Schroeder Center for Health Policy, served as the lead author on the study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>People enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid often face financial insecurity, complex health conditions and high rates of disability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cReceiving some benefits through Medicaid and others through Medicare creates a number of challenges for this vulnerable group of people,\u201d Mellor said. \u201cThis has led to an intense policy focus on how to integrate the programs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Integrating the programs has the potential to improve experiences and outcomes for dually enrolled members and reduce expenses for the state and federal agencies funding the programs. Integration can mean sharing member information and customer service systems between the two programs and, potentially, coordinating the care the member receives from each program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One path towards integrating the Medicare\/Medicaid programs makes use of Dual Eligible Special Needs Plans (D-SNPs), a type of private Medicare Advantage plan. For Medicaid members who are also enrolled in private plans for their Medicaid-covered benefits, D-SNPs can be used to achieve a high level of integration. This happens when the private insurer delivering a member\u2019s Medicare benefits is the same private insurer delivering the member\u2019s Medicaid benefits and D-SNPs include only members whose coverage is aligned in this way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The alternative, where enrolled members are in different private insurance plans for their Medicare and Medicaid benefits, or in traditional Medicare and a private plan for Medicaid, can lead to confusion for the enrolled member and higher costs for the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2020-2021, several private insurers in Virginia decided to create more highly integrated D-SNPs. This change increased the variability in Medicare and Medicaid integration across the state. Some dually enrolled members gained access to the highest level of integration, while other dually enrolled members maintained lower levels of integration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis change created a unique opportunity for Virginia Medicaid to study the experiences that members have when they are in more integrated plans,\u201d Mellor said. Did members have greater access to healthcare, for example, or were they more satisfied with their health plan?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The study was a collaborative effort across Virginia universities and agencies and was funded by Virginia Medicaid. Matthew Behrens, a policy director at the Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services (DMAS), helped design the study and identify comparison groups, consisting of members in less integrated D-SNPs and members in traditional Medicare. Peter Cunningham, professor and interim chair of VCU\u2019s Department of Health Policy, was the principal investigator on the contract and led the design of the sampling frame and the survey that the team mailed to members. Mellor, from William &amp; Mary, contributed to the study design and led the complex quantitative analyses conducted on the returned surveys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the time of the survey in 2022, Virginia was one of only nine states where Medicaid members had the option to enroll in highly integrated D-SNPs. With relatively little research on the topic so far, the results of this study can inform other states\u2019 decisions to incorporate highly integrated D-SNPs in their Medicaid programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The research team\u2019s most striking finding was that being in highly integrated D-SNPs was associated with greater satisfaction with customer service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMembers knew who to call if they had issues with getting access to a certain type of care. They were more likely to report being treated with courtesy and respect,\u201d Mellor said. \u201cWhen you have multiple plans, knowing who to call and getting a resolution to that call can be challenging and frustrating. And we did see improvement in that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The study yielded some positive results about highly integrated D-SNPs. But Mellor and the team already have future studies in mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some members had been enrolled in the highly integrated plans for only six months at the time of the study. Mellor would like to see what experiences members have after being enrolled for a longer period of time, therefore increasing their number of interactions with the programs. The team is also exploring different sources of data. Self-reported survey measures, like the ones used in this study, are useful in ascertaining measures like customer service satisfaction, but their efficacy is limited by their smaller size.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAlong with DMAS, we are exploring ways to use administrative records of hospitalizations and physician visits that allow us to study larger numbers of members at later points in time,\u201d said Mellor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The relationship Mellor has built with VCU and Virginia Medicaid has not only yielded opportunities for her own research but also opened doors for William &amp; Mary students interested in health policy. In one class, she invited DMAS staff to virtually sit in on student presentations and offer policy feedback. She also recently matched a student with an internship at DMAS, fulfilling one of W&amp;M\u2019s Vision 2026 strategic plan components to create meaningful pathways for student career success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This kind of collaboration between W&amp;M, VCU and DMAS is new and promising, said Mellor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis project is an example of how state institutions of higher education can partner to inform state agencies and public policy,\u201d Mellor said. \u201cThat\u2019s something I\u2019m excited about with this kind of work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cunningham agrees, citing the role that the partnership plays in preparing Ph.D. students at VCU for roles as health policy researchers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe training and experiences that our students receive is invaluable to their education and career development, and as a result, these students are well prepared for academic and nonacademic careers. That is something very unique to both VCU and William &amp; Mary.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Full article:&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wm.edu\/as\/news\/2023-2024\/study-indicates-positive-outcomes-for-new-approach-to-medicaremedicaid-dual-enrollment.php\">https:\/\/www.wm.edu\/as\/news\/2023-2024\/study-indicates-positive-outcomes-for-new-approach-to-medicaremedicaid-dual-enrollment.php<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Top Image: Jennifer Mellor, Paul R. Verkuil Professor of Economics at William &amp; Mary (left) | Photo courtesy of Jennifer Mellor, and Peter Cunningham, professor and interim chair of Virginia Commonwealth University\u2019s Department of Health Policy (right) | Photo courtesy of <em>Tom Kojcsich, University Marketing<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By&nbsp;Annie Powell, W&amp;M Arts &amp; Sciences News Navigating the complexity of either Medicare or Medicaid is challenging. Those challenges are compounded for people enrolled in both programs. A team of researchers from William &amp; Mary, Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services studied the potential benefits of integrating care for dually [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2005,"featured_media":25,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[57,62,41,61,60,58,55,64,7,63,15,56,11],"class_list":["post-24","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ccc-plus","tag-college-of-william-mary","tag-d-snps","tag-department-of-health-policy","tag-dual-eligible-special-needs-plans","tag-dual-enrollment","tag-jama-health-forum","tag-jennifer-mellor","tag-matthew-behrens","tag-medicaid","tag-medicare-advantage","tag-peter-cunningham","tag-schroeder-center-for-health-policy","tag-virginia-department-of-medical-assistance-services"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2005"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":23,"date":"2024-04-22T15:22:00","date_gmt":"2024-04-22T15:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/?p=23"},"modified":"2025-05-29T15:25:55","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T15:25:55","slug":"substance-use-disorders-are-underdiagnosed-and-undertreated-among-formerly-incarcerated-virginians-new-vcu-led-study-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/2024\/04\/22\/substance-use-disorders-are-underdiagnosed-and-undertreated-among-formerly-incarcerated-virginians-new-vcu-led-study-finds\/","title":{"rendered":"Substance use disorders are underdiagnosed and undertreated among formerly incarcerated Virginians, new VCU-led study finds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>Research collaboration with the Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services highlights health disparities affecting Medicaid members with addiction \u2013 and some of the barriers they face.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By&nbsp;<strong>Olivia Trani<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>People recently released from prison experience some of the highest rates of substance use disorder, but they are also the least likely to have access to providers who can diagnose and treat their addiction.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/healthpolicy.vcu.edu\/media\/hbp\/policybriefs\/pdfs\/PolicyBriefSUDpost-release.pdf\">New research<\/a>&nbsp;led by Virginia Commonwealth University\u2019s&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/sph.vcu.edu\/\">School of Population Health<\/a>&nbsp;is shedding light on the magnitude of these health disparities in Virginia and what policies might help people receive lifesaving care.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>National estimates suggest as many as 85% of people who are incarcerated have substance use disorders. While most of these adults are eligible for Medicaid services after their release, the VCU-led study found that only 17% of formerly incarcerated Medicaid members were diagnosed with substance use disorders in Virginia. Even fewer received medications as treatment for their addiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe know that substance use disorders are prevalent health issues among incarcerated populations, but this research shows that many people aren\u2019t getting the medical attention they need as they transition back to their communities,\u201d said&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/sph.vcu.edu\/about\/portfolio\/details\/pjcunningham\/\">Peter Cunningham<\/a>, Ph.D., who led the new research and is interim chair of the<a href=\"https:\/\/healthpolicy.vcu.edu\/\">&nbsp;Department of Health Policy<\/a>&nbsp;at VCU\u2019s School of Population Health.&nbsp;Other contributors to the report include Sarah Marks and Hannah Shadowen \u2013 both M.D.-Ph.D. students at VCU\u2019s School of Population Health \u2013 as well as Peyton Bernstein, a master\u2019s student at the College of William &amp; Mary.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe know that substance use disorders are prevalent health issues among incarcerated populations, but this research shows that many people aren\u2019t getting the medical attention they need as they transition back to their communities,\u201d said&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/sph.vcu.edu\/about\/portfolio\/details\/pjcunningham\/\">Peter Cunningham<\/a>, Ph.D., who led the new research and is interim chair of the<a href=\"https:\/\/healthpolicy.vcu.edu\/\">&nbsp;Department of Health Policy<\/a>&nbsp;at VCU\u2019s School of Population Health.&nbsp;Other contributors to the report include Sarah Marks and Hannah Shadowen \u2013 both M.D.-Ph.D. students at VCU\u2019s School of Population Health \u2013 as well as Peyton Bernstein, a master\u2019s student at the College of William &amp; Mary.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the VCU research team\u2019s analysis, 4,652 adults were released from county jails and state prisons in 2022, with 85% enrolling in Medicaid within one month of release. Among those enrolled in Medicaid, only 17% had seen health care providers and were diagnosed with a substance use disorder within three months, including 13% with an opioid use disorder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of those who were formerly incarcerated and diagnosed with an opioid use disorder, only about 25% went on to receive medications to treat their addiction. By comparison, 78% of all Medicaid members diagnosed with an opioid use disorder in Virginia received medications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe good news is that we see a high number of individuals enrolling in Medicaid soon after they are released from prison, and that is in large part due to the state expanding Medicaid coverage in 2019,\u201d Cunningham said. \u201cHowever, based on national statistics, we expected more people to receive a diagnosis and treatment for opioid addiction. This is concerning because having an undiagnosed, untreated opioid use disorder greatly increases the risk of overdose.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The researchers noted that a number of barriers might be contributing to these gaps in addiction treatment, such as the instability many formerly incarcerated adults experience after their release, as well as limitations in access to Medicaid services set by federal policies.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While the vast majority of individuals in the criminal justice system qualify for Medicaid,&nbsp;only emergency hospital services are covered as they serve their sentence. Most other benefits&nbsp;\u2013 including treatments for substance use disorders \u2013 are prohibited by federal law until after a person is released from prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe first few months after a person is released from incarceration is a particularly vulnerable time. They often&nbsp;have to&nbsp;figure out all aspects of their life at the same time,\u201d said Shadowen. \u201cMany people don\u2019t have a stable residence, mailing address or phone number, which makes it difficult for the Medicaid agency to contact them for health services.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt can also take some time for a person to be registered&nbsp;as eligible for Medicaid and schedule an appointment with a provider,\u201d added Marks. \u201cEven having the required photo identification and Medicaid card to visit a doctor\u2019s office is going to be much harder to do during this period of tremendous instability.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Increasing access to treatment prior to release can help to facilitate transitions to the community and ensure continuity of treatment following release from incarceration, Cunningham explained. \u201cIf providers are able to diagnose substance use disorders and initiate treatment plans before a person is released from prison, this might reduce the risk of overdoses and improve health outcomes when they return to their community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Looking ahead, the researchers are surveying formerly incarcerated Medicaid members to pinpoint some of the barriers they experience when seeking addiction treatment after prison.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Full article:&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/news.vcu.edu\/article\/2024\/03\/substance-use-disorders-underdiagnosed-formerly-incarcerated-vcustudy-finds\">https:\/\/news.vcu.edu\/article\/2024\/03\/substance-use-disorders-underdiagnosed-formerly-incarcerated-vcustudy-finds<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Research collaboration with the Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services highlights health disparities affecting Medicaid members with addiction \u2013 and some of the barriers they face. By&nbsp;Olivia Trani People recently released from prison experience some of the highest rates of substance use disorder, but they are also the least likely to have access to providers [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2005,"featured_media":8,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[41,34,6,15,53,52,42,11],"class_list":["post-23","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","tag-department-of-health-policy","tag-hannah-shadowen","tag-opioid-use-disorder","tag-peter-cunningham","tag-sarah-marks","tag-substance-use-disorder","tag-vcu-school-of-public-health","tag-virginia-department-of-medical-assistance-services"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2005"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":21,"date":"2024-02-13T15:19:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-13T15:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/?p=21"},"modified":"2025-05-29T15:22:25","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T15:22:25","slug":"capturing-modrn-equip-medicaid-outcomes-distributed-research-network-equity-and-quality-improvement-for-medicaid-programs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/2024\/02\/13\/capturing-modrn-equip-medicaid-outcomes-distributed-research-network-equity-and-quality-improvement-for-medicaid-programs\/","title":{"rendered":"Capturing MODRN EQUIP (Medicaid Outcomes Distributed Research Network: Equity and Quality Improvement for Medicaid Programs)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Department of Health Policy\u2019s Dr. Andrew Barnes joins AcademyHealth and University of Pittsburgh to support evidence-based policymaking with a focus on transforming Medicaid-financed healthcare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div data-wp-interactive=\"core\/file\" class=\"wp-block-file\"><object data-wp-bind--hidden=\"!state.hasPdfPreview\" hidden class=\"wp-block-file__embed\" data=\"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1436\/2025\/05\/ah_modrn_equip_one_pager_2024.pdf\" type=\"application\/pdf\" style=\"width:100%;height:600px\" aria-label=\"Embed of ah_modrn_equip_one_pager_2024.\"><\/object><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-98df87c6-f9ea-4080-a43d-44f5b1ccc1b6\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1436\/2025\/05\/ah_modrn_equip_one_pager_2024.pdf\">ah_modrn_equip_one_pager_2024<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1436\/2025\/05\/ah_modrn_equip_one_pager_2024.pdf\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-98df87c6-f9ea-4080-a43d-44f5b1ccc1b6\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Department of Health Policy\u2019s Dr. Andrew Barnes joins AcademyHealth and University of Pittsburgh to support evidence-based policymaking with a focus on transforming Medicaid-financed healthcare.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2005,"featured_media":13,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[9,5,51,10,3,50,47],"class_list":["post-21","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-modrn","tag-academyhealth","tag-andrew-barnes","tag-equity-and-quality-improvement-for-medicaid-programs","tag-medicaid-outcomes-distributed-research-network","tag-modrn","tag-modrn-equip","tag-university-of-pittsburgh"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2005"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":19,"date":"2024-02-09T15:09:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-09T15:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/?p=19"},"modified":"2025-05-29T15:19:33","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T15:19:33","slug":"a-snapshot-of-project-dream-doula-research-for-equitable-advances-in-medicaid-pregnancy-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/2024\/02\/09\/a-snapshot-of-project-dream-doula-research-for-equitable-advances-in-medicaid-pregnancy-health\/","title":{"rendered":"A Snapshot of Project DREAM (Doula Research for Equitable Advances in Medicaid Pregnancy Health)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Department of Health Policy faculty Dr. Andrew Barnes, Dr. Peter Cunningham, and Dr. Anika Hines join AcademyHealth and University of Pittsburgh to leverage an innovative distributed research network to advance racial equity in severe maternal morbidity and improve pregnancy and postpartum health outcomes in Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div data-wp-interactive=\"core\/file\" class=\"wp-block-file\"><object data-wp-bind--hidden=\"!state.hasPdfPreview\" hidden class=\"wp-block-file__embed\" data=\"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1436\/2025\/05\/dream_one_pager_february_2024.pdf\" type=\"application\/pdf\" style=\"width:100%;height:600px\" aria-label=\"Embed of dream_one_pager_february_2024.\"><\/object><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-f288e1ee-b432-48ad-a2fa-e27f972428d9\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1436\/2025\/05\/dream_one_pager_february_2024.pdf\">dream_one_pager_february_2024<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1436\/2025\/05\/dream_one_pager_february_2024.pdf\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-f288e1ee-b432-48ad-a2fa-e27f972428d9\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Department of Health Policy faculty Dr. Andrew Barnes, Dr. Peter Cunningham, and Dr. Anika Hines join AcademyHealth and University of Pittsburgh to leverage an innovative distributed research network to advance racial equity in severe maternal morbidity and improve pregnancy and postpartum health outcomes in Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) communities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2005,"featured_media":13,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[9,5,46,49,15,48,47],"class_list":["post-19","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-project-dream","tag-academyhealth","tag-andrew-barnes","tag-anika-hines","tag-doula-research-for-equitable-advances-in-medicaid-pregnancy-health","tag-peter-cunningham","tag-project-dream","tag-university-of-pittsburgh"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2005"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":17,"date":"2024-02-01T15:04:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-01T15:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/?p=17"},"modified":"2025-05-29T15:08:46","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T15:08:46","slug":"healthcare-policy-phd-candidate-and-school-of-dentistry-associate-professor-examines-the-impact-of-medicaid-dental-policies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/2024\/02\/01\/healthcare-policy-phd-candidate-and-school-of-dentistry-associate-professor-examines-the-impact-of-medicaid-dental-policies\/","title":{"rendered":"Healthcare Policy PhD candidate and School of Dentistry Associate Professor examines the impact of Medicaid dental policies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>Shillpa Naavaal, an associate professor in the VCU School of Dentistry, hopes to promote strong oral health policies with the help of a five-year grant from the NIH.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>by Joan Tupponce<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Shillpa Naavaal\u2019s concern for Virginians who need the most dental care but receive the least has been at the root of her research for the past 10 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOral health is one of the most unmet health needs. Financial barriers are major, and the burden of disease is higher among vulnerable groups,\u201d said Naavaal, an associate professor in the&nbsp;Department of Dental Public Health and Policy&nbsp;at&nbsp;Virginia Commonwealth University\u2019s School of Dentistry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Oral health is important to a person\u2019s overall health and is associated with social, emotional and financial well-being, she said. \u201cIn order to support everyone in achieving&nbsp;the best health possible, it\u2019s important to have strong and effective policies in place.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Naavaal hopes to promote them through her five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health, with funding of nearly $1 million.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The&nbsp;grant is supporting her study&nbsp;titled the \u201cRole of Comprehensive Adult Medicaid Dental Benefits in Improving Oral Health and Reducing Disparities among Adults and Children.\u201d It expands her health policy research by examining the impact of the dental coverage policy on access to and use of dental care services among Medicaid-eligible Virginians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since 2021, all Medicaid-enrolled adults in Virginia have been eligible for comprehensive dental coverage \u2013 benefits that were previously available only to children and pregnant women in the program. However, there has been little research on how these policies have impacted oral health in the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Naavaal\u2019s multiyear project will provide data to improve strategies for existing and new policies, including system-level changes to minimize disparities and maximize oral health gains among Medicaid enrollees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis will be the first-ever comprehensive analysis using rich administrative claims data and rigorous analytic and econometric models to examine the demand for dental services among adults following the implementation of the Medicaid adult dental policy, its effect on the use of dental services in emergency rooms and its indirect effect on the use of dental services among children enrolled in Medicaid,\u201d Naavaal said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The findings should illuminate individual and family oral health gains attributable to the Medicaid dental benefit. They also will generate actionable evidence to strengthen the policy, identify strategies to minimize disparities in access and use of dental care, and provide valuable information to Medicaid programs across the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Naavaal\u2019s research and advisory team includes experts from VCU\u2019s School of Dentistry (Tegwyn H. Brickhouse, D.D.S., Ph.D.),&nbsp;School of Population Health&nbsp;(Peter Cunningham, Ph.D., and Bassam Dahman, Ph.D.),&nbsp;School of Business&nbsp;(David W. Harless, Ph.D.) and&nbsp;College of Health Professions&nbsp;(Paula Song, Ph.D.), along with experts from the Virginia Department of Health, Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services, the Virginia Health Information nonprofit and Virginia Health Catalyst, a statewide coalition that promotes oral care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe combination of&nbsp;ideas and inputs from different perspectives&nbsp;is important to&nbsp;understand and solve the sticky&nbsp;problems of health care access and utilization,\u201d Naavaal said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The primary aim of her work is to examine racial and ethnic disparities&nbsp;within the Medicaid group and how groups compare with each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe findings will provide a clear understanding of how dental benefit uptake has been following the policy,\u201d Naavaal said. \u201cThe work following this research will help develop specific programs and evaluate various health care delivery models to improve oral health among Medicaid members.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Full article&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/news.vcu.edu\/article\/2024\/01\/vcu-school-of-dentistry-researcher-examines-the-impact-of-virginias-new-policies?utm_source=VCUNewsNewsletter&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=VCUNewsNewsletter&amp;utm_content=https:\/\/news.vcu.edu\/article\/2024\/01\/vcu-school-of-dentistry-researcher-examines-the-impact-of-virginias-new-policies\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Shillpa Naavaal, an associate professor in the VCU School of Dentistry, hopes to promote strong oral health policies with the help of a five-year grant from the NIH.\u00a0 by Joan Tupponce Shillpa Naavaal\u2019s concern for Virginians who need the most dental care but receive the least has been at the root of her research for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2005,"featured_media":18,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[39,37,41,40,36,38,42,11,44,43],"class_list":["post-17","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-medicaid-expansion","tag-dental-care","tag-department-of-dental-public-health-and-policy","tag-department-of-health-policy","tag-medicaid-adult-dental-coverage-benefit","tag-shillpa-naavaal","tag-vcu-school-of-dentistry","tag-vcu-school-of-public-health","tag-virginia-department-of-medical-assistance-services","tag-virginia-health-catalyst","tag-virginia-health-information"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2005"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":15,"date":"2022-08-01T14:51:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-01T14:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/?p=15"},"modified":"2025-05-29T14:57:41","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T14:57:41","slug":"study-virginia-medicaid-expansion-increased-financial-security-for-enrollees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/2022\/08\/01\/study-virginia-medicaid-expansion-increased-financial-security-for-enrollees\/","title":{"rendered":"Study: Virginia Medicaid expansion increased financial security for enrollees"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>By Meghan McIntyre, Virginia Mercury<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Chesterfield resident Geneva Gordon was forced to file for bankruptcy after receiving a $21,000 hospital bill for a reconstructive wrist surgery while uninsured. Leaving her previous job left her without insurance, living paycheck to paycheck and constantly worrying about getting sick and adding to her growing medical debt.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gordon has since enrolled in Medicaid, which she said has helped her tremendously in the three years she\u2019s had it.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s 100% affordable,\u201d Gordon said. \u201cI haven\u2019t really truly been limited on where I can go and who I can see.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Individuals like Gordon enrolled in Medicaid reported less financial stress and greater security for non-medical expenses such as housing and food, according to new research published this month in the journal&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.healthaffairs.org\/doi\/full\/10.1377\/hlthaff.2021.01910\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Health Affairs<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The study focuses on people who were eligible for program enrollment following Virginia\u2019s Medicaid expansion in 2019. Nearly&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dmas.virginia.gov\/data\/medicaid-expansion-enrollment\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">675,000<\/a>&nbsp;adults have enrolled in the state\u2019s program since 2019, when Virginia lawmakers&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/05\/30\/health\/medicaid-expansion-virginia.html\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">voted, after years of Republican opposition, to expand eligibility<\/a>&nbsp;by increasing the income threshold to 138% of the federal poverty level and allowing individuals without children.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hannah Shadowen, a medical student at Virginia Commonwealth University who is pursuing a Ph.D., is the lead author of the study. The research team also included the Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As part of the five-year project, a baseline survey was sent to individuals newly eligible for Medicaid in 2019 to understand their health care experience and financial situation in the year prior to enrollment. Follow-up surveys were sent out in 2020-21. The research team collected over 3,000 responses in total.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Respondents were about one-third less likely to be concerned about normal health care costs compared to prior to enrollment and a quarter less likely to be concerned about catastrophic health care costs.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gordon said she can now easily afford groceries and household items, as well as gas and car payments. She has also been able to pay off all of her medical debt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t have to worry about what I have to do without until I can afford it again,\u201d Gordon said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The reported changes in financial security following Medicaid enrollment were broadly similar across demographic subgroups, with a few exceptions, Shadowen said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>African American respondents were found to have a greater decrease in concern about paying for housing costs compared to White enrollees. Rural enrollees also reported a greater decrease in concern over paying medical bills compared to non-enrollees.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s also really important to recognize that Medicaid and public health insurance can be a tool for health equity,\u201d Shadowen said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Annual eligibility reviews of people on Medicaid were&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cbpp.org\/research\/health\/unwinding-the-medicaid-continuous-coverage-requirement\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">suspended<\/a>&nbsp;in Virginia after the federal government declared a public health emergency in March 2020 as part of COVID-19 relief legislation.&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/richmond.com\/news\/state-and-regional\/govt-and-politics\/virginia-poised-to-review-eligibility-of-2-million-in-medicaid-safe-haven\/article_274566af-5d44-5ae0-9751-53b57979251a.html\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">State officials predict up to 400,000 people could lose coverage<\/a>&nbsp;once the reviews resume as a result of Medicaid agencies determining their annual income now exceeds the limit required for eligibility.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gordon is concerned she\u2019ll lose coverage, as she recently got a new job where her salary slightly exceeds the $18,075 income threshold for one person. If she is disenrolled, Gordon said she would probably have to pay an outrageous amount to get insurance.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt is not a livable wage on its own,\u201d Gordon said. \u201cBut throw in insurance and it\u2019s 100% unaffordable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The federal public health emergency was&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/aspr.hhs.gov\/legal\/PHE\/Pages\/covid19-15jul2022.aspx\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">renewed<\/a>&nbsp;on July 15 for another 90 days. If it isn\u2019t renewed again in October, Virginia could then start the process of disenrolling people.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Full article:&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.virginiamercury.com\/2022\/08\/01\/study-virginia-medicaid-expansion-increased-financial-security-for-enrollees\/\">https:\/\/www.virginiamercury.com\/2022\/08\/01\/study-virginia-medicaid-expansion-increased-financial-security-for-enrollees\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Meghan McIntyre, Virginia Mercury Chesterfield resident Geneva Gordon was forced to file for bankruptcy after receiving a $21,000 hospital bill for a reconstructive wrist surgery while uninsured. Leaving her previous job left her without insurance, living paycheck to paycheck and constantly worrying about getting sick and adding to her growing medical debt.&nbsp; Gordon has [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2005,"featured_media":16,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[34,35,16,11],"class_list":["post-15","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-medicaid-expansion","tag-hannah-shadowen","tag-health-affairs","tag-medicaid-expansion","tag-virginia-department-of-medical-assistance-services"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2005"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/medicaideval\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}]