The Center’s expertise as one of the chief sources of data and analysis for California’s health care reform implementation will be on display at AcademyHealth, the annual meeting of health services researchers as well as those interested in health care policy. The meeting takes place in Baltimore, Md., this year from June 23-25.
In total, Center researchers will participate or lead 14 session panels and present an additional seven posters on topics ranging from diabetes care management in community clinics to the differences in the way HIV-positive Medi-Cal beneficiaries are treated. See a complete list of Center presentations at AcademyHealth 2013.
But the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and its implementation in California, the "first out of the gate" state to implement health care reform, dominate Center presentations and may provide guidance to other states in earlier stages of ACA planning. Center presentations include:
• Assessing pent-up demand for health insurance coverage among California’s currently-uninsured population.• Uninsured children in immigrant families left out of health care reform.• The language barriers that might prevent limited English proficient (LEP) Californians from accessing coverage under the ACA.• How innovations from California’s "bridge" program to health care reform – the Low Income Health Program (LIHP) – can show potential ways to reduce emergency room visits and hospitalizations by mentally ill patients.• How state and local health data can inform health care coverage policy.