Staff Publications

Because preventative care is often only available during standard business hours, workplace policies and work arrangements may play a central role in enabling people to obtain needed care. Yet it remains unclear which specific policies and practices are most effective in facilitating preventative care use, especially during the workday. This study draws on survey data from workers in Michigan and Arizona, where Michigan and Arizona workers have statutory access to paid sick leave, to examine how policies related to schedule control, work location, paid time off, and weekly work hours shape…

Access to medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) varies across racial and ethnic groups. Findings can inform Medicaid efforts to improve access to MOUD for all enrollees.

Evaluating the Focus on ME (FOM) quality improvement learning collaborative across 20 Ohio primary care practices, the study demonstrated immediate and sustained increases in anxiety and depression screening for women aged 18–44, along with significant improvements in protocol-aligned follow-up treatment.

Medicaid is the largest insurer for patients with opioid use disorder (OUD) and finances a disproportionate share of medication treatment for OUD (MOUD). Within Medicaid, initiation and continuity of MOUD are associated with improved outcomes, but substantial inequities across populations and care settings remain. The Medicaid Outcomes Distributed Research Network (MODRN) has supported Medicaid agency efforts to improve MOUD receipt and continuity of care. In the context of MODRN-Examining Quality Improvement for Medicaid Programs, the Behavioral Health Treatment Engagement and Retention…

Maternal interconception care is essential to improve birth outcomes by targeting maternal risk factors. The Healthy Mom, Healthy Family (HMHF) program expanded the Interventions to Minimize Preterm and Low Birth Weight Infants through Continuous Improvement Techniques (IMPLICIT) Network’s scope by incorporating interconception care into pediatric and family medicine well-child visits (WCVs). We compared screening and referral/counseling rates for maternal behaviors between pediatricians and family physicians. Physicians used a standardized data tool to collect information on maternal…

In July 2022, the Ohio Department of Medicaid (ODM) launched a statewide Regional Quality Improvement (QI) Hub program using a hub-and-spoke model to embed Learning Health System (LHS) capabilities in primary care. The Ohio State University (OSU) Hub piloted the approach across ten affiliated sites, aiming to raise overall hypertension control by ≥ 10 percentage points and promote more consistent levels of hypertension control across patient populations by June 2027. This report describes the first 18 months post-implementation.

While nearly three-quarters (71.8%) of Ohio adults have ever received a COVID-19 vaccine, there is substantial variation by age, race/ethnicity, education, and county type.