HOP Faculty Member Participates in a Panel at the National Academy for State Health Policy Conference

RC_20111118_UF_Ryan_Theis_0035_Compressed-199x300Ryan Theis, Ph.D., research assistant professor in the Department of Health Outcomes & Policy, participated in the panel, “Measuring What Matters: Marrying Individual Outcomes to Aggregate Data in HCBS and Beyond,” at the National Academy for State Health Policy Conference, which was held in Dallas, Texas on October 19-21.

The panel discussed trends and practical strategies for measuring person-centered outcomes in state Home- and Community-Based Services (HCBS) programs. Theis participated in the discussion with experts Gail Propsom, program and policy chief in the Department of Health Services for the state of Wisconsin, Alice Lind, manager at the Washington State Health Care Authority, and Beth Jackson, director of HCBS quality for Truven Health Analytics.

Theis also gave a brief presentation on the strategies used for measurement by UF researchers to evaluate quality of care for beneficiaries of the Texas STAR+PLUS HCBS Program.

“This panel was a great opportunity for us to share the innovative work we’ve done for Texas Medicaid, in which we leverage information in large claims and encounter datasets to assess person-centered outcomes,” Theis said. “It was a privilege to share the podium with other experts in the field, whose work complements our own. Although much work still needs to be done, this experience made clear that evaluation of HCBS for Medicaid beneficiaries is moving toward a standard set of rigorous measures that assess quality from a person-centered perspective.”