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Health Policy/Affairs

Health public policy analysis touches on a broad range of health issues, from financing of health care to cost containment to improving quality and outcomes. AIR’s work in this area often involves original research as well as surveying the landscape and pulling together materials created by others. We also work to inform the public on key issues. AIR’s efforts extend from reforms of Medicare and Medicaid to developing communication plans in case of terrorist biohazards or an influenza pandemic.

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Recent Reports

• Performance Management: Improving State Systems through Information-Based Decisionmaking

  Today’s economic climate mandates and rewards cost-effective, performance-driven management. Performance management—a data-driven process to help improve services and outcomes—provides a structure that promotes the development and delivery of high-quality products and services.

• Prospects for the Social Safety Net for Future Low Income Seniors

  This paper, presented at Forgotten Americans: The Future of Support for Older Low-Income Adults, examines health and income security issues among older Americans.

Recent Projects

• Helping States Improve Their Medicare Services

  AIR is supporting an effort to strengthen aspects of the State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP), a federally funded, state-based program that offers one-on-one counseling and assistance to Medicare beneficiaries and their families. SHIPs are funded by grants from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

• Medicare Part D Consumer Research

  On behalf of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), AIR studied the reasons why Medicare beneficiaries without creditable coverage do not enroll in Part D and how they can be encouraged to do so. The project consisted of a survey of beneficiaries without creditable coverage or Part D plans and interviews with health professionals. 

• Public Health Emergency Preparedness: Seasonal and Pandemic Influenza Population Monitoring Surveys

  AIR conducted a series of surveys to assess the public’s knowledge, attitudes, and behavior with respect to seasonal and pandemic influenza in 2007. We are continuing the series, focusing on H1N1 high-risk populations in 2009 and 2010.