Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Downeast Maine Mat Expansion Project: Year 1 Data Summary, Mary Lindsey Smith Phd, Olivia Dooley Mpa, Evelyn Ali Bs

Substance Use Research & Evaluation

This report summarizes the Year 1 activities of the Healthy Acadia Downeast Maine MAT Expansion Project. Through a collaborative effort of Healthy Acadia, its providers, the Downeast Substance Treatment Network and Downeast Substance Use Response Coalition, the project utilized multiple evidence-based strategies to combat opioid use disorder (OUD) in Downeast Maine.

Key findings focused on:

• capacity building,
• stakeholder engagement,
• organizational and peer support,
• payment and reimbursement issues,
• the creation of low-barrier access to MAT,
• barriers, including stigma, to MAT
• patient-centered approaches
• auxiliary recovery supports

For more information, please contact M. LIndsey Smith, PhD at m.lindsey.smith@maine.edu

Rural Health Clinic Costs And Medicare Reimbursement, John A. Gale Ms, Zachariah T. Croll Mph, Andrew F. Coburn Phd

Rural Health Clinics

The Rural Health Clinic (RHC) Program is one of the nation’s oldest rural primary care programs. A key feature of the RHC Program is Medicare and Medicaid volume-appropriate, cost-based reimbursement, which is designed to sustain these vulnerable rural primary care providers. Medicare currently pays RHCs for the lesser of reasonable costs (expressed as an adjusted cost per visit) for a defined package of RHC services or a per-visit reimbursement cap, from which provider-based RHCs owned by hospitals with fewer than 50 beds are exempt. Although the per-visit cap is updated periodically, RHC administrators, policymakers, and stakeholders question whether the updates …

Sociodemographic And Health Status Characteristics Of Maine's Newly Eligible Medicaid Beneficiaries [Data Brief], Zachariah T. Croll Mph, Erika C. Ziller Phd, Barbara Leonard Mph

Medicaid

This data brief identifies key characteristics of groups who will gain access through MaineCare expansion. Researchers Croll and Ziller at the University of Southern Maine, along with Leonardson of the Maine Health Access Foundation present a statistical analysis of uninsured non-elderly adults age 18 – 64 with no children and lower incomes, the population newly eligible for MaineCare through expansion. Drawing from five years of data from Maine’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, the report addresses sociodemographic characteristics, health status, and access to care. The survey indicates that those who are likely eligible for expanded MaineCare coverage are twice as …

The Health Care Costs Of Financial Exploitation In Maine, Kimberly I. Snow Mhsa, Yvonne Jonk Phd, Deborah Thayer Mba, Catherine Mcguire Bs, Stuart Bratesman Mpp, Charles A. Smith Phd, Erika C. Ziller Phd

Disability & Aging

This study sought to determine the Medicare and Medicaid costs experienced by dual eligible older adults in Maine for whom Maine Adult Protective Services (APS) substantiated allegations of elder financial exploitation and to compare them to those of Maine’s general older population. The analysis is an important step forward in estimating the medical costs associated with elder abuse.

Elder financial exploitation may result in significant public burden on Medicare and Medicaid, shouldered by taxpayers. Efforts to detect, investigate, prosecute, and mitigate this abuse will benefit not only the victims, but also the financial stewardship of these public programs.

Preventive Health Service Use Among Rural Women, Erika C. Ziller Phd, Jennifer D. Lenardson Mhs, Nathan Paluso Mph, Jaclyn Janis Bsn, Rn

Access / Insurance

Preventive health services and screenings are an important component in the continuum of care provided to individuals across all ages. Yet, research has shown that rural residents generally use fewer preventive health services and screenings. This study used the National Health Interview Survey to examine receipt of preventive health services (cholesterol check, fasting blood sugar test, mammogram, pap smear, and receipt of the HPV vaccine) by rural and urban women over the age of 18. Findings indicate that rural women were less likely than their urban peers to receive preventive health services, and that some of the differences may be …

Interrupted Progress: Water And Sanitation In Haiti, Emily Bauer

Thinking Matters Symposium Archive

Haiti has faced damaging environmental and social impacts, which have interrupted progress towards clean drinking water and adequate sanitation facilities for its over 10 million people. Natural disasters, disease outbreak, political corruption and economic instability have contributed to poor health and social outcomes for the small, island nation. This study used the most recent data from the World Health Organization and United Nations Children’s Fund Joint Monitoring Programme (WHO/UNICEF JMP) to assess national trends in water source and sanitation facility improvements from 1990-2015. WHO/UNICEF JMP defines water improvements as piped or non-piped protected water, and sanitation improvements as networked, flushed …

What Gun Safety And Access Policies Did Participants Think Would Be Effective In Preventing Accidental Gun Deaths?, Bridget O’Keefe, Stephen White

Thinking Matters Symposium Archive

Firearm-related incidents are often highly publicized tragedies that fuel unproductive political debates on gun policies at the local, state, and national levels. Current best practices in safe gun storage suggest that caregivers can protect their children from injury or death from an accidental gun discharge by keeping guns unloaded, locked up, and stored separately from their ammunition (Crifasi, Doucette, McGinty, Webster, & Barry, 2018). Child access prevention mechanisms including trigger locks, lock boxes, gun safes, and safe storage legislation are encouraged by the American Academy of Pediatrics (Dowd & Sege, 2012). This study gathers quantitative responses from 1,021 participants using …