New Publications
Scientific Integrity
 Preventing and resolving conflicts of interest are vital to the integrity of health services research and policy analysis. Senior fellow Marsha Gold served on a committee convened by AcademyHealth to develop guidelines for managing conflicts of interest in health services research. Over a two-year period, the committee reviewed standards from related fields, such as clinical research, and examined case studies on conflicts of interest. The new guidelines are a tool to foster ethical behavior and to build consensus on managing conflicts of interest.
"Ethical Guidelines for Managing Conflicts of Interest in Health Services Research"
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Child Development and Nutrition
 "The Effect of Maternal Labor Force Participation on Child Development," Susanne James-Burdumy. Journal of Labor Economics, January 2005. Examines the effects of maternal employment on child development in a child's first three years, as measured by children's scores on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test and Peabody Individual Achievement Test. Only one of three tests (PIAT math) was negatively affected by maternal hours and weeks worked in the first year of a child's life.
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 "What's in Your Stomach? The Transition to Table Foods and Toddler Nutrition." Ronette Briefel. Pediatric Basics, winter 2004. Precisely when and how older infants and toddlers make the transition to the family diet can be as varied as the children who make the transition and the families caring for them. To better understand how consuming different proportions of table foods in a day affects nutrient intakes, the Feeding Infants and Toddlers Study analyzed the consumption patterns of children and categorized the results into food energy intake quartiles. Compared with those in the lowest quartiles, those in the highest quartiles are incorporating table foods into their diets at faster rates, mirroring the less-desirable eating patterns of older children and adults at faster rates, and may be consuming more energy-dense table foods and/or more foods in general. Call 800-595-0324 for ordering information. To read more about the FITS study, click here. |
A Look at Food Stamp Households
 "State Food Stamp Participation Rates for the Working Poor in 2001." Laura A. Castner and Allen L. Schirm, November 2004. Food stamps provide critical support for individuals moving from public assistance to employment, and states have increased flexibility to tailor their eligibility rules to meet the needs of those who are working but still poor. Yet, many people who have jobs and are eligible do not participate in the Food Stamp Program. This report presents the first estimates of participation rates by state for the working poor, and discusses research to improve the methods used to account for differences across states in program eligibility rules. A future report will present revised estimates reflecting these methodological enhancements.
"Empirical Bayes Shrinkage Estimates of State Food Stamp Participation Rates in 1999-2001 for All Eligible People and for the Working Poor." July 2004. This report provides technical documentation for the estimates included in the "Reaching Those In Need: Food Stamp Participation Rates in the States in 2001."
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Using Data for Program Monitoring
"Commentary on 'Using Encounter Data from Medicaid HMOs for Research and Monitoring.'" Judith Wooldridge. Inquiry, fall 2004. This commentary reviews an article based on a study of the face validity of one state's encounter data. It notes that, in the years since the study was completed, states, plans, and CMS have gained knowledge and experience working with these data, and have improved their completeness and quality. The author states that researchers should approach any unfamiliar data source cautiously, particularly if the data are newly available. |
Connecting Rural America
 “Promoting Access to Work Supports in Rural Areas: Lessons from Virginia,” Trends in Employment Services, Issue Brief #1. Diane Paulsell, January 2005. This issue brief summarizes Mathematica’s study of Virginia’s Coordinated Economic Relief Centers (CERCs), a comprehensive approach to supporting workers and their families in rural areas by providing the services of many agencies at a one-stop location. The study found that CERCs fell short of what they were intended to accomplish. In some cases, they facilitated access to sources of help in the community, made obtaining services more convenient for some clients, and may have provided more personalized attention. However, they often did not achieve their goal of providing truly integrated services because of resource constraints and unrealistic expectations of what CERCs could accomplish. The brief offers pointers for states considering this approach.
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Upcoming Presentations
Marsha Gold will join many other prominent speakers at the National Academy of Social Insurance Annual Meeting in Washington, DC, to discuss Medicare Modernization in a Polarized Environment: Facing the Challenges. The meeting, on January 27 and 28, will focus on key issues in implementation of the Medicare Modernization Act (MMA), including the prescription drug benefit, future of the Medicare Advantage program, implications of the MMA on social insurance principles, challenges of serving low-income beneficiaries, impact of health savings accounts, and payment incentives for quality care.
Margo Rosenbach will discuss critical issues related to the upcoming reauthorization of SCHIP at the National Health Policy Conference, Reelection 2004: What's in Store? sponsored by AcademyHealth and Health Affairs. Her panel is titled "SCHIP Revisited: Reauthorizing the State Children's Health Insurance Program." In addition, Len Nichols and Paul Ginsburg will discuss "Ten Years of Tracking Health System Change: The Evolution of Competition." This year's conference, held in Washington, DC, on February 2 and 3, offers an in-depth look at critical health issues and provides a health policy scan for the year ahead.
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