Studying how Kentucky's Medicaid managed care organizations are working with community partnerships to address enrollees' unmet social needs

The Foundation's initiative, Research in Transforming Health and Health Care Systems, was designed to: (1) sponsor four calls for proposals for investigator-initiated research on various topics in health care service toward transforming the health and health care systems; and (2) potentially commission a limited amount of additional research, if needed. The goal of the project is to provide foundational evidence for the development of best-practice models of multisector collaboration that address unmet social needs and improve health outcomes for Medicaid enrollees. This project will be funded as part of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Research in Transforming Health and Health Care Systems program, which seeks to build the evidence base on the potential effects of policies or policy changes intended to transform health. The research team will use the Process Framework for Public Health Collaboratives (PHC) to guide its research strategy as the team applies a mixed-methods approach to examine the development, evolution, and impact of partnerships between Kentucky managed care organizations (MCOs) and local community-based organizations (CBOs). The researchers will: (1) examine how MCOs and CBOs are engaging to address enrollees' unmet social needs; (2) collect and analyze network data in three selected Kentucky communities, using focus groups to understand the structure of MCO-CBO relationships and assess CBO and enrollee perceptions and experiences; and (3) develop preliminary evidence for the impact of Medicaid MCO-CBO partnerships on enrollees' health outcomes. Deliverables will include a project workplan and annual and final narrative and financial reports. The grantee will also produce a paper or papers suitable for publication and present findings at national research meetings and to other stakeholder audiences as appropriate, including policymakers at the federal, state, and local levels.