A graduate student conducted literature and best practice research to help identify a consumer engagement framework for DHS’s Arkansas Health Care Payment Improvement Initiative (AHCPII).
University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service student Angela Bukenya’s work will help Arkansans assume greater personal responsibility by encouraging more direct, more effective engagement between consumers, providers, and other stakeholders working to address a host of interrelated issues such as: lifestyle choices, health literacy, preventative health, provider and treatment selection, and treatment adherence.
The findings of the research showed that the individually focused trans-theoretical change of behavior model, and the multilevel socio-ecological model, are widely recommended frameworks for consumer engagement in health and health care.
“We are excited about the opportunity to partner with the Clinton School of Public Service for the DHS Fellows project that will contribute to a valuable component of the Arkansas Health Care Payment Improvement Initiative,” said Dawn Zekis, the director of Health Care Innovation. “The results of the consumer engagement framework project will allow our efforts to focus on increasing involvement using meaningful engagement approaches that will result in desired effects of improving individual and population health outcomes, facilitating more efficient use of health care resources, and delivering quality health care services.”
A select group of health policy experts sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, collectively proposed that consumer engagement holds great potential to spur health quality improvements, and must not be viewed as a silver bullet, since consumers have neither the power nor the skills to transform health care systems on their own. The change therefore requires a joint effort between providers, payers, insurers, policy makers and the consumers themselves.
After graduation, Bukenya will continue working with DHS as a fellow to develop the consumer engagement framework that will suit the needs of the AHCPII.
The student completed the research project as part of the Clinton School’s capstone, the last of three field service projects in the Master of Public Service degree program.
About The Arkansas Health Care Payment Improvement Initiative:
The AHCPII is creating a sustainable healthcare system aimed at improving 1) population health, 2) patient experience of care, and 3) cost-effectiveness of care. It is doing so by transforming the vast majority of care and payment from a fragmented fee-for-service reward and supports providers for delivery of improved outcomes and high-quality cost-effective care. The strategy is intended to move the entire Arkansas delivery system to a new and sustainable model of healthcare financing and stimulate needed system reform.
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