Our Work

May is Mental Health Awareness Month and new data analysis from HPIO has found that Ohio ranks 27th for adults with Medicaid coverage who received follow-up care within 30 days of an emergency department visit for mental illness.

Maine had the highest percentage of follow-up care among its Medicaid population with 84.4% of adults with a diagnosis of mental illness who have an ED visit receiving follow-up care within 30 days. West Virginia had the lowest with 12.4%. For more information about the programs included in each state’s data, see Annual Reporting on the Quality of Care for Adults enrolled in Medicaid, Adult Health Quality Measures 2022.

According to the National Committee for Quality Assurance, “Research suggests that follow-up care for people with mental illness is linked to fewer repeat ED visits, improved physical and mental function and increased compliance with follow-up instructions.”

In HPIO’s recently released 2024 Health Value Dashboard, mental well-being was identified as a policy priority for improving health value. The Dashboard suggest the following policy options to drive improvement in Ohio:

• Improve access to telemental health services and reduce existing barriers for patients, such as gaps in insurance coverage and lack of broadband availability.
• Fund programs with evidence of mental health benefits, such as mental health first aid, cross-age youth peer mentoring and trauma-informed schools.
• Improve the behavioral health crisis system, including the 988 lifeline and mobile crisis response, ensuring that these services are adequately funded and available across the state.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month and data from the Ohio Department of Health shows that Ohio students who experience more adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are less likely to have social connections, an important protective factor that can buffer children and families from the well-documented harmful effects of toxic stress and adversity and contribute to better overall mental health.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “When people are socially connected and have stable and supportive relationships, they are more likely to make healthy choices and to have better mental and physical health outcomes. They are also better able to cope with hard times, stress, anxiety, and depression.”

As illustrated above, just one in four Ohio students with four or more ACEs reported feeling like they could most of the time or always talk to an adult in their life about their feelings. About three in four students with no ACEs reported having a trusted adult to whom they could talk. Students with more ACEs were also less likely to report having a trusted friend.

As part of its ongoing ACEs work, last year HPIO released a policy brief on building skills and strengthening connections to caring adults. “Increasing these protective factors can lead to stronger families, better health, educational and employment outcomes and benefits to society at large,” the brief stated.

The Health Policy Institute of Ohio has released a new toolkit designed to provide partners with information about how to use evaluation to move towards equity.

Each section of “Moving Toward Equity: An Evaluation Toolkit,” covers a different element of evaluation, including information on how to tie evaluation into every step of assessment, planning, implementation and continuous quality improvement processes.

“There is much still to be done to ensure Ohioans of color, LGBTQ+ Ohioans, Ohioans with disabilities, Ohioans with low incomes, Ohioans living in urban, rural and Appalachian areas, and others can thrive in our state,” the toolkit states.

For example, HPIO’s 2024 Health Value Dashboard shows that Black and Hispanic Ohio children are much more likely to experience food insecurity than their white peers (as displayed above).

“An important part of this work is to evaluate and measure if our efforts to achieve equity are successful,” the toolkit states. “Evaluation tells us if what we’re doing is making a difference. It gives us the information needed to understand where we need to change, refocus or intensify our approaches. Perhaps more importantly, evaluation is also a process that can build trust, collaboration and accountability.”

The toolkit includes guidance, tools and resources on:

• Setting the stage for evaluation through assessment and planning
• Equitable approaches to evaluation
• Developing an equitable evaluation plan
• Using evaluation results for continuous quality improvement
• Collecting data for evaluation

The Toolkit is for anyone who is dedicated to advancing equity, passionate about achieving results and committed to stewarding resources. Tools are located in a separate workbook that is meant to be interactive and fillable, and can be accessed on the publication page.