I recently had the exciting opportunity to attend the 2025 National Academy of Health Policy (NASHP) Conference in San Diego from September 8-10 as both an exhibitor and attendee along with my colleagues, Kristen Conrad (Associate Director of SCISR), and Vanessa Harrell (Research Group Director, Health Policy Division).

The theme of this year’s conference was “Riding the Waves of State Health Policy,” which reflected both the coastal location and the rapidly changing environment that state health policy makers are facing.

Attendees from across the U.S. explored the current health policy issues facing each state and how they are approaching what lies ahead.   The topics of interest included:

  • New requirements for Medicaid eligibility, including community engagement options and how to document participation;
  • The Rural Health Transformation Funding Program opportunity for supporting rural health initiatives;
  • The uncertain future of the health insurance Marketplace enhanced premium tax credits;
  • The strategies to improve maternal, infant, and family care;
  • The critical role of using data to make decisions about health policy; and
  • The importance of prioritizing the health consumer.

 

We witnessed first-hand the dedication of the health policy practitioners as they collaborated, presented best practices, and considered how to move forward and serve constituents in their states.

The SSRS team attended informative plenaries and sessions on these topics and more and had many engaging conversations with policy leaders and practitioners at our booth in the exhibit hall about state policy and the ways that research and data affect their organizations today and potentially beyond.

We routinely support state health policy practitioners with high-quality research and innovative methods to navigate the issues at hand.

For example, SSRS conducted several mixed-mode surveys during the Medicaid unwinding to monitor impact on health insurance status and better understand consumers’ experience with enrollment. The insights we gained from this work can help inform future research on how enrollees work through the new Medicaid requirements they will need to meet to maintain enrollment. We hope to continue exploring such critical health policy issues with methodologically robust data collection and analysis as policies across our state partners evolve.

We can also provide qualitative services to take a deeper dive into the obstacles and opportunities people are encountering as they confront changes to the health care environment in their own lives. Whether it’s in-depth interviews, focus groups, or other exploratory methods with patients, caretakers, or others interacting with state health services, our qualitative methodologies can add additional depth to understanding the current health landscape.

On a lighter note, while in San Diego, we enjoyed the beautiful weather and some of the fun NASHP traditions, such as the Blueberry Reception, where local chefs are challenged to prepare a series of hors d’oeuvres that contain blueberries in honor of NASHP’s Maine origins. We definitely experienced some creative and tasty combinations, like blueberry glazed meatballs!

With the recent launch of the SSRS Center for Innovation in State Research (SCISR), NASHP provided valuable insights into how SSRS can support state health policy practitioners with high-quality research as they navigate the swells and troughs in the year ahead.

We are all looking forward to diving in and applying our NASHP experience to our work with both our clients and colleagues across the country!