Welcome to the Utah Health Policy Project

The Utah Health Policy Project (UHPP) envisions a health care system that provides medically necessary care to all Utah residents in a timely, efficient, and culturally effective manner with sustainable financing. UHPP is a resource for the public, community leaders, businesses, health care providers and policy makers interested in strengthening the health care system while working to develop visionary and systemic solutions to the crisis of the uninsured and rising health care costs.

View our recommendations on Health System Reform in Utah, The Road Map to Success.

What's New
UHPP is hiring a community organizer!
Click here for a for full job announcement.

Looking for affordable coverage? Please click the following link to read about coverage options available to you and your family. Current Options for Health Care Coverage

Reinsurance: A Tool to Manage Risk and Stabilize the Private Market

UHPP Community Survey; Key Findings

Guiding principles	Utahns for sustainable health reform

Our Mission

...to create quality, affordable, comprehensive health care coverage for all people in Utah through research, policy development, and civic participation activities.

2008-2009 PRIORITIES

1. Coverage Initatives

The chance to reform health care in Utah is here! In the 2008 General Session the Legislature passed HB133 Health System Reform, forming a legislative task force. The task force has until November of 2008 to develop a strategic plan for reforming Utah’s health care system.  To make the most of the reform process, UHPP will focus on:

• Ensuring reform proposals support the Guiding Principles for Health Care Reform, in particular the need to create affordable coverage options;  
• Engaging the general public and small business owners in the reform process;
• Working to replace Utah's Primary Care Network (which covers only preventive and primary care) with a credible and affordable coverage program for low-income working adults.
• Ensuring health equity and primary care infrastructure provisions are built into the reforms.
  

For details see our Road to Success: Recommendations for Health System Reforms.

UHPP has formed a coalition called USHARE (Utahns for Sustainable HeAlth REform) to make sure health reforms are affordable and accessible for all Utahns.  Our motto is "share" because responsibility for paying for health care and seeking health care at the right time and place must be shared among individuals, employers, and government.

2. Medicaid/CHIP Policy Clinic

In today’s climate of reform, sustainable financing of Medicaid, CHIP, and other cost-effective health programs like community health centers is more important than ever. To this end, UHPP is committed to:

• Developing and strengthening proven cost containment initiatives like the Preferred Drug List and re-directing all savings into improved access to care and medically necessary services;
• Building a plan for every Utah Medicaid enrollee to have access to a medical home;
• Working with providers and advocates to ensure timely access to quality health care services;
• Streamlining eligibility processes and improving outreach to vulnerable, hard-to-reach communities. 
• Hosting Utah Medicaid Policy Partnership, a multi-stakeholder problem solving process and Monthly Meeting, a regular community dialogue with department officials.
• Making sure the positive components of health system reforms (ex. aligning payment incentives with evidence-based medicine) are applied to Medicaid and CHIP.
  
  

3. Utah Business Group on Health (UBGH)

Health system reform starts with small business owners and their employees because our economic vitality increasingly depends on their ability to provide affordable health care coverage.  Priorities include:

• Completing our small business health coverage survey and using the results to guide reform efforts;
• Working with the business community, the Governor's Office of Economic Development, and others to create affordable health care coverage solutions for small businesses;
• Making sure small businesses have a voice in the reform process through the Small Business Owners Speak Up Storybank and interactive forums with local Chambers of Commerce.

4. Quality Watch and Health Equity Initiatives

One way to measure the success of health system reforms is by the extent to which they have reduced barriers to care based on ethnicity, socio-economic status, or geographic location.  To this end, UHPP will focus on: 

• Developing the statewide infrastructure and capacity to improve overall quality of care and reduce health disparities; ensuring that health equity provisions are built into health system reforms. 
• Providing research support, policy expertise, and advocacy training to the Multicultural Health Network, a public-private sector partnership dedicated to eliminating health disparities and improving health outcomes for Utah’s ethnic minority communities.
• Maximizing the role of CHIP and Medicaid in reducing health disparities.
• Ensuring that consumers’ interests are well represented in statewide quality improvement and transparency efforts like the state’s new Chartered Value Exchange and electronic medical records.

Download our new report, Integrating Quality into Utah's Health System Reforms, a collaboration with HealthInsight, the state’s quality improvement organization.