The Montana Healthcare Foundation retained Wakely Consulting Group, LLC, to analyze the potential effects of a state-based reinsurance program on the 2020 individual Affordable Care Act market. MHCF, the Montana Department of Administration, and the Montana Department of Health and Human Services are interested in exploring policy options that will keep individual health insurance premiums […]

The State Innovation Waiver, also known as the 1332 waiver, was created as part of the Affordable Care Act and became an option for states to consider on January 1, 2017. States that want to use this option to explore ways to transform health care financing must apply to the U.S. Secretary of Health and […]

The Montana Healthcare Foundation commissioned this study of Montana’s uninsured rate for 2018. According to a report issued by the Montana Commissioner of Securities and Insurance (CSI), the uninsured rate in April 2016 was approximately 7.4 percent, down from 20 percent in 2012.1 In January 2018, approximately 979,257 Montanans had health coverage, out of a […]

This report, prepared by Manatt Health for the Montana Healthcare Foundation, takes an in-depth look at Montana’s 2016 expansion of Medicaid and how it has affected the state’s budget, economy, and residents.

This report provides a landscape scan and recommendations to increase the use of SBIRT in Montana. The report was commissioned by the Montana Healthcare Foundation and written by the National Council for Behavioral Health.

This independent analysis by the University of Montana’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research estimates that Montana’s 2016 Medicaid expansion adds $270 million in personal income and more than $500 million in additional economic output to Montana’s economy each year and generates approximately 5,000 new jobs. The program provides health coverage for approximately 94,000 Montanans. Although […]

Over the past two decades, professionals in education, health, and human services have become more aware of the wide-ranging effects of trauma on health and well-being. Starting with the landmark Adverse Childhood Experiences study in the late 1990s, which linked the experience of potentially traumatic experiences in childhood to a wide range of long-term health […]

This report describes the planning process that the board of trustees and staff of MHCF carried out to guide the foundation’s first full year of programming. Countless individuals, organizations, and public agencies generously contributed time, insights, and data that are reflected in the pages that follow. The Montana Healthcare Foundation makes strategic investments to improve […]

Substance use disorders and mental illness are among the most serious and challenging health problems in Montana. These issues are often linked: individuals that report mental health concerns are also more likely to have problems with substance use, and vice versa. Integrated behavioral health is an evidence-based way to provide care for patients with co-occurring mental illness, substance […]

Alternative education programs in Montana are defined as “A ‘restructured’ academic program to serve at-risk students and operated within an accredited public school.” Twenty-eight alternative education programs that fit this definition currently exist in Montana, though there is no official tracking system for these programs, and local schools districts have full discretion over how these […]