Health

County Medically Indigent Adult Services Program Mapping Project

For the California HealthCare Foundation, Minicucci Associates developed a descriptive and user-friendly county-by-county profile of the health care safety net and indigent care delivery system in each California county. Minicucci Associates gathered information from a wide variety of sources to compile the profiles including state data, research studies, the US census, information from counties and interviews with county health officials. 

Independent Medical Review

For the California HealthCare Foundation, Kelch Associates is conducting a study of the Independent Medical Review process in California.  Minicucci Associates is a subcontractor to Kelch Associates. Since 2001 the Independent Medical Review process is implemented by the California Department of Managed Health Care for Health Maintenance Organizations and the Department of Insurance for health insurers. The IMR process is available to insured Californians who wish to obtain a drug, surgery, test or medical service that was denied by their HMO or insurance carrier. Since 2001, there have been over 10,000 IMR decisions. Minicucci Associates is analyzing trends in the decisions by diagnosis category, treatment category, physician reviewer findings and the reasons cited, geography, age of claimant, and desired treatment or medical service. Working with project advisors, the study team has identified several topics (such as gastric bypass surgery) for more intensive study. Timeline October 2009 to December 2010.