Graduate Student Internship Program

2009 Catalog of Internship Opportunities

Maternal and Child Health Epidemiology Intern

Detroit Department of Health and Wellness Promotion
Office of Health Information, Planning, Policy, Evaluation, and Research, Detroit, MI
Skill Area: Program Evaluation

Agency Information

The Detroit Department of Health and Wellness Promotion (DHWP) is one of 45 local public health departments in the state of Michigan. The DHWP is client and community centered. As we service more than 200,000 individuals each year, we are committed to excellence and steadily improving to meet the health challenges faced by Detroiters. Our mission is to improve health and quality of life through the application of best practices in the delivery of public health services. The DHWP recently set forth new goals and health priorities through our Strategic Plan. In working to achieve these goals, we have partnered with civic, community, and academic institutions and local and national government organizations.

The Office of Health Information, Planning, Policy, Evaluation and Research (HIPPER) was established in the summer of 2007 to help improve the effectiveness and efficiency of DHWP’s practices and programs in accordance with priorities set forth in the Strategic Plan. This is being achieved by working in collaborative relationships with other DHWP programs, services, and units to provide statistical and epidemiological expertise and analyses; technical leadership to research initiatives and evaluation plans; and guidance in developing health information campaigns. HIPPER is responsible for the analysis and monitoring of health-related legislation as well as the development of health policy implications and recommendations. Furthermore, HIPPER supports the Strategic Planning process by providing regular team coaching services and developing quarterly Report Cards of the Implementation Committee. HIPPER is organized into six functional areas: epidemiology and statistics, health education and information, strategic planning, evaluation, policy analysis and advocacy, and research.

Purpose, goals, and objectives of internship

Purpose: In October 2008, the Michigan Department of Community Health created a new policy that requires all newly eligible Medicaid pregnant women to enroll into managed care. The policy also carves out Maternal and Infant Health Program (MIHP) services from the Managed Health Plans (MHP). Unfortunately, policy changes such as this are often unaccompanied by an evaluation of how the changes impact the services provided to the affected population or program outcomes. Per the request of the Director and Health Officer of DHWP, HIPPER is responsible for evaluating how the aforementioned policy changes will impact access to services, safety net providers, and birth outcomes.

Goals: To evaluate how requiring eligible Medicaid pregnant women to enroll into MHPs will affect the quality of services provided through MIHPs and the resulting birth outcomes.

Objectives: (1) Develop a data collection system that will assess the necessary variables that can be incorporated in to the current data collection procedures of DHWP’s MIHP by June 12, 2008; (2) Assess the impact of the new policy on: the volume of patients seen at DHWP clinics; opportunities to provide supportive services to women e.g. immunizations, lead poisoning testing, WIC; and services provided through our two prenatal clinics and community partnerships by August 7, 2008; (3) Develop, administer and analyze a patient satisfaction survey to be administered to women who enrolled in MIHP prior to October 2008 and compare to women affected by the policy change by July 31, 2008; (4) Conduct a comparison of the volume of patients seen and support services provided using January 2008 as the control group to compare to January 2009 data by July 31, 2008; (5) Analyze the financial impact seen by DHWP’s MIHP and prenatal care clinics as a result of this policy change by July 31, 2008; and (6) Present the findings of the internship and establish a plan to continue the research over the next two years by August 14, 2008.

Data or analytic skills required

The project will involve two primary components: the evaluation of the newly implemented Medicaid policy and the development of a data collection system to track the birth outcomes of the clients enrolled in MIHP. For the evaluation component, the student will first have to assess what variables are currently being collected and what additional variables will be needed in order to properly review the effectiveness of the new policy. The next step will involve the creation of a patient satisfaction survey that will integrate the pertinent variables. The survey will be used to evaluate the impact the transition to MHPs has had on the clients of MIHP. In addition, the student will be required to gather information on client volume and revenue generation for the years 2007 and 2008. The student will be responsible for entering and analyzing all data collected during his/her project period. For the data collection system, the student will have to design and develop the protocol for the collection of birth outcome information for the women enrolled in MIHP.

Supervisors

Primary: Elizabeth Venettis, MPH, Maternal Child Health Epidemiologist, Office of Health Information, Planning, Policy, Evaluation, and Research (HIPPER), Detroit Department of Health and Wellness Promotion (DHWP)

Secondary: Yvonne E. Anthony, PhD, MBA, MHA, Director, Office of Health Information, Planning, Policy, Evaluation, and Research (HIPPER), Detroit Department of Health and Wellness Promotion DHWP)

Internship begins

Mid to late May

Housing

They are unable to assist the student in locating/securing housing during the internship period.

Transportation

Depending on where the intern resides, the internship location is accessible via the public bus system. The bus fare is $1.50 per ride.

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