Alabama Medicaid Medical Director Robert Moon, M.D., has been elected vice chair of the Medicaid Medical Directors’ Learning Network. The group was launched in 2005 by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the health services research arm of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), to create an ongoing collaborative relationship between AHRQ and Medicaid Medical Directors or other officials making clinical decisions for the Medicaid population. Dr. Moon, who will step up to Learning Network chair in 2011, has served on the group’s steering committee since 2009.
Through the Learning Network, AHRQ provides resources to members to help them make policy and practice decisions and encourages member input and feedback that may be instrumental in decisions made by AHRQ and HHS. In addition to AHRQ, a wide variety of other organizations and consortiums turn to the Learning Network for its expertise and perspective dealing with their individual projects and programs.
“I am excited about the opportunity to be involved with the Learning Network as we address important initiatives dealing with health care reform,” said Dr. Moon, who was appointed Alabama Medicaid Medical Director in 2007. “Future projects may include looking at high-performing systems of health care in the U.S. to determine how to improve health care efficiency and quality. The timing is excellent to be in a leadership position during a pivotal time in our nation with major changes looming in health care in 2014.”
Dr. Moon says the Learning Network has already examined utilization patterns of anti-psychotic drug use in children and is currently studying patient readmission rates and diagnoses in Medicaid programs across the country.
Board certified in Family Medicine, Dr. Moon is a graduate of the Auburn University and the University of Alabama, School of Medicine. He completed his residency at the Family Medicine Residency Program at The Medical Center in Columbus, GA in 1989. He was in private practice from 1989 until 2007.