Altarum focuses on the health and social service challenges where policy, programs, and data meet: from crisis care and nutrition assistance to Medicaid coverage, long-term care, and public health data systems. Explore our focus areas to learn about the issues, the programs and agencies involved, and examples of our work.
Behavioral Health
Altarum brings more than 25 years of experience helping federal agencies, states, Tribes, territories, universities, and community partners build behavioral health systems that are accessible and effective. We evaluate programs, provide training and technical assistance, and design coordinated systems that integrate mental health, substance use, physical health, and social supports. This work helps people in crisis, people with complex needs, and communities with limited access to care get the services they need.
With funding from the Michigan Health Endowment Fund, Altarum worked with rural primary care providers to increase access to depression treatment for adolescents through clinician training, telehealth, and a pediatric telehealth network. Screening rates for adolescent depression rose from 28% at baseline to 81% after training, and clinician confidence rose from 61% to 96%.
Food and Nutrition
Altarum has worked with partners in more than 40 states and territories to improve nutrition and physical activity, promote healthy lifestyles, and reduce the risk of preventable chronic disease. We assess needs, evaluate programs, build capacity, and turn evidence into action supporting partners at every stage of their work. Through research, strategic planning, technical assistance, communications, and data analysis, Altarum works with partners to improve health outcomes and help people live healthier lives.
Our work with Partnership for a Healthier America helped build the evidence base for Good Food at Home, a program designed to increase fruit and vegetable consumption among lower-income families. Findings from our evaluations informed program design and expansion as the initiative evolved into a national produce incentive model.
Long-Term Services and Supports
Altarum helps states, federal agencies, and providers improve long-term services and supports (LTSS) for older adults, people with disabilities, and the family caregivers who support them. We design and evaluate programs, strengthen home and community-based services, improve care coordination, and build tools that help states address shortages in the direct care workforce. We also serve as the evaluation partner for Community Care Corps, funded by the Administration for Community Living. As the population of older Americans grows, this work helps people get care that meets their needs and preferences.
Working with the states of Michigan, Tennessee, and Kentucky and the Eden Alternative, Altarum helped nursing homes move to a person-centered model of care through three years of mentorship and our Systems Change Tracking Tool. All six participating homes in Michigan made progress on most of the tool's measures and said they would do the project again.
Maternal and Child Health
For more than two decades, Altarum has worked with the Health Resources and Services Administration's (HRSA) Maternal and Child Health Bureau and state agencies to improve the systems that serve mothers, children, and families. We provide technical assistance, evaluation, and coordination support that helps Medicaid, Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and Title V work better together, along with support for early childhood systems and pediatric emergency readiness. These programs serve millions of children, including those with special health care needs.
Through the HRSA-funded Center for Maternal and Child Health Medicaid Partnerships, Altarum and its partners (the Center for Health Care Strategies, Family Voices, and the Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs) provide customized technical assistance to state cohorts in states and territories including Kansas, Indiana, and Washington. Our Early Childhood Systems Technical Assistance and Coordination Center has delivered more than 400 technical assistance sessions to help states strengthen services for children from birth to age 5.
Medicare and Medicaid
Altarum partners with state Medicaid agencies and federal partners to strengthen Medicaid programs and improve care for people who are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid. We evaluate programs, analyze policy, and provide hands-on technical assistance with waivers, member outreach, Beneficiary Advisory Councils, and new federal requirements. Through Altarum Medicare-Medicaid Services for States (AMMS), we help states build financially sustainable programs for dually eligible individuals. Because Medicaid programs operate in an environment of continual change, this support helps states keep members covered and connected to care.
When the federal public health emergency ended, Altarum helped the Kentucky Department for Medicaid Services plan and manage the return to Medicaid renewals, coordinate with sister agencies, and monitor data. Kentucky elected to act on 100% of the state strategies proposed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
Military and Veterans Health
For more than 40 years, Altarum has supported the Defense Health Agency (DHA) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) with research, data analysis, program evaluation, and policy support. We work across federal health data systems and run large-scale surveys, including the Health Care Survey of DoD Beneficiaries (HCSDB), which reaches approximately 300,000 people each year. Our work informs care for service members, Veterans, retirees, and their families.
For the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Office of Women's Health, Altarum surveyed more than 8,400 female Veterans about obstacles to VA care. The findings supported a policy to offer women-specific care as routine primary care at all VA sites, which resulted in 85% of female Veterans who use the VA being assigned designated women's health primary care providers.
Public Health Information Technology
For more than two decades, Altarum has helped state and federal public health agencies modernize how they collect, share, and use data. We build and support surveillance systems, registries, and data exchanges, including Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR)-based vital records exchange across 57 jurisdictions, along with technical assistance, training, and applied AI. Connected data helps health departments detect threats sooner and protect the communities they serve.
Altarum built the Michigan Syndromic Surveillance System for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services in 2003 and remains its development and maintenance partner. Today the system processes about 100,000 HL7 messages daily from more than 200 Michigan facilities, covering more than 5 million emergency and urgent care visits each year.
Altarum’s subsidiary, Palladian Partners, complements this work with digital strategy, user experience (UX) research, and website development and hosting; this helps the people who rely on public health programs find and use the information those systems produce.