New Orleans health clinic

Post-Katrina Safety-Net Clinic Patients Report Better Health Care and Less Medical Debt Than Most U.S. Adults

1/15/2010 1:58:00 PM - A new Commonwealth Fund survey of safety-net clinic patients in New Orleans finds that, despite being disproportionately low-income and uninsured, these patients had fewer problems affording care and fewer instances of medical debt and inefficient care than most U.S. adults. The findings suggest that the locally based clinics could serve as a model for delivering primary care to vulnerable populations elsewhere.

Reducing Avoidable Readmissions: An Action Guide

1/25/2010 10:30:00 AM - Avoidable hospital readmissions are under close scrutiny by policymakers, providing hospitals with added impetus to reduce costs and increase quality of care. A new guide produced by the Health Research & Educational Trust, with support from The Commonwealth Fund and John A. Hartford Foundation, provides a quick, simple resource for hospital leaders to get started on developing an action plan to reduce readmissions.

Study: Congressional Budget Office Underestimates Savings from Health Reform

1/20/2010 1:18:00 PM - This study examines Congressional Budget Office scoring of three pieces of major health reform legislation enacted during each of the past three decades, and finds that, CBO, in all three cases, substantially underestimated savings from these reform measures.

The Impact of the 2009 Congressional Health Reform Bills on Coverage, Affordability, and Costs

1/7/2010 4:58:00 PM - This Commonwealth Fund report analyzes the provisions of the health reform bills passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate that seek to expand and improve health insurance coverage. Also see a a report on the system reform provisions in the bills and an overview report.

Culture Change in Nursing Homes: Looking Back and Moving Forward

1/7/2010 12:00:00 PM - In a Health Affairs "Web First" article published Jan. 7, The Commonwealth Fund's Mary Jane Koren, M.D., takes a look at "culture change" in long-term care—how the growing movement to transform America's nursing homes got started, and where it might be headed.

The Commonwealth Fund is a private foundation that aims to promote a high performing health care system that achieves better access, improved quality, and greater efficiency, particularly for society's most vulnerable.

Read the 2008 Annual Report for highlights of the Fund's activities.

Health Reform

New Analysis of the Health Reform Bills

This Commonwealth Fund outlines the payment and delivery system reform provisions in the bills, as well as their potential impact on health expenditures.

International Health Policy Center

Browse Publications and Create Custom Charts

Visit the new International Health Policy Center to browse content by country or topic and create custom tables and charts using data from our international health policy surveys from 2006 to 2009.

Commission on a High Performance Health System

Making Health Reform Work for Families and Businesses

This statement from The Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System calls for a comprehensive, integrated approach to health system reform to reverse the negative trends in U.S. health system performance and provide a more secure future for U.S. families and businesses.

Featured Podcast

Rebuilding Primary Care in New Orleans

After Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans had "an unprecedented opportunity the redefine its health system." This episode looks at the network of safety-net clinics that was created following the disaster, and how many of these clinics have become medical homes that provide coordinated, accessible, and affordable primary care.

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Fund Blog

The Way Forward with Health Reform

Misleading claims about the impact of health reform, and lack of understanding of its potential to improve patients' experiences, have undermined public support. What have been obscured are the many aspects of the proposed health reform legislation that would make health care accessible to all Americans and begin to transform the delivery system to improve the quality and coordination of care.

State Data Center

Interactive U.S. Map Offers State Rankings and Results

Visit an interactive map to view state-specific rankings and results compared to benchmarks, and to view the number of lives and dollars each state could save by achieving benchmark levels of performance. You can also compare states and generate custom tables and bar charts.

Why Not the Best?

A Health Care Quality Improvement Resource

WhyNotTheBest.org is a new resource from The Commonwealth Fund, offering easily accessible, comparative information on health care performance for providers, researchers, and other professionals.