The Impact of the Affordable Care Act on Small Businesses

The Impact of the Affordable Care Act on Small Businesses

September 2, 2010 - More than 16 million employees work in small businesses that could benefit from provisions in the Affordable Care Act, starting this year. The credits are designed to offset health insurance premium costs and help small businesses afford and maintain health insurance coverage for their employees. Read ›

Thirty Million Women to Benefit from Health Reform Law

Thirty Million Women to Benefit from Health Reform Law

July 30, 2010 - This issue brief analyzes how, over the next decade, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is likely to stabilize and reverse women's growing exposure to health care costs. Up to 15 million women who now are uninsured could gain subsidized coverage under the law. In addition, 14.5 million insured women will benefit from provisions that improve coverage or reduce premiums. Read ›

Systems of Care Coordination for Children: Lessons Learned Across<br>State Models

Systems of Care Coordination for Children: Lessons Learned Across
State Models

September 3, 2010 - Lessons from programs in five states that refer families to appropriate community or state programs, help coordinate their care, provide support and follow-up to ensure they receive needed services, and provide a feedback loop to primary care providers. Read ›

Health Care Opinion Leaders' Views on Delivery System Innovation and Improvement

Health Care Opinion Leaders' Views on Delivery System Innovation and Improvement

July 26, 2010 - Nearly nine of 10 leaders in health care and health care policy believe current financial interests and lack of incentives for integration are barriers to the growth of accountable care systems, according to the latest Health Care Opinion leaders survey. Also see blog posts by HHS Sec. Kathleen Sebelius and former U.S. Senator David Durenberger. Read ›

Should Health Care Quality Improvement Initiatives Undergo Ethical Review?

Should Health Care Quality Improvement Initiatives Undergo Ethical Review?

August 20, 2010 - The authors of this issue brief find that quality improvement initiatives are rarely reviewed by an institutional review board or another independent body charged specifically with ethical oversight. Read ›

Health Reform

Updated Timeline for Health Care Reform Implementation: Health Insurance Provisions

New timelines outline the schedule for implementing the insurance, delivery system, and revenue provisions of the Affordable Care Act. Read ›

High Performance Health System

Developing Innovative Payment Approaches

The Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System offers payment innovations that the new Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation should introduce to reward more-integrated, high-value care. Read ›

Blog

September 3, 2010

Affordable Coverage for Small Business Employees ›

Small businesses—which have historically struggled more than large companies to provide adequate health insurance to their employees—will be one of the first groups to benefit from the Affordable Care Act (ACA), in the form of tax credits designed to offset health insurance premium costs. These credits are an important step toward helping all Americans obtain comprehensive health insurance coverage. Read ›

Newsletters

HEALTH POLICY WEEK IN REVIEW

August 23, 2010 ›

Democrats praise first steps on medical loss ratio regs; HSS says states need to request Medicaid funds; and more. Read ›

QUALITY MATTERS

August/September 2010 ›

Can the use of multidisciplinary teams help meet demand and improve the quality of primary care? Plus: a case study of Aetna's "embedded" case managers. Read ›

Multimedia

Multimedia · All Multimedia ›

E-Forum Slide Show: Health Reform and Young Adults
LaunchYoung Adults eForum

Podcast · All Podcasts ›

Sharing Resources to Improve Care

Today, many primary care practices are sharing clinical and technical services with other providers so that they can become certified medical homes, which provide patients with coordinated, around-the-clock care. In Massachusetts, 95 percent of pediatric practices rely on the Child Psychiatry Access Project for guidance in mental health care.

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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. Go ›

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. Go ›

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. Go ›