U.S. Health System Not Measuring Up

The United States spends more than twice as much as some other industrialized countries on health care. Yet, based on reports from patients, the U.S. health system does not perform as well as systems in several other countries in terms of the safety, efficiency, equity, and "patient-centeredness" of the care provided. Read more »

Uninsured Crisis Moves Up the Income Ladder

America's uninsured crisis disproportionately affects lower-income working families. But new survey data show that moderate-income Americans are increasingly going without health coverage as well. Read more »

Covering the Uninsured: Still Priority #1

Expanding coverage to the uninsured should be Congress's top health care policy priority for the next five years, say a majority of respondents to the latest Commonwealth Fund Health Care Opinion Leaders survey. Read more »

'Price Transparency' Only a Beginning

In recent testimony before the U.S. Congress, Sara R. Collins said that price transparency in health care is unlikely to have a major impact without better information on quality and total bills. Read more »

States Using Clinical Evidence to Cut Pharmacy Costs

Medicaid agencies report that pharmaceutical costs are a major driver of overall program spending growth, according to a new Fund brief on agencies in California, Florida, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, and Washington. Read more »

Designing Incentives to Improve Care: Tools from the Leapfrog Group

Resources from the Leapfrog Group offer guidance to employers, health plans, states, and other payers in designing and implementing pay-for-performance and other incentive programs. Read more »

Items in Brief

• Part D Should Be Boost for Nursing Home Residents
• Kids' Mental Health on States' Minds
• A Matter of Interpretation
• Creating a 'Culture of Safety'
• Mongan Joins Fund Board

Recent Commonwealth Fund reports and Fund-supported studies in the professional literature

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