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Publications » Newsletters » The Commonwealth Fund Digest
The Commonwealth Fund Digest
September/October 2007
In this Issue
Main Features
In Other News
Items in Brief
Just Published
Main Features
As health care costs continue to rise, many states are faced with difficult options, including higher cost-sharing for public employees, tightened Medicaid eligibility and benefit cuts, or caps on spending. But a handful of states and counties are taking an entirely different approach in dealing with rising costs and quality concerns: finding ways to obtain greater value for their health care dollars through "value-based purchasing." Read more »
In 2006, the Medicare program began offering beneficiaries a prescription drug benefit for the first time. Today, the majority of seniors who lacked drug coverage prior to the enactment of Medicare Part D now have it. Read more »
In Other News
Research published recently in the New England Journal of Medicine underscores the importance of having health insurance coverage--not only for ensuring access to needed care, but also for controlling overall health care costs and promoting good health outcomes. Read more »
If the lowest-performing U.S. hospitals performed as well as top-performers on specific measures of quality, approximately 2,200 fewer Americans would die each year, according to research published in Health Affairs. Read more »
A Commonwealth Fund analysis of major health reform bills before Congress concludes that while several could lead to significant improvements in quality and efficiency, each falls well short of a comprehensive strategy for overhauling the nation's health care system. Read more »
Items in Brief
- Staying Insured Remains Big Problem for Young Adults
- Study: New-Style Nursing Homes Offer Better Quality of Life
- Medicare QIOs Yielding Dividends for Nursing Home Residents
- Experts Polled on Keys to Improving Quality of Care
- SCHIP Renewal Is Also Chance to Improve Quality
Read more »
Just Published
Quote of Note
"There are misconceptions that young adults don't have health insurance by choice. Affordability and access to coverage are real barriers for many young people who lack access to employer coverage."
—Sara R. Collins, Ph.D., Assistant Vice President, The Commonwealth Fund
Related
Helping States Meet Children's Developmental Needs
Too many young children--particularly those in low-income households--have developmental delays that go undetected until they begin school. We spoke with Neva Kaye, senior program director of the National Academy for State Health Policy, about the accomplishments of The Commonwealth Fund's Assuring Better Child Health and Development (ABCD) program over the past seven years, the challenge of changing providers' behavior, and how the ABCD model could be used to promote other facets of high-performance health care.
Read more »