November 17, 2011 - Premiums for employer-sponsored family health insurance policies increased by 50 percent from 2003 to 2010, and the annual amount that employees pay toward their insurance increased by 63 percent, as businesses required employees to contribute a greater share, this new Commonwealth Fund analysis finds.
Issue Brief
November 9, 2011 - This cross-country survey finds adults with complex medical conditions, including those with serious or chronic illness, injury, or disability, benefit from receiving their care from a medical home.
October 27, 2011 - In invited testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Health Care, the Fund's Sara Collins discussed the importance of the Affordable Care Act's premium tax credits and other insurance affordability provisions that will ensure the health and financial security of working families.
Testimony
September 8, 2011 - The number of U.S. adults who had health insurance all year but were still "underinsured"—that is, they had very high medical expenses relative to their incomes—rose by 80 percent between 2003 and 2010, from 16 million to 29 million, according to a new Commonwealth Fund study published in the September issue of Health Affairs.
In the Literature
August 24, 2011 - In this period of chronically high unemployment, millions of Americans are losing their health insurance coverage along with their jobs. A Commonwealth Fund brief finds that unemployed workers have few affordable coverage options. While the Affordable Care Act will provide new options, extending subsidies for COBRA would further protect unemployed workers, the authors say.
Issue Brief
August 24, 2011 - To better identify high-performing hospitals, Commonwealth Fund-supported examination researchers delved into composite measures of performance to see how hospitals performed on each of the individual component measures and on survey-based measures of patient care quality.
In Brief
August 23, 2011 - Focusing on nine hospitals and seven health systems in upstate New York, the authors surveyed a total 1,527 hospital staff about team structure and collaboration.
In Brief
August 22, 2011 - In this Commonwealth Fund issue brief, researchers describe how networks helped community health centers to use EHRs to improve chronic and preventive care and the barriers they faced.
Issue Brief
August 16, 2011 - The authors of this Commonwealth Fund-supported study in the Journal of General Internal Medicine developed a new tool to evaluate patient-centered medical home interventions in safety-net clinics.
In Brief
August 8, 2011 - In the latest Commonwealth Fund/Modern Healthcare Health Care Opinion Leaders Survey, nearly all of the experts surveyed believed traditional safety-net health care providers will continue to play crucial roles even after the Affordable Care Act is implemented.
August 8, 2011 - Virtually all leaders in health care and health care policy believe traditional safety-net institutions such as community health centers, public hospitals, and faith-based and mission-driven organizations will still fulfill critical roles in the U.S. health system after implementation of the Affordable Care Act, according to a Commonwealth Fund/Modern Healthcare Health Care Opinion Leaders Survey.
Data Brief
July 29, 2011 - A new report synthesizing findings from four hospital case studies showcases opportunities for all hospitals to achieve greater efficiency. The case studies focus on four of the 13 Leapfrog Group–designated "Highest Value Hospitals."
Case Study
July 15, 2011 - Collaborations that integrate community health centers with hospitals, providers, and/or public health agencies have yielded substantial benefits for patients. This report outlines that laws and policies that govern clinical collaborations and profiles health centers that have worked within the law to develop partnerships.
Fund Report
July 13, 2011 - This Commonwealth Fund-supported study evaluated the Alternative Quality Contract, a global payment system for providers developed by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts to replace fee-for-service reimbursement. The researchers found that the contract was associated with modestly lower medical spending and improved quality of care in its first year of use.
In the Literature
July 13, 2011 - In invited testimony before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, the Fund's Stuart Guterman discussed how the Independent Payment Advisory Board, created under the Affordable Care Act, can help focus attention on controlling health care spending throughout the health system.
Testimony