The Commonwealth Fund Connection serves as a roundup of Fund publications, charts, and multimedia added to the Commonwealth Fund Web site in the last two weeks, and also offers links to other timely content.
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What's New
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. Read more »
Recent Releases
Many of 2009's Top 10 publications touched on subjects connected to the health reform debate in Washington, such as the impact of rising health premiums on the middle class and comparisons of provisions in the congressional bills.
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When faced with the challenge of projecting the economic impact of health reform measures, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has historically underestimated savings and overestimated costs, this new Commonwealth Fund–supported study finds. The problem, according to the study, lies with the agency's "cautious methods." Read more »
The latest issue of this newsletter looks at state patient safety initiatives and nonpayment policies for preventable adverse events. Plus, an interview with safety expert Lucian Leape. Read more »
Rhode Island's Pediatric Practice Enhancement Project trains and places parent consultants into pediatric primary and specialty care practices to help families of children with special health care needs access the health system, as well as social services, education, housing. Read more »
New on the Web
Visit the newly redesigned Multimedia Center at http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Multimedia-Center.aspx to browse Commonwealth Fund videos, e-Forum Slide Shows with audio and slides from Fund events, our "New Directions in Health Care" podcast, and the "Quality Matters" podcast, which features Q&As with health care quality experts. Read more »
Why Not the Best Update
We have updated WhyNotTheBest.org with the most recently available performance data for the following: process-of-care "core" measures; hospital patient experience measures; hospital readmission rates; 30-day mortality rates; and Medicare average reimbursement rates. You also can learn lessons from top-performing hospitals featured in two recent case study series on improving pneumonia care and improving surgical care.
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