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Publications » Newsletters » The Commonwealth Fund Digest Archive
The Commonwealth Fund Digest Archive
May/June 2008
In this Issue
Main Features
In Other News
Innovations
Items in Brief
Just Published
Main Features
The first national survey to measure "culture change" within the U.S. nursing home industry finds positive signs that long-term care facilities are beginning to transform themselves from hospital-like to home-like facilities, where residents' needs and preferences--not institutional imperatives--come first. Read more »
A health reform proposal developed by Commonwealth Fund researchers holds considerable promise as a practical framework for achieving universal health coverage while containing health care costs. Read more »
In Other News
A Commonwealth Fund-supported study finds that the public, along with workers, foot the bill when employers fail to provide their full-time workers with health insurance. Read more »
The Part D prescription drug benefit has been a much-needed and welcome addition to Medicare coverage. But for some beneficiaries--particularly those transitioning from Medicaid to Medicare prescription coverage--the program can be confusing and even disruptive, sometimes causing delays in getting needed medications. Read more »
Global measures commonly used to measure the efficiency of physician practices may actually hinder efforts to reduce the overuse and misuse of health care services, according to a Commonwealth Fund-supported study. Read more »
Innovations
Despite the value many family physicians place on communicating with their patients, patients' expectations are often not met in routine primary care visits. Read more »
Items in Brief
North Dakota: A Model for Rural Health Care?; Docs Treating Minority Patients Carry Heavy Burden; Regs Not Enough to Fix Nursing Homes; Focus on Developmental Screening Read more »
Just Published
Quote of Note
"Picture a nursing home where you can stay up late to watch the end of a movie, get yourself a midnight snack, and then be helped to bed by an aide who knows all your quirks and enjoys listening to your stories. This evening is light years away from the usual way of doing business."
—Mary Jane Koren, M.D., M.P.H., Assistant Vice President, Picker/Commonwealth Fund Program on Quality of Care for Frail Elders
Related
Assistance for Low Health Literacy Populations
To promote better access to diabetes care and improve outcomes, Dean Schillinger, M.D., professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, worked with his team at the UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations on interventions for patients with low health literacy or limited English proficiency.
Read more »