November 5, 2009 - A new Commonwealth Fund survey of primary care physicians in 11 countries reveals that the United States lags far behind its peers in key measures of access, quality, and use of health IT—undermining doctors' efforts to provide timely, high-quality care.
January 16, 2009 - A new Commonwealth Fund study says that policies in the Switzerland and Netherlands that achieve near-universal coverage and low administrative costs can help inform the U.S. health care reform debate.
November 13, 2008 - Compared to patients in seven other countries, chronically ill adults in the United States are far more likely to forgo care because of costs; they also experience the highest rates of medical errors, coordination problems, and high out-of-pocket costs, according to a new study from The Commonwealth Fund.
June 24, 2008 - A June 24 New York Times editorial, Our Pen and Paper Doctors cited a 2006 Commonwealth Fund survey that found nearly all doctors in the Netherlands and the vast majority in Australia, New Zealand and Britain were using electronic medical records. By comparison, only 28 percent of U.S. doctors and 23 percent of Canadian doctors said they used electronic medical records (EMRs).
January 8, 2008 - The United States places last among 19 countries when it comes to deaths that could have been prevented by access to timely and effective health care, according to new research supported by The Commonwealth Fund and published in the January/February issue of Health Affairs.
November 1, 2007 - At a time when the U.S. spends more than double what other countries spend for medical care—$6,697 per capita in 2005—a new Commonwealth Fund seven-nation survey finds that U.S. patients are more likely to report experiencing medical errors, to go without care because of costs, and to say that the health care system needs to be rebuilt completely.
May 15, 2007 - The U.S. health care system ranks last compared with five other nations on measures of quality, access, efficiency, equity, and outcomes, in the third edition of a Commonwealth Fund report analyzing international health policy surveys.
November 2, 2006 - Primary care doctors in the U.S. are less likely than those in several other countries to be able to offer patients access to care outside regular office hours or to have systems that alert doctors to potentially harmful drug interactions, according to the Commonwealth Fund 2006 International Health Policy Survey published today on the Web site of the journal Health Affairs.
April 4, 2006 - Despite spending more than twice as much per capita as other countries do on health care, the U.S. health care system ranks lower than several other countries in patients' perspectives of the safety, efficiency, equity, and patient-centeredness of health care.
November 3, 2005 - One-third of patients with health problems in the U.S. report experiencing medical, medication, or test errors, the highest rate of any nation in a new Commonwealth Fund international survey.
October 28, 2004 - A new international survey of patients' experiences with doctors in five nations finds access concerns in all countries, but also wide variation in waits to see a doctor when sick. U.S. and Canadian adults are the least likely to see a doctor the same day when sick and most likely to wait multiple days for care. Use of emergency rooms for non-emergencies was most frequent in countries with lowest rates of same-day access to doctors.
May 6, 2003 - A Commonwealth Fund/Harvard/Harris Interactive survey of patients with health problems in the United States and four other industrialized countries reveals disturbingly high rates of medical errors, lack of coordination in patient care, poor communication between doctors and patients, and barriers when accessing care.
May 14, 2002 - A new five-nation survey of public attitudes toward health care reveals that the U.S. has the highest share of residents facing access problems, driven in large part by the difficulty many face in paying for care. At least one in five Americans reported problems paying their medical bills, filling prescriptions, getting medical care when they had a problem, or getting a physician-recommended test.
October 10, 2001 - The United States and the United Kingdom today agreed to new joint health efforts, aiming at improved quality of health care as well as effective response against possible incidents of bioterrorism.
October 12, 2000 - More than half of all physicians in the United States and a large percentage of those in four other English-speaking countries believe their ability to provide quality health care to patients has deteriorated over the past five years.