April 5, 2012 - Consumers nationwide would have received an estimated $2 billion in rebates from health insurers if the new medical loss ratio (MLR) rules enacted in the Affordable Care Act had been in effect in 2010, according to this new study.
Issue Brief
April 5, 2012 - As the comparative effectiveness research (CER) becomes more widely available in the U.S., decision-makers can learn from international experiences using CER to drive health care toward improved quality and value.
International Innovation
April 4, 2012 - Bundled payments—also known as episode-based payment or case rates—have been proposed as a way to encourage coordination across providers and to promote more efficient care. Other countries have also experimented with bundled payments, most notably the Netherlands and Germany. Their experiences can inform U.S. efforts to reform health system payment and drive improvement.
International Innovation
April 3, 2012 - This article, based on a Commonwealth Fund/Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality international conference on primary care, shows how strong primary care can provide the groundwork for efforts to improve overall care and population health while also controlling costs.
In the Literature
April 2, 2012 - In recent years, several countries, including the Netherlands, Denmark, and Germany, have sought to expand access to after-hours care—often by transitioning from the traditional approach, in which practices designate someone to be "on-call," to group-based or regional approaches. As the U.S. seeks to strengthen primary care, particularly through the development of patient-centered medical homes, it has a great deal to learn from these international models.
International Innovation
March 30, 2012 - Public reporting seems to have driven early adoption of diabetes care improvement interventions and the adoption of multiple, simultaneous interventions over time.
In the Literature
March 29, 2012 - An international survey of adults with complex health care needs found wide variations in the degree to which patients are engaged in their own care, from self-managing a health condition to actively participating in treatment decisions.
In the Literature
March 27, 2012 - This study supports use of both the long and short versions of the Care Transitions Measure in national public reporting efforts.
In Brief
March 27, 2012 - In a Commonwealth Fund–supported study conducted at a community nonprofit hospital, researchers examined the Care Transitions Measure’s ability to identify deficiencies in transitional care for older patients being discharged.
In Brief
March 22, 2012 - As the second anniversary of the Affordable Care Act approaches, a new Commonwealth Fund report finds that 49 states and the District of Columbia have already taken action supporting the law’s implementation, such as passing legislation, issuing regulations or other guidance, or actively reviewing insurer filings.
Issue Brief
March 21, 2012 - In this issue brief, researchers used a simulation model to predict the budgetary impact of a permanent increase in Medicare primary care fees.
Issue Brief
March 20, 2012 - Researchers compared the leadership and governance arrangements in seven nations with advanced health systems: Australia, England, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland.
In Brief
March 20, 2012 - According to a Commonwealth Fund survey, 30 percent of younger primary care physicians were planning to leave their practices within five years, and among older doctors 27 percent were planning to retire and 25 percent were planning to leave their practices for other reasons within five years.
In Brief
March 20, 2012 - Using data from the 2010 Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy Survey, encompassing more than 11,000 adults in 11 countries, the authors of this Archives of Internal Medicine study reported the effects that having a care coordinator, better access to primary care, and strong health care provider–patient communication have on care coordination.
In Brief
March 15, 2012 - This study, coauthored by 2008–09 Commonwealth Fund Harkness Fellow Hubertus Vrijhoef, sought to understand how the Netherlands, England, and the United States—nations with different ways of organizing and financing care—are responding to these shared challenges.
In Brief