August 29, 2012 - Compared with France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, the United States has a higher rate of potentially preventable deaths. Moreover, the pace of improvement in preventing deaths that could have been avoided with timely and effective health care is slowest in the U.S., according to this Commonwealth Fund–supported analysis.
In the Literature
August 27, 2012 - The authors of this Commonwealth Fund–supported article convened a panel of experts from diverse disciplines and organizations to identify and evaluate resources available to nursing homes and make recommendations to improve psychosocial care.
In Brief
August 23, 2012 - Citing the experiences of the Netherlands and Switzerland—where exchanges have been part of the health care landscape for some time—the authors of this study argue that additional measures will be needed to control costs and improve quality.
In Brief
August 22, 2012 - In the new state health insurance exchanges, consumers will be able to compare health plans with respect to actuarial value, or the percentage of health care costs that a plan would pay for the average person. This analysis illustrates the out-of-pocket costs that might result from plans with various designs and actuarial values.
Issue Brief
August 20, 2012 - This report presents six case studies of pilot shared-savings programs across the country. The cases reveal program variation in the patient populations subject to shared-savings approaches, the health care services covered, the determination of cost savings and payouts to providers, the use of performance targets, and performance measurement.
Fund Report
August 20, 2012 - As part of this Commonwealth Fund–supported study, researchers developed a bundled payment approach, called the Primary Care Activity Level model, to cover the cost of all services that primary care practitioners provide. The intent is not only to promote more efficient care but to better support the use of primary care services.
In Brief
August 17, 2012 - This issue brief reports on results from a survey that assesses hospitals' readiness to participate in ACOs, which shows the U.S. is at the beginning of the ACO adoption curve.
Issue Brief
August 17, 2012 - To assess the model's effectiveness, researchers led by former Commonwealth Fund Harkness Fellow Sarah Derrett examined more than 1,000 newspaper stories written about the booking system between 2000 and 2006, looking for evidence of regional variation in performance and for public and political reaction to the system.
In Brief
August 17, 2012 - Commonwealth Fund–supported researchers examined how other health professionals—including doctors, physicians' assistants, and rehabilitation therapists—perceived their workplace culture, and whether those perceptions were linked to retention, job satisfaction, turnover, and care quality as measured by patient ratings and adverse medical events.
In Brief
August 15, 2012 - Massachusetts legislative leaders project the state's 2012 health care cost containment law will save up to $200 billion in health care spending over the next 15 years. The new law will serve as a test case and be closely watched by other states and the federal government.
In the Literature
August 14, 2012 - This issue brief explores key design considerations for including safety-net providers in integrated delivery systems, which provide or arrange a coordinated continuum of health care services to a defined population, and hold themselves accountable for the outcomes and health status of their patients.
Issue Brief
August 9, 2012 - This report shares the perspectives of hospitals and health systems taking part in the Premier health care alliance's accountable care implementation collaborative. Lessons relate to the need for ACOs to have certain core structural components; the viability of different organizational models; and more.
Fund Report
August 8, 2012 - This brief examines seven Medicaid agencies that have worked to develop the programs, policies, and infrastructures needed to identify and reduce women's health risks either prior to or between pregnancies in an effort to lower high rates of maternal mortality, infant mortality, and preterm births.
Issue Brief
August 6, 2012 - Given the right incentives, safety-net primary care clinics can make the transition to become patient-centered medical homes. The results of the New Orleans program, however, underscore that primary care transformation is a long process, and one difficult to achieve and sustain.
In the Literature
August 6, 2012 - According to this Commonwealth Fund-supported study, strategies that support accountable care organization (ACO) formation in diverse settings, as well as the monitoring, measuring, and rewarding of provider performance, may help to ensure that the nation's most vulnerable patients have access to the higher-quality, lower-cost care that ACOs are designed to achieve.
In the Literature