January 23, 2013 - Building on earlier initiatives, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center launched an Asthma Improvement Collaborative in 2008 to enhance the quality and coordination of asthma care for low-income, Medicaid-insured children in Hamilton County, Ohio.
Case Study
January 23, 2013 - Preventable hospital admissions and readmissions are indicators of health system fragmentation associated with suboptimal patient outcomes and avoidable costs of care. This synthesis report looks at three case studies that illustrate the potential of care management programs to address this problem by improving care coordination and transitions among high-risk patients.
Case Study
January 8, 2013 - In this Commonwealth Fund–supported study, researchers set out to determine whether there was any relationship between geographic variation in Medicare Part D spending and medication-taking behavior among beneficiaries with diabetes or heart failure.
In Brief
January 7, 2013 - In this study, Commonwealth Fund–supported researchers learned that care coordination agreements increased efficiency and improved the quality of care, especially for patients with chronic conditions.
In Brief
January 7, 2013 - How nursing homes are reimbursed by state Medicaid programs—the main purchasers of nursing home services in the United States—has significant consequences for the quality of care residents receive. This article draws lessons from New York and Minnesota—two states where resident advocates have influenced reimbursement policy to encourage access, care quality, and quality of life.
In Brief
January 3, 2013 - To help promote enrollment by dually eligible people into state-designed coordinated care entities, the author of this Commonwealth Fund–supported article recommends that patients also participate in the shared-savings arrangement.
In Brief
December 14, 2012 - This report on 59 hospital-based organizations that were members of a collaborative created to support the transition to accountable care finds that that organizations are pursuing different paths toward accountable care.
Fund Report
December 10, 2012 - This new Commonwealth Fund analysis uses publicly reported 30-day hospital readmission rate data to examine whether safety-net hospitals are more likely to have higher readmission rates, compared with other hospitals.
Issue Brief
November 30, 2012 - This Commonwealth Fund-supported study found that when hospitals implement robust health information technology systems, they improved their performance on key quality-of-care measures.
In Brief
November 30, 2012 - Commonwealth Fund–supported researchers compared the quality of care provided by primary care physicians who used electronic medical records with those who relied instead on paper records.
In Brief
November 16, 2012 - This report explores how state Medicaid agencies might align with and build on the Medicare Shared Savings Program, which rewards groups of providers that meet cost and quality benchmarks by working together to coordinate patients' care in accountable care organizations.
Fund Report
November 14, 2012 - In 2008, the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Medical Center embarked on a grant-funded program to reduce hospital readmissions for elderly patients with heart failure. This case study examines the factors that contributed to its success.
Case Study
November 13, 2012 - While there is broad agreement on the general concepts defining patient-centered medical homes, little is known about physician practices' on-the-ground experiences. In this Commonwealth Fund–supported study, researchers examined five practices engaged in efforts to become medical homes. All five practices received a risk-adjusted base payment per patient per month to support their efforts.
In Brief
November 13, 2012 - In this study, Commonwealth Fund–supported researchers examined over 12 months the outcomes of assisted living residents who are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid, seeking to determine the association of hospice use with nursing home and hospital admission.
In Brief
November 13, 2012 - In this qualitative study, supported by The Commonwealth Fund, researchers interviewed 114 physicians and managers in four nascent accountable care organizations (ACOs), conducted site visits, and reviewed documents to explore how those forming ACOs envision integration with other provider groups.
In Brief