December 1, 2001 - This issue brief points to large-scale health plan withdrawals and provider turnover in the Medicare+Choice market among reasons to delay or repeal the Medicare+Choice policy to lock beneficiaries into their plans for a specified period.
Issue Brief
October 24, 2011 - The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has released its final regulations for accountable care organizations (ACOs), which are organizations made up of groups of health care providers that provide coordinated care. Check out our ACO Resource Page to read Commonwealth Fund publications and blog posts on ACOs.
Other
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
November 3, 2008 - In a new commentary on The Commonwealth Fund/Modern Healthcare Opinion Leaders Survey, Glenn Hackbarth outlines steps for implementing payment reform in Medicare.
Commentary
August 5, 2010 - In a chapter for Partners in Health: How Physicians and Hospitals Can Be Accountable Together, Stuart Guterman, The Commonwealth Fund's vice president for payment and system reform, and Anthony Shih, chief quality officer for the health care consultancy IPRO, outline their vision for health care payment reform.
Literature Abstract
October 1, 2003 - No insurance companies now offer stand-alone prescription drug coverage. Why is this? One major factor may be that the cost of offering and administering a drug-only product is quite expensive.
Issue Brief
October 1, 1999 - Summary of Panel Discussion, New York University, Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.
Fund Report
March 1, 2013 - Colorado, Minnesota, and Vermont are working to align incentives between health care payers and providers to improve care delivery and outcomes while controlling costs. This synthesis describes the common drivers of reform across the states and lessons learned.
Case Study
December 29, 2009 - A study of small- and medium-sized physician practices found that electronic medical record systems can help coordinate patient care within practice offices. However, because of interoperability issues, they are less able to support coordination between clinicians and across settings. Other challenges, like information overflow and reimbursement, also impede physicians' ability to use EMRs to improve patient care and coordination.
In the Literature
December 10, 2004 - The MMA provided Medicare Advantage plans with significant increases in monthly payment rates, beginning March 2004. About one-half of the payment increases were used by plans to reduce enrollee premiums and cost-sharing and enhance benefits; providers received most of the rest.
Fund Report
August 24, 2006 - In each state, seniors face a dizzying array of Medicare Part D prescription drug plans—each with different benefit designs and formulary structures that are used to control costs, but may also affect enrollees' ability to access medications. This issue brief examines plans in the four most populous Medicare states—California, Florida, New York, and Texas.
Issue Brief
June 1, 2000 - This paper discusses four elements of the President's proposal for Medicare reforms: improving the benefit package, enhancing the management tools available for the traditional Medicare program, redirecting competition in the private plan options, and adding further resources to ensure the program's security in the coming years.
Fund Report
September 13, 2010 - A Commonwealth Fund-supported study found many of the criteria available to patients when selecting a physician—including years of experience, paid malpractice claims, and medical school rankings—are not associated with higher quality care.
In the Literature
January 8, 2010 - This study, which seeks to explain the variation in how patients rate their experiences with primary care providers, concludes that individual physicians themselves account for the largest share of this variation, particularly in terms of the quality of their communication with patients and their support for health promotion.
In the Literature
November 1, 2002 - Medicare+Choice plans cut back on benefits such as prescription drug coverage in 2002 while enrollees faced a 40 percent rise in monthly premiums and substantial cost-sharing increases for their health care.
Issue Brief