March 31, 2011 - This issue brief examines the amount and distribution of payments to MA plans in 2010, statistics that will serve as a baseline for studying the impact of MA payment policies, because 2010 was the final year of payments to MA plans under the pre-health reform policies.
Issue Brief
March 31, 2011 - Commonwealth Fund–supported researchers used data from the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey to look at medication adherence rates and Medicare expenses over three years for beneficiaries who filled prescriptions for RAAS inhibitors and statins.
In Brief
February 3, 2011 - A Commonwealth Fund-supported study examined the amount of household resources allocated to out-of-pocket health spending in the year before Medicare's Part D drug benefit took effect.
In Brief
August 10, 2010 - The Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit, implemented in January 2006, sought to reduce out-of-pocket drug costs for seniors and other Medicare beneficiaries. A new study in the Archives of Internal Medicine led by a former Commonwealth Fund Harkness Fellow examined whether the program has been successful in achieving this goal.
Literature Abstract
August 5, 2010 - This Fund-supported study of Medicare Part D implementation in the Journal of General Internal Medicine found that the majority of low-income, chronically ill seniors who still lacked prescription coverage were unaware of the low-income assistance available for Part D premiums.
Literature Abstract
June 8, 2010 - The Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System offers payment innovations that the new Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation should introduce to reward more-integrated, high-value care.
Issue Brief
June 8, 2010 - In this Health Affairs article, Commonwealth Fund experts offer a series of recommendations for the new Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, which was established by the health reform law to develop innovative ways of providing and paying for care that have the potential to reduce costs while preserving or enhancing quality.
In the Literature
March 17, 2010 - This issue brief examines the provisions in the pending legislation and how each one would work to improve benefits, extend the fiscal solvency of the Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, reduce pressure on the federal budget, and contribute to moving the health care system toward better access to care.
Issue Brief
February 25, 2010 - Medicare savings programs are designed to provide financial assistance to Medicare beneficiaries whose income and assets are too high to allow them to qualify for full Medicaid coverage. This article examines policy changes that would expand eligibility by either relaxing resource requirements or increasing the income limit.
In the Literature
December 21, 2009 - This Commonwealth Fund issue brief compares approaches to reducing Medicare Advantage payments and other provisions in the House and Senate bills that aim to improve the value that Medicare obtains for the dollars it spends.
Issue Brief
December 15, 2009 - This study, supported by The Commonwealth Fund and the National Institute on Aging, shows that the vast majority of primary care physicians work in practices that see too few Medicare patients annually to produce statistically reliable performance assessments and that Medicare's current method of measuring ambulatory care quality may not be effective for most primary care physicians.
In the Literature
December 10, 2009 -
Other
December 10, 2009 - Commonwealth Fund publications, journal articles, testimony, and survey research on a topic now being discussed in Congress: allowing older adults to buy in to Medicare.
Other
November 13, 2009 - In this Commonwealth Fund issue brief, experts argue that the health care system as a whole would do well to emulate top-performing providers that embrace accountability for health care quality, outcomes, and cost.
Issue Brief
November 2, 2009 - In a commentary on The Commonwealth Fund/Modern Healthcare Health Care Opinion Leaders Survey, Bruce Vladeck writes that Washington finds itself caught up in the fog of hysteria, misinformation, anxiety and downright dishonesty that so often afflicts Medicare politics.
Commentary