September 3, 2010 - This report summarizes lessons from programs in five states that refer families to appropriate community or state programs, help coordinate their care, provide support and follow-up to ensure they receive needed services, and provide a feedback loop to primary care providers.
Issue Brief
August 5, 2010 - This Commonwealth Fund-supported study of pediatric practices found that most practices participating in an American Academy of Pediatrics pilot program to implement screening for developmental problems were successful. But few were similarly successful in placing and tracking referrals for follow-up care.
In the Literature
August 3, 2010 - This Commonwealth Fund-supported study found that health plan–targeted pay-for-performance incentive programs that automatically assign new Medicaid enrollees to plans that achieve higher quality scores may not lead to additional improvement in quality over that achieved by existing regulation.
In the Literature
July 16, 2010 - This report examines the efforts made in Colorado, Indiana, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island to develop mental health systems of early identification and intervention for children from birth to age 5.
Fund Report
June 28, 2010 - The Colorado Children's Healthcare Access Program is a nonprofit organization created to address barriers that have prevented private pediatric and family practices from accepting children enrolled in Medicaid and providing them with a medical home.
Case Study
June 15, 2010 - This Commonwealth Fund-supported study found that contrary to expectations, primary care practices that serve sociodemographically vulnerable neighborhoods were more likely than other practices to have key medical home components in place.
In the Literature
June 8, 2010 - Using shared resources could allow small, nonaffiliated practices to provide medical home services at a manageable cost, say Commonweath Fund experts in this Health Affairs article. In doing so, they may also create a sense of shared accountability, improved quality of care for patients, and, ultimately, better health outcomes.
In the Literature
May 27, 2010 - Community health centers that are closely affiliated with hospitals have fewer difficulties getting their patients appointments for specialty procedures like X-rays, diagnostic tests, and visits with specialist physicians, according to this Commonwealth Fund survey of community health centers.
Fund Report
May 14, 2010 - An accountable care organization—a model of care being promoted through the new health reform law—is a provider organization that takes on responsibility for meeting the health needs of a defined population, including the total cost of care and the quality and effectiveness of services. This report describes the efforts of three health care provider organizations in Vermont that are planning pilot tests of accountable care organizations, to be launched next year as part of a national learning network.
Fund Report
May 3, 2010 - This brief surveys safety-net health centers to determine their potential to become medical homes. Safety-net health centers that provide vulnerable and low-income populations with comprehensive primary care have unique opportunities for successful transformation, but also face challenges.
Issue Brief
April 30, 2010 - With the enactment of comprehensive health reform, reimbursement for a variety of health care services will likely depend on evidence to support that provision. Understanding what constitutes "evidence" will have a profound effect on the range of clinical care provided.
Issue Brief
March 3, 2010 - Massachusetts has successfully demonstrated the Massachusetts Child Psychiatry Access Project, a program that provides timely telephonic psychiatric and clinical guidance to primary care providers treating children with mental health problems. This study looks into the development and implementation of the project.
Case Study
February 2, 2010 - The National Quality Forum has noted that questions about developmental and preventive care would improve the CAHPS pediatric survey. To fill this gap, Commonwealth Fund–supported researchers developed and tested new questions and survey protocols to assess the preventive and developmental care provided by pediatricians.
Literature Abstract
February 1, 2010 - In this commentary in Academic Pediatrics, Commonwealth Fund vice president Edward L. Schor, M.D., contends that pediatricians rarely have sufficient time or enough specific information about children’s development and families’ circumstances to offer highly targeted, individualized care during preventive visits.
Literature Abstract
February 1, 2010 - A Commonwealth Fund–supported study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine investigated the extent to which racial and ethnic disparities can be attributed to differences within physician practices—meaning they are potentially related to discrimination or differential treatment—or to differences between practices, an indication that minority patients tend to receive treatment in low-performing practices.
Literature Abstract