Alliance for Health Reform

Project Title:

Commission on a High Performance Health System: Meetings

Principal Investigator:

Edward F. Howard, J.D.

Date Awarded:

07/15/08

Award Amount:

$333,878

Since July 2007, the Fund's Commission on a High Performance Health System has convened three times and issued its second national scorecard on health system performance; developed an agenda for the next presidential administration to reach and raise benchmark levels of performance; released a report examining 15 policy options that could save one-and-a-half billion dollars in health expenditures over 10 years; issued an analysis of presidential candidates' health reform proposals; and produced papers on other key health system issues.

Alliance for Health Reform

Project Title:

Health Policy Seminars and Congressional Staff Retreat, 2008-09

Principal Investigator:

Edward F. Howard, J.D.

Date Awarded:

07/15/08

Award Amount:

$279,965

Alliance for Health Reform briefings are a valuable resource for congressional staff and journalists seeking the latest health policy information and analysis.

Alliance for Health Reform

Project Title:

Commonwealth Fund Bipartisan Congressional Retreat, 2009

Principal Investigator:

Edward F. Howard, J.D.

Date Awarded:

07/15/08

Award Amount:

$382,758

The Fund's annual Bipartisan Congressional Retreat gives members of Congress the opportunity to learn about timely health policy issues and engage in substantive discussion, all in an environment free from partisan politics and media pressures.

American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging

Project Title:

Advancing Excellence in America's Nursing Homes: Using Coalitions to Accelerate Progress, Phase 2

Principal Investigator:

William L. Minnix, Jr., D.Min.

Date Awarded:

07/15/08

Award Amount:

$474,107

Advancing Excellence in America's Nursing Homes, a coordinated nationwide effort to improve nursing home quality, is beginning to show results.

Boca Raton Community Hospital Foundation

Project Title:

Reducing Avoidable Hospitalizations of Nursing Home Residents: Refinement and Evaluation of a Toolkit for Nursing Home Health Professionals

Principal Investigator:

Joseph G. Ouslander, M.D.

Date Awarded:

07/15/08

Award Amount:

$398,787

Avoidable hospitalizations not only place the health and well-being of nursing home residents at risk, but they greatly increase health care expenditures.

Boston Medical Center

Project Title:

Recommending Content of Well-Child Care: Testing a New Approach to Evaluating Evidence, Phase 3

Principal Investigator:

Robert D. Sege, M.D., Ph.D.

Date Awarded:

07/15/08

Award Amount:

$121,737

Over the past two years, the Fund has led a funding partnership to build support among child health researchers for a new process of determining whether adequate evidence exists to make recommendations for the content of preventive care.

Brigham and Women's Hospital

Project Title:

Assessing the Impact of Lower Prescription Drug Cost-Sharing on Medication Adherence, Clinical Outcomes, and Health Care Costs

Principal Investigator:

Niteesh K. Choudhry, M.D., Ph.D.

Date Awarded:

07/15/08

Award Amount:

$186,366

Of the many factors that contribute to poor medication adherence among the chronically ill, the portion of drug costs borne by patients appears to be central.

Harris Interactive, Inc.

Project Title:

International Health Policy Survey, 2009

Principal Investigator:

Jordon Peugh, Ph.D.

Date Awarded:

07/15/08

Award Amount:

$470,100

The 2009 International Health Policy Survey, the 12th in the annual series, will assess health care system performance from the perspective of primary care physicians.

Health Management Associates, Inc.

Project Title:

Case Studies of Systems of Child Health Care Coordination for States

Principal Investigator:

Sharon Silow-Carroll, M.B.A., M.S.W.

Date Awarded:

07/15/08

Award Amount:

$107,610

Many child health care providers find coordinating care to be an extremely time-consuming and complicated service for which they receive no reimbursement.

Health Research and Educational Trust

Project Title:

Analyzing Medicare's Payment Policy for Hospital-Acquired Conditions and Its Impact on Safety-Net Hospitals

Principal Investigator:

Megan McHugh, Ph.D.

Date Awarded:

07/15/08

Award Amount:

$179,966

To improve quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has specified a list of eight avoidable hospital-acquired medical conditions that it soon will no longer consider in determining payment for inpatient hospital stays.