Publications

The 2008 Presidential Candidates' Health Reform Proposals: Choices For America

October 2, 2008 - This analysis examines key differences and areas of agreement in the health system reform proposals of presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama. The report describes how each candidate would seek to expand health insurance coverage, improve the quality and efficiency of the health system, and control costs
Fund Report

Testimony--Shifting Health Care Financial Risk to Families Is Not a Sound Strategy: The Changes Needed to Ensure Americans' Health Security

September 23, 2008 - In invited testimony before the House Committee on Ways and Means, Subcommittee on Health, Commonwealth Fund president Karen Davis said that federal action is needed "to guarantee affordable coverage that provides adequate financial protection and ensures that individuals can obtain needed care--the two essential functions of health insurance."
Testimony

Iowa's 1st Five Initiative: Improving Early Childhood Developmental Services Through Public–Private Partnerships

September 19, 2008 - Mounting evidence shows that early detection and treatment of emotional and social delays and mental health problems in young children can influence their future health and happiness. Iowa's 1st Five Healthy Mental Development Initiative is turning theory into action by helping pediatric providers screen young children and refer them and their families to needed services.
Issue Brief

Quality Matters: Health Care Process Improvement

September 18, 2008 - A look at trends in health care process improvement, and a case study of an ophthalmology practice that applied manufacturing techniques to streamline work processes and improve access to care.
Newsletter

Testimony--Using What Works: Medicare, Medicaid, and the State Children's Health Insurance Program as a Base for Health Care Reform

September 18, 2008 - In invited testimony before a congressional subcommittee, Karen Davis said that Medicare, Medicaid, and the State Children's Health Insurance Program "warrant serious consideration as building blocks for a new system of seamless coverage for America's 46 million uninsured people."
Testimony

Retiree Health Benefits After Medicare Part D: A Snapshot of Prescription Drug Coverage

September 16, 2008 - Based on employers' responses to two national surveys, conducted in late 2005 and early 2007, fears that the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit would "crowd out" existing retiree health benefits have not been realized. This issue brief finds most employers indicate that they will reconsider their current decision if the cost of coverage rises sharply or the Medicare Part D coverage becomes more comprehensive.
Issue Brief

A House Is Not a Home: Keeping Patients at the Center of Practice Redesign

September 10, 2008 - Based on a literature review and interviews with physicians, Commonwealth Fund-supported researchers identified ways in which medical homes could address problems facing the health care system, such as reimbursement inequities, and discussed prerequisites for medical home implementation.
In the Literature

Continuous Innovation in Health Care: Implications of the Geisinger Experience

September 10, 2008 - Through innovations like patient-centered medical homes, chronic disease management, and bundled payment of acute-care episodes, Geisinger Health System in Pennsylvania is improving its quality of care and achieving better outcomes for patients, while at the same time lowering costs and increasing value.
In the Literature

Measuring the Medical Home Infrastructure in Large Medical Groups

September 10, 2008 - A Commonwealth Fund-supported study of 291 large medical group practices finds that adoption of medical home infrastructure is low, with very large groups having the highest levels of adoption.
In the Literature

The Continuing Cost of Privatization: Extra Payments to Medicare Advantage

September 5, 2008 - Private health plans serving Medicare beneficiaries will be paid an average 12.4 percent more per enrollee in 2008 compared to what the same enrollee would have cost in the traditional Medicare fee-for-service program, according to a new study from The Commonwealth Fund.
Issue Brief

Issues in Measuring Child Health

September 3, 2008 - Noting that there is little agreement about the most important domains or measures of child health, a Commonwealth Fund-supported paper urges "generalist academic pediatricians" to develop a better child health definition and improved measures.
In the Literature

Health of the Nation--Coverage for All Americans

August 28, 2008 - In May 2008, the New England Journal of Medicine and the Massachusetts Medical Society brought together 13 panelists, including Commonwealth Fund president Karen Davis, for the 2008 Shattuck lecture on U.S. health policy and health coverage.
Other

Jump-Starting Collaboration: The ABCD Initiative and the Provision of Child Development Services Through Medicaid and Collaborators

August 26, 2008 - What does it take for government agencies to overcome the hurdles of limited time and resources, fragmentation, and bureaucracy and work together? A recent study addressing that question pointed to The Commonwealth Fund-supported Assuring Better Child Health and Development (ABCD) program as an example of successful collaboration among Medicaid and other state agencies.
In the Literature

Reconceptualizing the Informed Consent Process at Eight Innovative Hospitals

August 26, 2008 - This Commonwealth Fund-supported study reviews the patient-centered models of informed consent in use at selected hospitals, and the obstacles encountered.
In the Literature

Women's Health Insurance Coverage 1980-2005

August 26, 2008 - Higher health care costs, say the authors of this Commonwealth Fund-supported study, wiped out any gains in access to health insurance that women might have realized through greater participation in the work force and expansions of Medicaid policy.
In the Literature