In the Spotlight
"In the Spotlight" is a bimonthly Q&A with a Fund grantee that highlights innovative work in health care policy.
Rural Delivery: Health Care Lessons from North Dakota
Mary Wakefield, Ph.D.
The Center for Rural Health's Mary Wakefield, Ph.D., R.N., F.A.A.N., talks about the unique challenges accessing health care in rural areas.
Evaluating Massachusetts Health Reform
Sharon Long, Ph.D.
The Urban Institute's Sharon Long, Ph.D., reviews the impact of the historic Massachusetts health reform law.
Assistance for Low Health Literacy Populations
Dean Schillinger, M.D.
To promote better access to diabetes care and improve outcomes, Dean Schillinger, M.D., professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, worked with his team at the UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations on interventions for patients with low health literacy or limited English proficiency.
Helping States Meet Children's Developmental Needs
Neva Kaye
Too many young children--particularly those in low-income households--have developmental delays that go undetected until they begin school. We spoke with Neva Kaye, senior program director of the National Academy for State Health Policy, about the accomplishments of The Commonwealth Fund's Assuring Better Child Health and Development (ABCD) program over the past seven years, the challenge of changing providers' behavior, and how the ABCD model could be used to promote other facets of high-performance health care.
Quality Reporting in the Bay State
Barbra Rabson, M.P.H.
With Commonwealth Fund support, Massachusetts Health Quality Partners (MHQP)—a coalition of physicians, hospitals, health plans, purchasers, consumers, and government agencies—is working to develop measures, collect data, and publish reports. We talked to MHQP executive director Barbra Rabson, M.P.H., about the challenges involved in evaluating and reporting on the care experience.
Reducing the Need to Hospitalize Nursing Home Residents
David Grabowski, Ph.D.
Many hospitalizations of nursing home residents are entirely avoidable. We talked to Harvard University's David Grabowski, Ph.D., about the causes, costs, and consequences of high hospitalization rates, as well as the prospects for the reform of nursing home payment policy.
The Lessons of DirigoChoice
James Verdier and Debra Lipson
James Verdier and Debra Lipson of Mathematica Policy Research discuss their evaluation of Maine's DirigoChoice, one of the first state-based comprehensive health insurance plans.
Improving Care Transitions
Eric Coleman, M.D.
Eric Coleman, M.D., Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, talks about a tool he designed to not only improve the quality of transitions but also engage patients in their own care.
Well-Child Care: Fixing a Broken System
David Bergman, M.D.
David Bergman, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics at the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford University, talks about his vision for a new, flexible model of well-child care.
Helping Hospitals Reduce Disparities
Bruce Siegel, M.D., M.P.H.
Bruce Siegel, M.D., M.P.H., of George Washington University, talks about the challenges involved in collecting and using data on quality measures, as well as patients' race, ethnicity, and language.
Developing and Testing Measures of Patient-Centered Care
Sarah H. Scholle
Sarah H. Scholle, of the National Committee for Quality Assurance, discusses ways to advance patient-centered care.
Understanding Variation in Hospital Quality
Ashish Jha, M.D.
Ashish Jha, M.D., of the Harvard School of Public Health, talks about quality variations even within individual hospitals, and how patients can spark change.
All About Part D
Bruce Stuart, Ph.D.
Bruce Stuart, of the University of Maryland, talks about the new Medicare drug benefit and his Fund-supported effort to profile beneficiary medication use.
Culture Change in For-Profit Nursing Homes
Leslie Grant, Ph.D.
Leslie Grant, Ph.D., of the University of Minnesota, is looking at the resident-centered care initiative at one of the few for-profit nursing home chains undergoing "culture change."
Preventing Hospital Overcrowding
Peter Sprivulis, M.D.
When hospitals run at or above capacity, serious problems can arise. But Peter Sprivulis, M.D., says there are sustainable approaches to meeting the demand for acute health care.
Entering the Era of Electronic Medical Records
Robert Miller, Ph.D.
EMRs can improve the quality and efficiency of care, but many practices are slow to adopt the new technology, says Fund grantee Robert Miller, Ph.D.
Culture Change in Nursing Homes
Stephen Shields
"Nursing homes" bring to mind bleak places. But a growing movement, and pioneers like Stephen Shields seek to change that.
Financial Incentives for Primary Care Physicians
Simon Stevens
A talk with Simon Stevens, Prime Minister Tony Blair's former health policy adviser, about the NHS and challenges health systems face on both sides of the Atlantic.
The A B Cs of Developmental Care
Marian Earls, M.D.
Marian Earls, M.D., medical director of Guilford Child Health in Greensboro, led a demonstration project that integrated developmental screening and case management into three Guilford clinics that serve low-income children.
Measuring 9/11's Psychological Effects
Sandro Galea, M.D.
To help New Yorkers in the wake of the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center, Sandro Galea, M.D., M.P.H, and colleagues measure the disaster's psychological effects to aid city planners in forming a response.
Film Highlights Minority Americans' Experiences with the Health Care System
Maren Monsen, M.D.
With partial funding from the Fund, Maren Monsen,M.D., a 38-year-old filmmaker-in-residence and senior researcher at the Stanford University Center for Biomedical Ethics, produces Worlds Apart.
Giving Patients Access to EMRs
Stephen Ross, M.D.
Through the work of innovators like Stephen Ross, M.D., patients may soon have a higher level of access to their medical files.
Developmental Surveillance
Paul Dworkin, M.D.
The Help Me Grow project, led by Paul Dworkin, M.D., aims to detect problems in young children at the earliest possible stage.
Investing in Physician Leaders
Joan Reede, M.D., M.P.H., M.S.
The Commonwealth Fund/ Harvard University Fellowship in Minority Health Policy, headed by Dr. Joan Reede, trains physicians to take on leadership roles.
The Fleetwood Model
Kate Lapane, Ph.D.
A new medication review process will be tested and evaluated in 26 North Carolina nursing homes. Brown University's Kate Lapane, Ph.D., is leading the effort.
How's Your Health?
John Wasson, M.D., and Regina Benjamin, M.D.
John Wasson, M.D., and Regina Benjamin, M.D., have created a free online survey providing personalized health information patients can use at their next doctor's visit.
Making the Bridge from Hospital to Home
Mary Naylor, Ph.D., R.N., F.A.A.N.
Maintaining continuity of care is critical after discharge from the hospital. Fund grantee Mary Naylor, R.N., Ph.D., F.A.A.N, is studying a post-acute care model in which advanced practice nurses follow high-risk patients from hospital to home.
