How States Are Shaping Higher Performance Health Systems
<p>States are pursuing health system improvements on many fronts, from expanding access to affordable health care and insurance coverage to developing quality improvement and health IT systems. In the new Commonwealth Fund report, <a href="/publications/fund-reports/2008/apr/states-roles-in-shaping-high-performance-health-systems
">States' Roles In Shaping High Performance Health Systems</a>, Catherine Hess and colleagues at the National Academy for State Health Policy report on the full range of state health care reforms in play from Alabama to Utah, with close-ups provided on dozens of innovative programs and policies.<br><br>In the report, you'll learn about states' activities related to:<ul><li><strong>Health insurance coverage,</strong> including efforts to ensure access to affordable coverage, streamline enrollment and renewal processes for public programs, and improve benefit package design.</li><li><strong>Quality, safety, and value in health care,</strong> including public/private sector collaborations, public reporting of performance data, and value-based purchasing initiatives.</li><li><strong>Health system infrastructure,</strong> including efforts to ensure patients' access to qualified health care providers, create information technology systems, and integrate health care and population-based public health systems.</li></ul>Despite this activity, there is room for states to do much more, the authors find. Ongoing efforts to track, study, and disseminate information on states' health reform efforts, they say, could accelerate adoption of promising policies and practices.</p>