A health policy podcast with producer Sandy Hausman featuring interviews with Commonwealth Fund staff and grantees on important issues in health care coverage, care delivery, and more.
As more and more health insurers and providers merge, it’s important to look at the potential impact on the cost and quality of health care.
What's behind the drop in cost hospital readmissions?
Greater use of medical technology and pharmaceutical drugs, as well as high prices, all contribute to high U.S. health spending, according to The Commonwealth Fund's latest cross-national spending brief. But Americans do not see better health outcomes relative to other wealthy nations as a result.
This episode offers an update on Medicaid—how the program has changed under the Affordable Care Act and what reforms we may see in the months and years to come. The Commonwealth Fund's Sara Collins discusses Medicaid enrollees’ satisfaction with their coverage and access to care, while George Washington University's Sara Rosenbaum examines how some states have taken different approaches to expanding eligibility for Medicaid. Transcript available.
A new podcast examines what the lack of insurance coverage has meant for racial and ethnic minority groups in this country and how the Affordable Care Act might change that. It also looks at resources designed to educate patients about their health and their coverage. Producer Sandy Hausman interviews Pamela Riley, M.D., assistant vice president for Delivery System Reform at The Commonwealth Fund, and Cara James, director of the Office of Minority Health at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The Affordable Care Act creates new opportunities to integrate behavioral health and primary care. This episode looks at the challenges and benefits of coordinating physical and mental health care through interviews with The University of Washington's Jurgen Unutzer, M.D., The Commonwealth Fund's Pamela Riley, M.D., and Deborah Bachrach, a partner with Manatt, Phelps and Phillips.
To improve decision-making at the health care provider level, policies that blend financial and non-financial incentives are being developed and tested. A new initiative called Incentives 2.0 is exploring this new type of payment reform. Hear from Anne-Marie Audet, M.D., and Mark Zezza, Ph.D., of the Commonwealth Fund and Kevin Volpp, M.D., Ph.D., of The University of Pennsylvania.
Learn how health IT can dramatically change health care delivery by improving communication and saving time—and can even save lives by providing key information at the right time.
Navigators are hired to help the public sign up for and choose a health insurance policy through online exchanges, or marketplaces, established by the Affordable Care Act. But some states have laws or regulations that are making it hard for navigators to perform this important role.
