November 5, 2009 -
A new Commonwealth Fund survey of primary care physicians in 11 countries reveals that the United States lags far behind its peers in key measures of access, quality, and use of health IT—undermining doctors' efforts to provide timely, high-quality care.
November 2, 2009 -
A vast majority of leaders in health care and health policy believe Medicare has been successful in providing access to care and stable coverage to the elderly and disabled individuals; however only a small percentage think the program has realized its potential to achieve other important goals, like using its leverage as the country's largest purchaser of services to control costs and promote a high performance health system.
October 23, 2009 -
A new Commonwealth Fund report analyzes the similarities, differences, potential impacts, and costs of current bills passed by the five committees of jurisdiction in the United States Congress: Finance Committee and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committees in the Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives’ Ways and Means, Education and Labor, and Energy and Commerce committees.
October 8, 2009 -
The cost and quality of health care, as well as access to care and health outcomes, continue to vary widely among states, according to the Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System's second state scorecard report released today.
October 5, 2009 -
The costs of universal coverage are partly offset by later savings in Medicare. New Commonwealth Fund-supported research found that individuals who lacked health insurance at some point between the ages of 51 and 64 cost Medicare more than those who had continuous coverage in the years prior to Medicare eligibility.
The Commonwealth Fund in the Media
August 26, 2009 -
Over the last 30 years, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), which assesses the costs of health reform and other legislation as it moves through Congress and is widely respected for its competence and integrity, has underestimated the amount of savings and overestimated the costs that major changes in the health care system would bring, says Jon Gabel in an op-ed published in today's New York Times.
June 26, 2009 -
Karen Davis reports on President Obama's White House Town Hall, "Questions for the President: Prescription for America."
January 30, 2009 -
A Fund issue brief, The Building Blocks of Health Reform, referenced in a New York Times Op-Ed column by Paul Krugman on January 30, outlines how to ensure near-universal health coverage and help lower overall health spending, all with minimal disruptions to Americans who are satisfied with their current coverage.
August 14, 2008 -
One of the biggest health care challenges facing Congress is avoiding cutting Medicare's physician fees while controlling costs for the program. In an op-ed published today in the Boston Globe, Commonwealth Fund board member Robert Pozen and Commonwealth Fund senior vice president Cathy Schoen suggest a practical way to save Medicare billions of dollars--by preventing avoidable hospital readmissions.
June 24, 2008 -
A June 24 New York Times editorial, Our Pen and Paper Doctors cited a 2006 Commonwealth Fund survey that found nearly all doctors in the Netherlands and the vast majority in Australia, New Zealand and Britain were using electronic medical records. By comparison, only 28 percent of U.S. doctors and 23 percent of Canadian doctors said they used electronic medical records (EMRs).