March 25, 2009 - A profile of Baylor Health Care System, which is an integrated delivery system in Dallas/Fort Worth that has substantially improved preventive care, lowered hospital mortality, and achieved greater standardization in care delivery.
Case Study
March 25, 2009 - A look at Hill Physicians Medical Group, the nation’s largest independent practice association, which has improved clinical outcomes, increased efficiency, and engendered physician support for quality improvement and cost reduction activities.
Case Study
March 20, 2009 - The Fund's Rachel Nuzum summarizes the Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System report that recommends how to achieve affordable, universal coverage while improving health outcomes and slowing the rate of national health spending, by a cumulative $3 trillion through 2020.
Policy Points
March 20, 2009 - This report examines in greater detail key payment reform recommendations made by the Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System in its report, The Path to a High Performance U.S. Health System.
Fund Report
March 12, 2009 - In recent months, the international financial system has experienced the most severe turmoil since the Great Depression of the 1930s. In this essay, the Fund's John E. Craig contemplates the implications for private foundations and the constituencies they serve.
Annual Report Essay
March 11, 2009 - With the economy in crisis and health costs increasing faster than incomes, families, employers, and federal, state, and local government budgets are feeling the pressure.
Testimony
March 10, 2009 - A program in New York has changed the state's health care landscape by providing grants to regional alliances seeking to implement interoperable health information technology (IT). All alliances that received grants in 2006 remain operational, in contrast to the high failure rate found among similar groups in other states.
In the Literature
March 10, 2009 - Americans generally want online access to their health information, but a lack of products with real value for consumers may be a primary reason for the slow adoption of personal health records, says James Kahn and colleagues in this study for Health Affairs.
Literature Abstract
February 24, 2009 - In her invited testimony at a U.S. Senate hearing on health reform focused on the underinsured, Cathy Schoen, a Commonwealth Fund senior vice president and noted expert on the underinsured, made the case for redesigning health insurance so that it "provides affordable coverage for all in a manner that ensures access to health care and financial protection" as well as "a more secure foundation for payment and system reforms."
Testimony
February 19, 2009 - In this "Perspectives" piece published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Commonwealth Fund president Karen Davis discusses recommendations from a report released by the Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System.
Literature Abstract
February 19, 2009 - A comprehensive set of insurance, payment, and system reforms could guarantee affordable health insurance coverage, improve health outcomes, and slow the growth of health spending by $3 trillion by the end of the next decade, according to this new report from The Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System.
Fund Report
February 17, 2009 - Special Needs Plans (SNPs) are intended to improve care coordination, improve quality of care, and reduce the costs for treating high-risk, high-cost Medicare beneficiaries, including those who qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid benefits. Many SNPs, however, do not coordinate their benefits with state Medicaid programs.
In the Literature
February 5, 2009 - A Commonwealth Fund-supported study of overweight and obese patients found disparities in how patients of different racial and ethnic backgrounds perceive the health effects of their weight. Health care providers can play an important role in helping patients understand the often serious implications.
In the Literature
February 5, 2009 - A recent Commonwealth Fund-supported study found that Medicaid managed care organizations were able to recoup the costs--and even earn a return on investment--for implementing quality-enhancing interventions that target high-risk, high-cost beneficiaries.
In the Literature
February 2, 2009 - Patients with higher medical costs have less faith in their physician's medical decision-making and more negative assessments of the quality of care they receive.
In the Literature