What's New
March 20, 2009 -- A new report from the Commission on a High Performance Health System provides greater detail on key payment reform recommendations in its report, The Path to a High Performance U.S. Health System. In Reforming Provider Payment: Essential Building Block for Health Reform, Fund researchers explain that the recommended payment reforms aim to: strengthen primary care by enhancing Medicare payment for services and ensuring annual increases; encourage adoption of the medical home model and promote more accessible, coordinated, patient-centered care; promote more effective, efficient, and integrated care delivery through "bundled payment" approaches, with rewards for quality, outcomes, and efficiency; and correct price signals in health care markets to align payments with value.
In the first in a new series of Fund publications, Policy Points, released the same day, Commonwealth Fund Senior Policy Director Rachel Nuzum summarizes the Path report, which contains recommendations for 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. Read more »
Recent Publications
March 25, 2009—The Fund's series of case studies on high-performing health care organizations seeks to highlight the programs and practices that make for effective and efficient health care delivery. The latest organizations to be profiled are Baylor Health Care System, a nonprofit integrated delivery system in the Dallas–Fort Worth area, and Hill Physicians Medical Group, the nation's largest independent practice association. As described by Tom Emswiler and Len M. Nichols of the New American Foundation, both organizations have achieved improvements in patient outcomes and care processes by earning physicians' trust and securing their commitment to quality improvement, creating incentives and fostering competition, and enabling continuous learning. Read more »
In her annual President's Message, Karen Davis calls for federal leadership to put the U.S. health system on the path to high performance. In his annual essay, Fund Executive Vice President and C.O.O. John E. Craig, Jr., considers the implications of the turmoil in the financial system for private foundations and the constituencies they serve. Read more »
March 26, 2009--Uninsured breast cancer patients at a large safety-net hospital system were more likely than their insured counterparts to be diagnosed with advanced disease requiring more extensive and costly treatment, according to this Fund-supported study. Read more »
March 26, 2009--Pediatric care providers do not routinely screen parents for basic social needs at well-child visits, according to this Fund-supported study of low-income parents and resident providers at a Baltimore pediatric clinic. Read more »
March 25, 2009--Fund-sponsored researchers analyzing 797 hospitals involved in the Door-to-Balloon Alliance—a program to improve treatment for heart attack patients—found that designing quality improvement initiatives that appeal to a variety of organizational goals encourages participation. Read more »
March 24, 2009--Published in the April 2009 issue of Medical Care, this national survey of all medical groups and independent practice associations (IPAs) with 20 or more physicians found that external incentives such as pay-for-performance and quality improvement activities increase the likelihood that an organization will adopt clinical information technology. The study was supported by grants from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, The Commonwealth Fund, and the California Healthcare Foundation. Read more »
New Multimedia
Hear the presentations and follow the slides from Breaking New Ground: State Strategies to Increase Value in the Health Care System, a State Health Research and Policy Interest Group Breakfast held February 3, 2009. Panelists were Trish Riley, Director, Governor's Office of Health Policy and Finance, Maine; Philip W. Magistro, Director, IT, Governor's Office of Health Care Reform, Pennsylvania; and Aaron McKethan, Ph.D., Research Director, Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform, Brookings Institution. The event was sponsored by The Commonwealth Fund, the Georgia Health Policy Center, and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's State Coverage Initiatives. Read more »
Upcoming PBS Program, "Sick Around America"
As the worsening economy leads to massive job losses—potentially increasing the ranks of the tens of millions of Americans without health insurance—Frontline travels the country examining the nation's broken health care system and exploring the need for a fundamental overhaul. This Fund-supported show premieres Tuesday, March 31. Check local listings for times. Read more »
Upcoming Webinars
The Advancing Excellence in America's Nursing Homes campaign continues its free webinar series with "Reducing Physical Restraints Safely," scheduled for Tuesday, March 31, at 3 p.m., EDT. Invite nurses, C.N.A.s, and others at your facility to hear presenters Diana Waugh RN., B.S.N., a consultant on clinical and management issues, and Steven Levenson, M.D., a highly regarded physician leader, author, and educator in long-term care and post-acute care. Registration and handout information are available at www.nhqualitycampaign.org/files/RestraintWebinar033109.pdf. Read more »
Join a Commonwealth Fund webinar, "Reducing Rehospitalizations: A National Priority," on Thursday, April 2, at 2 p.m., E.D.T. Panelists will address how reducing readmissions can improve patient outcomes and reduce waste and costs. They will also outline effective national, state, and facility-level strategies to redesign care delivery and payment methods to foster reduction in rehospitalization rates. To register, go to: commonwealthfundevents.webex.com. Read more »