6/14/2013 - In this Commonwealth Fund–supported Perspective, researchers examined two strategies for containing health care costs: Germany's bundled payments and Japan's volume-driven pricing.
In Brief
6/12/2013 - Touching on some of the critical concepts in health care reform, this brief explains why primary care is so important to patients and also to the country's bottom line.
Health Reform and You
6/7/2013 - In a new series of publications, The Commonwealth Fund explores these and other changes in U.S. health care. Geared toward the non-expert, the briefs provide readers with easy-to-digest information on what the reforms mean and how they will affect patients, providers, and purchasers.
Issue Brief
5/28/2013 - Commonwealth Fund–supported researchers illustrate the potential gains in health and efficiency if decision-makers at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services were to take into account cost-effectiveness when making Medicare coverage decisions.
In Brief
5/7/2013 - Under the Affordable Care Act, overpayments to Medicare Advantage plans are gradually being pared back. But will private plans be able to cope with the reduced payments? Using newly available government data, this brief examines average costs among Medicare Advantage plans and variation in costs among plan types.
Issue Brief
5/6/2013 - Combining Medicare's hospital, physician, and prescription drug coverage with commonly purchased private supplemental coverage into one health plan could produce national savings of $180 billion over a decade while improving care for beneficiaries, a new Health Affairs study finds.
In the Literature
4/26/2013 - Eighty-four million people―nearly half of all working-age U.S. adults―went without health insurance for a time last year or were underinsured because of high out-of-pocket costs relative to income, according to a new study based on findings from the Commonwealth Fund's 2012 Biennial Health Insurance Survey.
Fund Report
4/3/2013 - In invited testimony before the Committee on Energy and Commerce, Sara Collins testified that the program has been a critical bridge to 2014, but its limitations demonstrate why high-risk pools are an inadequate substitute for the comprehensive insurance market reforms and expanded health insurance options to go into effect under the Affordable Care Act next January.
Testimony
3/22/2013 - Health insurance companies reported spending an average of less than 1 percent of the premiums they collected from policyholders in 2011 on activities directly supporting improvement of health care quality, according to a new Commonwealth Fund study.
Issue Brief
3/18/2013 - In this Commonwealth Fund–supported article, the authors suggest that "bundled payment" covering all services provided to a patient for treatment of a specific illness or injury would need to be risk-adjusted, so that providers do not have incentives to avoid patients, like those with chronic illness, who can be expected to have higher costs.
In Brief
3/18/2013 - The Commonwealth Fund-supported authors of this study recommend using an array of financial and nonfinancial incentives—including performance rankings—to help facilitate a broad "shared-purpose orientation" embraced by all participating clinicians.
In Brief
3/15/2013 - This brief sets forth a set of policy options to improve the way health care providers are paid by Medicare.
Issue Brief
3/13/2013 - Based on interviews with clinical and administrative leaders, this report describes the experiences of seven accountable care organizations (ACOs).
Fund Report
3/12/2013 - This issue brief examines state action to select an essential health benefits benchmark plan and finds that 24 states and the District of Columbia selected a plan. All but five states will have a small-group plan as their benchmark.
Issue Brief
3/5/2013 - In this Commonwealth Fund–supported study, researchers examine the effects of a wellness program begun in 2005 for employees and dependents of a hospital system in St. Louis, Mo.
In the Literature