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Employer Wellness Initiatives Grow Rapidly, but Effectiveness Varies Widely

While employer wellness programs have spread rapidly in recent years, few firms implement comprehensive programs likely to make a meaningful difference in employees’ health, according to a new study conducted by HSC for the nonpartisan, nonprofit National Institute for Health Care Reform (NIHCR).

Even When Physicians Adopt E-Prescribing, Use of Advanced Features Lags

Even when physicians have access to e-prescribing, many do not routinely use the technology, particularly the more advanced features the federal government is promoting with financial incentives, according to a new national study released today by HSC.

Jill Bernstein Joins HSC as Senior Health Policy Analyst

Jill Bernstein, Ph.D., an independent health policy analyst and former senior research associate at the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), has joined HSC as a senior health policy analyst.

Politics and Policy of Comparative Effectiveness

Interest in evaluating which health care interventions work best under what circumstances has surged in recent years as policy makers seek tools to moderate the cost of public entitlement programs and to facilitate affordable coverage expansions. This Mathematica Issue Brief, coauthored by HSC Vice President Elizabeth Docteur, looks at the comparative effectiveness research initiative passed as part of health care reform and the policy challenges relevant to the successful implementation of comparative effectiveness research.

Innovations in Preventing and Managing Chronic Conditions: What's Working in the Real World?

Wellness and prevention strategies are fast becoming a standard feature of employer-based health benefits in hopes of countering rapidly rising health care costs that drive higher insurance premiums. Panelists at an HSC conference titled Innovations in Preventing and Managing Chronic Conditions: What's Working in the Real World? explored how effective employer-sponsored wellness and prevention initiatives focus on health improvement as a business strategy that foster work and community environments that help people lower risk factors. An HSC Issue Brief describing the conference proceedings is now available.

Policy Options for Design of the Temporary High-Risk Health Coverage Pool

While 5.6-million to 7-million Americans may qualify for health coverage through the new temporary national high-risk pool program, the $5 billion allocated until 2014 will cover only a small fraction of those in need, according to a new Policy Analysis from the National Institute for Health Care Reform (NIHCR). Policy makers will face hard choices to stretch the funding to cover uninsured people with pre-existing medical conditions, and the analysis reviews key issues that must be resolved as the high-risk program is implemented.

Primary Care: Current Problems and Proposed Solutions

In 2005, approximately 400,000 people provided primary medical care in the United States. Yet primary care faces a growing crisis, in part because increasing numbers of U.S. medical graduates are avoiding careers in adult primary care, according to a new article published in Health Affairs.

Electronic Medical Records Help and Hinder Communication with Patients and Other Clinicians

Commercial electronic medical records (EMRs) both help and hinder physician interpersonal communication—real-time, face-to-face or phone conversations—with patients and other clinicians, according to a new HSC study released today.

For More Americans, Health Care Costs At Least 10 Percent of Family Income

Almost one in five Americans—or 19.1 percent of the nonelderly population—lived in families spending more than 10 percent of before-tax income on health care in 2006, up from one in seven Americans (14.4%) in 2001, according to an HSC study published online today by Health Affairs.

Ginsburg Testifies Before Joint Senate and House Committees in Maryland on Hospital Rate Setting

Paul B. Ginsburg, Ph.D., HSC president and research director of the National Institute for Health Care Reform, testified before a joint hearing of the Maryland Senate Finance Committee and House Health and Government Operations Committee on hospital rate setting.

Ginsburg Testifies Before the Massachusetts Division of Health Care Finance and Policy

Paul B. Ginsburg, Ph.D., HSC president and research director of the National Institute for Health Care Reform, testified before the Massachusetts Office of Health and Human Services, Division of Health Care Finance and Policy, on health care spending trends.

Quantitative/Qualitative Researchers Join HSC

Anna S. Sommers, Ph.D., and Tracy Yee, Ph.D., recently joined the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC) as health researchers.

Growing California Hospital-Physician Market Power Foreshadows Challenges to National Health Reform

While the high cost of private health insurance has drawn plenty of attention in the health reform debate, an underlying driver of higher insurance premiums—the growing market power of hospitals and physicians to negotiate higher payment rates—has gone largely unexamined, according to an HSC study published online today by Health Affairs.

Modest and Uneven—Physician Efforts to Reduce Racial/Ethnic Disparities

While many U.S. physicians identify language or cultural barriers as obstacles to providing high-quality patient care, physicians' efforts to overcome communication barriers are modest and uneven, according to a new national study released today by HSC.

Medicare Fees and Volume of Physicians' Services

While Medicare physician fees have remained relatively flat in recent years—and actually have declined when considering inflation—the volume of services to Medicare beneficiaries has grown. To many, this implies a "volume offset,"—physicians respond to fee cuts by increasing services. Examining eight services provided to Medicare beneficiaries (different types of visits and two cardiac diagnostic tests), this study found no evidence of volume-offset behavior by physicians.

Early Impacts of the Recession on Health Care Safety Net Providers

While the recession increased demands on the health care safety net as Americans lost jobs and health insurance, the impact on safety net providers has been mixed and less severe—at least initially—than expected in some cases, according to a new HSC study of five communities—Cleveland; Greenville, S.C.; northern New Jersey; Phoenix; and Seattle.

Episode-Based Payments: Charting a Course for Health Care Payment Reform

As consensus grows that true reform of the U.S. health care system requires a move away from fee-for-service payments, designing alternative payment methods, including episode-based payments, has emerged as a high priority for policy makers, according to a new Policy Analysis from the National Institute for Health Care Reform.

Elizabeth Docteur Joins HSC as Vice President and Director of Policy Analysis

Elizabeth Docteur, M.S., former deputy director of the health division of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), will join the Center for Studying Health System Change on Jan. 11 as vice president and director of policy analysis.

Gap Exists Between Vision for Electronic Medical Records and Clinicians' Experiences

A gap exists between policy makers' expectations that current commercial electronic medical records (EMRs) can improve coordination of patient care and clinicians' real-world experiences with EMRs, according to a study by HSC published online in The Journal of General Internal Medicine.

Use of Care Management Tools for Patients with Chronic Conditions Varies Widely

Use of care management tools—such as group visits or patient registries—varies widely among primary care physicians whose practices care for patients with four common chronic conditions—asthma, diabetes, congestive heart failure and depression—according to a new national study released today by HSC.

California's Health Economies: Cost Pressures, Changing Markets and New Models of Care

In July 2009, the California HealthCare Foundation (CHCF), in partnership with HSC, published six regional health care market reports resulting from site visits to California communities. The six markets—Fresno, Los Angeles, Oakland/San Francisco, Riverside/San Bernardino, Sacramento, and San Diego—reflect a range of economic, demographic, health care delivery, quality, and financing conditions. Today, CHCF published four reports examining specific health system issues illuminated by this six-market study.

• Shifting Ground: Erosion of the Delegated Model in California
  
• California's Safety Net: The Role of Counties in Overseeing Care
  
• A Tighter Bond: California Hospitals Seek Stronger Ties with Physicians
  
• Managed Care in California: Cost Concerns Influence Product Design

HSC's Paul B. Ginsburg Named Research Director of the National Institute for Health Care Reform

While continuing in his role as HSC President, Paul B. Ginsburg will serve as research director of the nonpartisan, nonprofit National Institute for Health Care Reform—an initiative of the International Union, UAW; Chrysler Group LLC; Ford Motor Company; and General Motors to conduct high-quality, objective health policy research and analyses to improve the organization, financing and delivery of U.S. health care.

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