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Total 73 results found since Jan 2013.

As Open Enrollment Nears, A Health Affairs Conversation With Alan Weil
In a new Health Affairs Conversations podcast, Alan Weil, the executive director of the National Academy for State Health Policy, discusses the impending opening of the Affordable Care Act's health insurance marketplaces. In a wide-ranging discussion with me, Weil also talks about Medicaid, federal-state health policy dynamics, and how our health care system might evolve in coming years. For more from Alan, check out his many contributions to Health Affairs (most recently "Promoting Cooperative Federalism Through State Shared Savings" in our August issue) and his blog "Once In A Weil." This is the third in a series of pod...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - September 24, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Chris Fleming Tags: Coverage Health Reform Insurance Medicaid Podcast Policy Politics Spending States Source Type: blogs

Reform The Doctor Recertification Process To Create A Better Health Care System
Editor's note: Peter Orszag coauthored this post with Alan Muney. There’s a lot of talk about creating a better health care delivery system based on value, not volume. Much of the focus is on insurers rewarding doctors financially for improving patients’ health in a cost-effective way. But there’s more to creating a sustainable model for health care that improves quality and lowers costs, and it’s something we can start right now to see results within the next decade: reform the recertification process for doctors. Currently, doctors are recertified based exclusively on their book knowledge. Wouldn’t it be bett...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - September 17, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Alan Muney Tags: All Categories Effectiveness Health IT Physicians Policy Quality Workforce Source Type: blogs

A Wannabe Winemaker Plots The Path To A New Health Care Delivery System
Health Affairs Editor-in-Chief Alan Weil recently surprised readers with his comments on “Why I Oppose Payment Reform.” Those of us who fell for that bit of click bait discovered that, of course, he does not oppose reform. Rather, he wanted to remind us that payment reform is just a piece of the puzzle in driving better value and better quality in American health care and that much more needs to be done. Different readers likely had different reactions, but this Californian saw immediately where he was going… On a recent trip through wine country with out-of-town guests, a friend quipped how nice it would be to own ...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - April 28, 2015 Category: Health Management Authors: Murray Ross Tags: Costs and Spending Featured Health Professionals Hospitals Payment Policy Quality Alan Weil Consumers Health Care Delivery Payment Reform Value Source Type: blogs

We’d Be In The Dark Without AHRQ
Here at Health Affairs we take the policy relevance of our work very seriously. As the leading health policy journal in the country, with the highest impact factor in our field, we work assiduously to find, edit, and publish the best scholarship that helps policymakers do their job. When we heard about threats to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s (AHRQ) future, we set out to understand how the loss of AHRQ would affect the nation’s understanding of critical health policy issues. The results caused us great concern. While AHRQ contributes in many ways, we focused our analysis on the major data sources tha...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - October 15, 2015 Category: Health Management Authors: Alan Weil Tags: Health Professionals Once in a Weil Quality AHRQ Alan Weil health policy research policymakers Surveys Source Type: blogs

The Time Is Now For A Consumer Health Movement
Throughout history, social movements have galvanized wide-scale improvements in population health and quality of life. HIV/AIDS activists banded together to strengthen social services for patients, educate the public about the disease, and compel research and treatment investments that have relegated the condition to a chronic, manageable disease. The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation (now called simply Susan G. Komen) brought the issue of breast cancer out of the shadows, raising billions of dollars and saving lives by making whole families aware of the importance of prevention and early detection. Thanks to Mothers...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - September 3, 2015 Category: Health Management Authors: Karen Wolk Feinstein Tags: GrantWatch Health Professionals Population Health Quality Consumers Health Philanthropy Health Promotion and Disease PreventionGW HPV Patient Engagement Physicians Pittsburgh Source Type: blogs

ACOs, Bundled Payment Lead Health Affairs Blog August Most-Read List
Posts on payment and delivery reform head the Health Affairs Blog top-fifteen list for August. Suzanne Delbanco and David Lansky’s post on accountable care organizations was the most-read post, followed by Tom Williams and Jill Yegian’s post on bundled payment, written in response to an article published in the August issue of Health Affairs. Next is Health Affairs’ Editor-in-Chief Alan Weil’s post on the five engagements that will define the future of health, drawn from his keynote presentation at the 2014 Colorado Health Symposium. This is followed by Rosemarie Day and coauthors’ post on the private health insu...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - September 12, 2014 Category: Health Management Authors: Tracy Gnadinger Tags: All Categories Blog Health Care Delivery Health Reform Insurance Payment Quality Source Type: blogs

Got Content? An Innovative Forum Provides Food For Thought
Editor’s note: This post is part of a series of several posts related to the Center for Healthcare Management’s 5th Forum: Learning from each other – Scaling ideas up to the next level, to be held in Berlin, Germany on June 9 and 10, 2016. Please contact the center for more information or to request your personal invitation. Form follows function. Structure follows strategy. These long-used management mantras imply that content, such as strategy, function, and vision come first, and the medium that conveys the message—the “packaging”—comes second. They should be chosen carefully, so as to serve t...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - June 3, 2016 Category: Health Management Authors: Katharina Janus Tags: Global Health Health Professionals Center for Healthcare Management 5th Forum conferences Source Type: blogs

Cutting Health Cost Growth By Shared State-Federal Savings
In a Health Affairs Web First commentary released today, Alan Weil discusses the concept of “cooperative federalism” in light of the Affordable Care Act. He proposes an optional shared savings program between the states and the federal government as a response to concerns that there may be increased federal control over implementation of the health reform laws at the state level because state decisions will determine the level of federal spending. For example, state decisions regarding Medicaid benefits, payment levels, and the use of managed care, and state exchange policies on rate review, qualifying health plans, a...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - July 24, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Chris Fleming Tags: All Categories Children Health Care Costs Health Reform Medicaid Policy Politics Quality States Source Type: blogs

Making Sense Of Geographic Variations In Health Care: The New IOM Report
Since 1973, when Jack Wennberg published his first paper describing geographic variations in health care, researchers have argued about both the magnitude and the causes of variation. The argument gained greater policy relevance as U.S. health care spending reached 18 percent of GDP and as evidence mounted, largely from researchers at Dartmouth, that higher spending regions were failing to achieve better outcomes. The possibility of substantial savings not only helped to motivate reform but also raised the stakes in what had been largely an academic argument. Some began to raise questions about the Dartmouth research. T...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - July 24, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Elliott Fisher Tags: All Categories Health Care Costs Hospitals Insurance Medicare Payment Physicians Policy Quality Spending Source Type: blogs

Taking Physician Practice Performance Into Account In Recertification: A Reply To Muney And Orszag
In their thoughtful Health Affairs Blog posting, Alan Muney and Peter Orszag emphasize the importance of practice assessment in providing “a sustainable method for a continuous infusion of quality and affordability into our health care system.” However, they are mistaken in stating that “no medical specialty board certification process reviews how a physician actually practices in the office.” The American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) Program for Maintenance of Certification (MOC) addresses this need, through the Programs for MOC developed and implemented by the 24 medical specialty member boards that compri...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - October 25, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Lois Margaret Nora Tags: All Categories Chronic Care Physicians Policy Quality Workforce Source Type: blogs

Health Affairs Briefing: Using Big Data To Transform Care
The application of big data to transform health care delivery, health research, and health policy is underway, and its potential is limitless. The July 2014 issue of Health Affairs, "Using Big Data To Transform Care," examines this new era for research and patient care from every angle. You are invited to join Health Affairs Editor-in-Chief Alan Weil on Wednesday, July 9, for an event at the National Press Club, when the issue will be unveiled and authors will present their work. WHEN: Wednesday, July 9, 2014 9:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. WHERE: National Press Club 529 14th Street NW Washington, DC, 13th Floor REGISTER NOW Twitt...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - June 23, 2014 Category: Health Management Authors: Chris Fleming Tags: All Categories Health Care Delivery Health IT Policy Research Source Type: blogs

Happy Birthday HCPF
Today marks the 20th birthday of the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing.  The story of its creation provides an important reminder of how our thinking about health care has evolved over the past few decades – and how it continues to evolve today. Back in the bad old days, Medicaid was just another social service.  Housed within a broader social services agency, Colorado Medicaid – as was the case in most states – grew up with a typical welfare mentality.  Program enrollees were beneficiaries.  If they did not enroll, we assumed it meant they did not need or want our services.  Eligibility w...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - July 1, 2014 Category: Health Management Authors: Alan Weil Tags: All Categories Health Care Costs Health Care Delivery Health Reform Medicaid Medicare Nonmedical Determinants Policy States Source Type: blogs

Health Affairs Event Reminder: Using Big Data To Transform Care
The application of big data to transform health care delivery, health research, and health policy is underway, and its potential is limitless.  The July 2014 issue of Health Affairs, "Using Big Data To Transform Care," examines this new era for research and patient care from every angle. You are invited to join Health Affairs Editor-in-Chief Alan Weil on Wednesday, July 9, for an event at the National Press Club, when the issue will be unveiled and authors will present their work. WHEN: Wednesday, July 9, 2014 9:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. WHERE: National Press Club 529 14th Street NW Washington, DC, 13th Floor REGISTER NOW Twi...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - July 7, 2014 Category: Health Management Authors: Chris Fleming Tags: All Categories Business of Health Care Health Care Delivery Health IT Policy Research Technology Source Type: blogs

Interview: IOM President Harvey Fineberg Reflects On Lessons Learned
On June 16, 2014, I spoke with Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg, as he wrapped up his second six-year term as president of the Institute of Medicine (IOM). We discussed how requests for work come to the IOM, the attributes of IOM reports that make them effective, and how the IOM maintains a strong voice in a crowded field. Dr. Fineberg shared lessons learned from his analysis of events surrounding the Swine Flu immunization effort of 1976, and how, today, those lessons help him guide the IOM’s thinking about program assessment. We also discussed Dr. Fineberg’s work to bring together the various arms of the National Academies of...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - July 10, 2014 Category: Health Management Authors: Alan Weil Tags: All Categories Business of Health Care Policy Public Health Research Science and Health Source Type: blogs