Organization

Commonwealth Fund


Report: U.S. ranks poorly for healthcare performance

Industry News | Wednesday, June 23 2010
Despite having the most costly health system in the world, the U.S. consistently lags on most dimensions of performance relative to other countries, according to new research from the Commonwealth Fund. Compared with Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the U.K., the U.S. ranks last overall.
 

Health Affairs: Rising healthcare costs, flattening family income predate recession

Industry News | Monday, March 29 2010
The percentage of nonelderly Americans with high financial burden from healthcare spending increased from 16.4 percent in 2004 to 19.1 percent in 2006 while almost 30 percent of the U.S. population either had a high financial burden of health costs or were uninsured from 2001 to 2006, according to an article published online March 26 in Health Affairs.
 

Study: Gaps exist between gov't EMR expectations and clinician experiences

Clinical Studies | Monday, January 04 2010
A gap exists between policy makers' expectations that current commercial EMRs can improve coordination of patient care and clinicians' real-world experiences with EMRs, according to a study conducted by the Center for Studying Health System Change and published online Dec. 22, 2009, in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
 

NEJM: Publicly reporting data doesn’t change readmission rates

Clinical Studies | Sunday, January 03 2010
Current efforts to collect and publicly report data on discharge planning are unlikely to yield large reductions in unnecessary readmissions, according to study authors in the Dec. 31 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
 

Commonwealth Fund: Healthcare disparity widens between states

Top Stories | Friday, October 09 2009
A report by the New York City-based Commonwealth Fund Commission has found there is a significant difference between the access, quality and cost of healthcare across state lines and that healthcare disparities among states continue to widen.
 

Commonwealth Fund: Public, private insurance would save $265B over ten years

Industry News | Thursday, July 16 2009
As lawmakers debate how to pay for an overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system, a report from the Commonwealth Fund projects that including both private and public insurance choices in a new insurance exchange would save the United States as much as $265 billion in administrative costs from 2010 to 2020.
 

NEJM: Physicians need to lead healthcare reform

Industry News | Friday, May 22 2009
Physicians can and should play a leading role in achieving healthcare reform, according to a perspective published online May 21 in the New England Journal of Medicine.
 

Physician practice, payor interactions cost $31B annually

Top Stories | Friday, May 15 2009
As policymakers consider ways to cut health costs as a part of healthcare reform, a new survey of U.S. physician practices finds that physicians are spending, on average, the equivalent of three work weeks annually on administrative tasks required by health plans, according to a study published online May 14 in Health Affairs.
 

Kaiser chief: Systematic, uniform healthcare reform needed now

Top Stories | Tuesday, April 07 2009
CHICAGO—The U.S. healthcare system needs to quickly implement widespread, systematic reform to improve patient outcomes and reduce massive costs, which are currently approaching 20 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), according to George C. Halvorson, chairman and CEO of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals.
 

Health Affairs: Too early to judge healthcare IT patient safety impact

Top Stories | Wednesday, March 11 2009
Although the use of healthcare IT has had little effect on patient safety thus far, current programs in practice, such as those implemented in New York state, are shedding light on the necessity for further examination, according to studies published in the March issue of Health Affairs.
 

Commonwealth Fund: U.S. healthcare reform could insure everyone, slow spending

Top Stories | Monday, February 23 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 a report released Feb. 19 by the Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System.
 

Study: Healthcare IT saves 15% more lives, lowers costs

Top Stories | Tuesday, January 27 2009
At Texas hospitals that have automated some aspects of their information systems, patients appear to have fewer complications, lower death rates and reduced costs, according to a report in the Jan. 26 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.
 

U.S. medical schools increase 2008 enrollment to meet physician demand

Industry News | Thursday, October 23 2008
U.S. medical schools continue to expand their enrollment to meet the increasing demand for physicians, according to data released Tuesday by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).
 
Web Exclusives

Feature: U.S. needs national strategy to curb imaging overutilization

Medical imaging overutilization--a growing concern in the U.S.--exposes patients to unnecessary radiation, while also adding to rising healthcare costs, according to a study published online Aug. 24 in Radiology. In an interview, William R. Hendee, PhD, lead author, reviewed various methods by which medical imaging could be curtailed.

Radiology: Prelim study shows CE breast CT outperforms CT, mammo

Dedicated contrast-enhanced (CE) breast CT delivered significantly improved conspicuity of malignant breast lesions, including ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), compared with unenhanced breast CT and mammography, according to a study published in the September issue of Radiology.

Radiology: Rad role may evolve as image-guided biopsies trend up

CT, ultrasound and MRI have helped shift biopsy techniques away from more invasive approaches toward image-guided percutaneous techniques, according to a study published in the September issue of Radiology. The trend toward less-invasive approaches translates into enhanced safety and efficiency and could lead to more interaction between patients and radiologists.

CMS Webinar: Incentive payments to offset EHR adoption, not reimburse

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) EHR incentive payments are not considered reimbursement for money expended on EHR technology, but are intended to offset the cost associated with adoption and ongoing meaningful use, according to CMS during an Aug. 12 webinar.

CMS webinar: Eligible professionals can expect EHR incentives in 2011

Funding incentives for EHR use is the main goal of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) meaningful use initiative, and there are incentive programs for both hospitals and eligible professionals, according to Elizabeth Holland, health insurance specialist at the Department of Health and Human Services, who spoke during a CMS-sponsored webinar Aug. 8.

Webinar: Stage 1 of meaningful use is for quality reporting acclimation

Stage 1 requirements for meaningful use incentives aim to strike a balance between the overall goal of EHR use and widespread adoption, while avoiding added work, said Jonathan Teich, MD, PhD, chief medical informatics officer at Elsevier Health Services, during a HIMSS webinar titled “Meaningful Use: Safety and Quality of Care.”

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