Milbank Memorial Fund

In a Perspective, Tsung-Mei Cheng of Princeton pays tribute to her late husband by bringing attention to an often-overlooked path to universal health coverage that he strongly supported: Germany’s all-payer system. More

Lantz argues that super-utilizer interventions are cost-containment strategies that can help patients who are in critical need. To address its fundamental problems, the US needs broader solutions that are “aimed at the macro- and community-level systems and institutions that drive social, political, and economic disadvantage and health inequities.” More

It’s challenging for regional health leaders to prioritize health interventions when facing so many tangled threats to health and well-being. In a new Milbank Quarterly study, Bobby Milstein of ReThink Health and Jack Homer of MIT Sloan School of Management used a new simulation model to project the impact of regional health and well-being interventions over 20 years. More

The Diabetes Prevention Program study published in 2002 showed that lifestyle changes—such as behavioral counseling, physical activity, and weight loss—could lower the risk of type 2 diabetes for high-risk adults. Eight years later, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention used this research to establish and then spread the National Diabetes Prevention Program, which is now covered by Medicare and private payers. More

Rutgers Center for State Health Policy researchers found that homeless adult Medicaid beneficiaries in New Jersey have higher levels of health care needs and are more likely to visit the emergency department or require inpatient admissions. They conclude that offering tenancy support services that help homeless adults achieve stable housing may be a cost-effective strategy for improving the health of this vulnerable population while reducing spending on avoidable health care interventions. More

A 10% increase in pregnancy-related public health spending led to a 13.5% decline in maternal mortality rates among black mothers and a 20% reduction in the black-white maternal mortality gap in Florida between 2001 and 2014. More

Last summer, The Business Roundtable, the nonprofit association of CEOs of major US companies, issued a statement calling the interests of workers, customers, communities, and other stakeholders as important as the interests of a company’s shareholders. In a new Opinion, Harvard University’s John E. McDonough says the change is noteworthy. Yet he observes that only 11 of the 183 CEOs who signed the statement head organizations in the health sector. More

Medicaid has been under pressure for decades to show that it improves health outcomes, and this scrutiny has only increased with the current Medicaid expansion debate. In an early view opinion, new contributing writer Heidi Allen of Columbia University’s School of Social Work explains that Medicaid also faces problems related to stigma, and the fact it is funded by state tax dollars pits it against other policy sectors like education. More