Articles and Updates

To explore what employers and regulators can do about rapidly rising health provider prices and debate the most effective policies, “Los Angeles Times” journalist Noam N. Levey sat down with Dr. Robert Galvin, CEO of Equity Healthcare and an operating partner at Blackstone, and Robert Murray, the former executive director of the Maryland Health Services Cost Review Commission.   More

In a new Milbank blog post, John Auerbach, president and CEO of Trust for America’s Health, and Terry Fulmer, president of The John A. Hartford Foundation, say that now it’s time for public health to help our growing population of older adults remain healthy and independent.  More

A new issue brief reviews existing Medicaid, Medicare, and private payer policies on home-based telehealth, and draws on stakeholder interviews, to give state policymakers a sense of the landscape.  More

An estimated 34 million Americans provide unpaid care to an older family member. A new Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS) infographic and fact…  More

In a new JAMA “Viewpoint,” Milbank Memorial Fund President Christopher Koller and Dhruv Khullar, MD, of Weill Cornell Medicine summarize the research showing that commercial hospital prices are high relative to Medicare, and that the size of the price discrepancies is increasing. They highlight steps some states and employers are taking to address the issue.  More

Spending on primary care varies widely at the state level—and increased primary care spending is associated with decreases in emergency department visits and hospitalizations, according to the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative’s 2019 Evidence Report.  More

As a group, rural residents are older and poorer than other Americans and have worse access to health care services. These are just a few of the reasons why Tom Morris, associate administrator of rural health policy for the Health Resources Services Administration, and his colleagues are working “to make sure rural issues are front and center when policy issues are considered.”  More

Family and unpaid caregivers play a foundational role in the care of older adults with complex health needs and disabling conditions. In a new report cosponsored by The John A. Hartford Foundation and the Milbank Memorial Fund, researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health highlight five states—Washington, Hawaii, Maine, Minnesota, and Tennessee—that have advanced policies and programs in support of family caregivers.  More

The Tennessee legislature recently passed a bill that could make it the first state to request a Medicaid block grant. Under a block grant, Tennessee would receive a fixed annual sum from the federal government for its Medicaid program rather than open-ended federal dollars. But John Kitzhaber, MD, former governor of Oregon, and Bruce Goldberg, MD, former director of the Office for Oregon Health Policy and Research, say that this approach does nothing to reduce the cost of care and hurts Medicaid recipients.  More