News and Updates

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

Many health care challenges are exacerbated in rural areas, such as limited access to services, provider shortages, and the prevalence of avoidable deaths from chronic disease and substance use disorders. In a new issue brief, Emily Whelan Parento, an O’Neill Institute Scholar at Georgetown University Law Center, summarizes information presented at three Reforming States Group regional meetings of state and federal health officials and health services researchers working on rural health issues. The brief examines the importance of health care delivery models that promote and incentivize investment in community health, the need for workforce development such as programs to train and retain providers in rural areas, and the need for ongoing rural health research and policy development.  More

For a new issue brief, Noam Levey interviewed participating payers in three distinct regional markets in the Comprehensive Primary Care Plus program: Colorado, Oklahoma, and Greater Philadelphia. While the challenges inherent in fostering collaboration across companies that usually compete vigorously were handled differently in each market, common themes emerged including strong payer commitment and the need for sustained federal leadership.  More