News and Updates

  • Long-Time Fund Collaborators Discuss Vested Interests

    Oct 21, 2015

    Several Milbank Memorial Fund collaborators gathered for a conference—Vested Interests: Who Really Influences American Medicine, Public Health and Health Policy?—at the University of Michigan on October 1 and 2. The event, which was sponsored by the university’s Center for the History of Medicine and the Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation (IHPI), was organized by Howard Markel, … Read more

  • State Actions to Promote and Restrain Commercial Accountable Care Organizations

    Oct 19, 2015

    Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), originally developed as part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), are growing—and serve both public and private sector payers. They have the potential to improve health care quality and patient outcomes while achieving cost savings. However, they may also present risks—including those related to solvency, consumer protection, and anti-competitive … Read more

  • Governing Magazine Takes on the Question of Medicaid Leadership

    Oct 9, 2015

    “Medicaid Has Great Responsibility Without Great Power,” reads the headline in Governing magazine in an article about the Fund’s new Medicaid leadership report. “There’s no denying that the government health-care program has expanded in the past 50 years,” the article begins. “But for all its growth, Medicaid hasn’t really improved its governance or increased its power.” The … Read more

  • The Role of State Medicaid Directors: A Leadership Imperative

    Sep 28, 2015

    Developing effective Medicaid leadership and organizational structures is one of the paramount challenges facing governors and legislatures. Medicaid has grown from a program that, in 1987, comprised 10% of state budgets to one that in 2013, comprised 25% of state budgets. The size and scope of these programs raise questions about the way they are run and organized. In this report, Andy … Read more

  • State Leaders Meet to Plan Upcoming RSG Meetings

    Sep 21, 2015

    The Reforming States Group (RSG) is run by a Steering Committee, consisting of RSG members. This leadership group, responsible for planning annual meetings, overseeing projects, and recruiting new members, meets twice a year. In early September, 23 members of the RSG Steering Committee met in Denver to discuss RSG governance issues and plans for upcoming regional meetings. The meeting also offered … Read more

  • Multi-State Collaborative Responds to Revisions to 2016 Physician Fee Schedule

    Sep 21, 2015

    The Milbank Memorial Fund’s Multi-State Collaborative submitted a letter via the Federal Register in late August in response to Medicare Program; Revisions to Payment Policies under the Physician Fee Schedule and Other Revisions to Part B for CY 2016. The proposed rule, which addresses changes to the physician fee schedule, and other Medicare Part B payment policies, is an attempt to ensure that … Read more

  • Jane Beyer Named Program Officer at Center for Evidence-based Policy and Milbank Memorial Fund

    Sep 10, 2015

    Jane Beyer will join the Center for Evidence-based Policy and the Milbank Memorial Fund as Program Officer on October 5, 2015. Beyer, most recently the Assistant Secretary for Behavioral Health and Service Integration Administration in the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services, will coordinate programs and projects between the Center and the Fund. A legal services lawyer by … Read more

  • Christopher Koller Co-Authors JAMA Viewpoint

    Aug 17, 2015

    Fund President Christopher Koller, Milbank Quarterly op-ed contributor Joshua M. Sharfstein, MD, and former Reforming States Group member Ann Hwang have published a Viewpoint in a recent issue of JAMA, entitled, “State Leadership in Health Care Transformation, Red and Blue.” The paper, which focuses on the reasons why states play such an important role in improving population health, examines … Read more

  • Measuring Cost Across a State’s Health Care System

    Aug 17, 2015

    The measurement of cost across a state’s health care system—and setting targets for cost reduction—is a relatively new focus for states. In April, the Milbank Memorial Fund published a report on total cost of care (TCOC) measurement in four states, describing and comparing the policies in those states driving the activity, and the technical operations supporting it. As more states move to a … Read more

  • Milbank Memorial Fund Hosts IAP Meeting

    Jul 21, 2015

    When the Medicaid Innovation Accelerator Program (IAP), an initiative of the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services (CMCS), wanted feedback from states about the program, they asked the Milbank Memorial Fund to convene a meeting to facilitate discussion between CMS and the states. The goal of IAP is to stimulate delivery system reform by states for Medicaid populations—and to support states’ … Read more

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