The Milbank Memorial Fund is an endowed operating foundation that publishes The Milbank Quarterly, commissions projects, and convenes state health policy decision makers on issues they identify as important to population health.
We focus on a number of topic areas identified by state health policy leaders as important to population health.
The Center for Evidence-based Policy at Oregon Health & Science University is a national leader in evidence-based decision making and policy design.
Keep up with news and updates from the Milbank Memorial Fund. Get the latest from thought leaders, including Christopher F. Koller, president of the Fund.
We publish The Milbank Quarterly, as well as reports, issues briefs, and case studies on topics important to population health.
Gayathri Embuldeniya, Maritt Kirst, Kevin Walker, Walter P. Wodchis
Integrated health care models counter fragmented health care delivery and rising system costs by bundling services and encouraging interprofessional and interorganizational collaboration. While research has been conducted on the facilitators and challenges of integration, less is known about how integration is generated. This qualitative study looks at on-the-ground integration strategies in 6 programs in Ontario that each comprised multiple hospital and community partners to implement bundled care. Integration was generated through the successful production of connectivity and consensus. Read more
John E. McDonough
Ever since the US Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that the expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act must be optional rather than mandatory for states, health care advocates have worked heart and soul to convince their state governments to adopt the expansion. But there’s a catch. The only politically viable pathway to expansion includes a detested provision, known as the “work requirement,” that obligates many new enrollees to work or else forfeit coverage. What to do? Read more
Marilyn Ford-Gilboe, C. Nadine Wathen, Colleen Varcoe, Carol Herbert, Beth E. Jackson, Josée G. Lavoie, Bernadette (Bernie) Pauly, Nancy A. Perrin, Victoria Smye, Bruce Wallace, Sabrina T. Wong, Annette J. Browne (for the EQUIP Research Program)
Significant attention has been directed toward addressing health inequities at the population health and health system levels, yet little progress has been made in identifying approaches to reduce health inequities through clinical care, particularly in a primary care context. In this study, researchers found that providing more equity-oriented health care in primary care settings—including trauma-informed, culturally safe, and contextually tailored care—predicts improved health outcomes over time for people living in marginalizing conditions. Read more
Commentary
Douglas K. Eby
Joshua M. Sharfstein
Smoke from California wildfires has impaired air quality across the nation, with increases in particulate matter and carbon monoxide reported as far away as Washington, DC. Exposure to smoke imperils the health of people with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease—and may lead to more heart attacks. Joshua Sharfstein explains that health systems and health departments have an important role to play in protecting the environment—and the wildfires offer a great opportunity to move forward. Read more
Sandro Galea
Health care in the United States is long overdue for an upheaval. At least four health care innovations have been gathering steam—precision medicine, “Big Data,” the Affordable Care Act, and corporate efforts to reshape health care delivery and financing, each promising to change the nature of health care and influence population health. Read more
Sara Rosenbaum
The President’s Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) report, released in July, is a reminder of the deep roots of the American myth about poor working-age adults, a myth that can be traced to the English Poor Law, which consigned “able-bodied” adults to local workhouses. While the social welfare reforms of the 20th century have done much to sweep away poor-law mentality, myths persist for centuries. Today, no government program aimed at fostering greater health equity seems to be immune—from reframing the Medicaid narrative as a welfare handout to the CEA report and the refashioning of government assistance. Read more
Richard G. Frank
Today marks the 10th anniversary of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act. Prior to its enactment on October 3, 2008, consumer groups, providers, and some segments of the health insurance industry worked long and hard to enact legislation that promised coverage for mental illnesses and substance use disorders on a par with other medical care. Richard Frank reflects on the lessons learned over the past 10 years and what we’ll need in the future to meet the needs of all people with mental illness and substance use disorders. Read more
