Publications

The Milbank Memorial Fund has published The Milbank Quarterly, a peer-reviewed journal of population health and health policy since 1923. It has commissioned and published reports since early in the last century and, beginning in the early 1990s, published a series called Milbank Reports. From 1999 to 2013, the Fund co-published with the University of California Press a series of books titled California/Milbank Books on Health and the Public. The Fund currently publishes reports, issue briefs (shorter papers), case studies, and Milbank-Supported Reports, reports published with partner organizations.

Issue Brief

To Oversee or Not to Oversee? Lessons from the Repeal of North Carolina’s Certificate of Public Advantage Law

January 17, 2019 | Erin C. Fuse Brown
A certificate of public advantage (COPA) is a tool used by states to permit and oversee hospital mergers that create monopoly powers. A few months ago, we published a paper about the use of a COPA in Tennessee and Virginia. But what happens when a COPA is repealed? This issue brief looks at the COPA law in North Carolina that was enacted in 1993 and repealed in 2015. It provides a cautionary tale for other states considering COPAs.
Issue Brief

All for One and One for All: Developing Coordinated State Opioid Strategies

February 22, 2018 | Noam N. Levey
The opioid epidemic has spawned numerous state efforts to develop strategies to combat the crisis. While each strategy on its own may be worthwhile, effectively coordinating these efforts will likely prove to be the key to reducing the number of families and communities damaged by opioid abuse. Summarizing the critical experience of senior officials working on the crisis, this issue brief identifies the key ingredients in a coordinated state opioid strategy.
Issue Brief

Lessons from State-Based Exchanges for Future Health Reform Initiatives

April 20, 2017 | W. David Helms, PhD
In 2016, the original directors of the state-based insurance exchanges came together to reflect on their experiences implementing this option under the Affordable Care Act. This issue brief summarizes their collective lessons, using the state health capacities framework developed in a report published earlier this month on “State Policy Capacity and Leadership for Health Reform.” How leaders make decisions and implement new health polices is especially timely given the continuing debate about changes to the Affordable Care Act.
Issue Brief

Hospitals in the Post-ACA Era: Impacts and Responses

February 23, 2017 | Gary Young, JD, PhD
In the last few years, hospitals have had to respond to changes in the health care environment. Some of the challenges they’ve faced involve…
Issue Brief

Coordinating Access to Services for Justice-Involved Populations

August 11, 2016 | Christian Heiss, MPH, Stephen A. Somers, PhD, and Mark Larson, Center for Health Care Strategies
State policymakers continue to look for ways to improve responses for people with behavioral health and substance abuse conditions. The challenges to…
Issue Brief

Medicaid Coverage of Social Interventions: A Road Map for States

July 25, 2016 | Deborah Bachrach, Jocelyn Guyer, Ariel Levin
Faced with mounting evidence about the importance of social factors in determining health outcomes, state Medicaid officials are looking for ways to integrate services that address these factors into their coverage, payment, and delivery models.
Issue Brief

When State Leaders and Regional Health Improvement Collaboratives Come Together

December 7, 2015
State agencies focused on health policy and regional health improvement collaboratives ought to be able to align their agendas. They both share a…
Issue Brief

Population Health in Medicaid Delivery System Reforms

March 18, 2015
There is growing recognition among state policymakers that improving health outcomes is as much about addressing the social determinants of poor…
Issue Brief

Exploring Claims That Medicaid Doesn’t Improve Health

July 17, 2014 | Mark Gibson
In debates over Medicaid expansion, several recent studies are often cited as evidence regarding Medicaid’s effectiveness and inability to improve…
Issue Brief

Advances in Multi-Payer Alignment: State Approaches to Aligning Performance Metrics Across Public and Private Payers

July 10, 2014
Collaboration across health care payers and providers? It’s easy to preach—and hard to do. Where do you start? How do you build consensus? How do…