Dear John,

As the summer months wind down and activity on the Hill ramps up, the Health Affairs Scholar team is excited to share the August issue.

Volume 2, Issue 8 of Health Affairs Scholar covers a range of pressing health policy issues, including the role of structural racism in birth disparities among Black women, global insights on achieving equitable access to care, spending dynamics in Medicare Advantage (MA) plans, and more.

Anuj Gangopadhyaya and coauthors examine structural racism as a driver of persistent racial disparities in birth outcomes among non-Hispanic black women.

Their results emphasize how structural racism extends beyond economic and neighborhood advantages to influence health outcomes at multiple levels.

Debra Winberg and colleagues explore the relationship between physician characteristics and participation in a wide range of value-based care models with a focus on barriers to universal adoption.

Grace McCormack and coauthors analyze trends in MA benchmarks, bids, and payments from pre-ACA levels through 2023.

While bids from MA plans have decreased relative to traditional Medicare, payments to MA plans have increased.

Beth Boyer and colleagues describe four actionable areas identified by the Future of Health, an international group of senior health leaders, as vital for achieving equitable access to health care.

In late 2023, the ONC for Health Information Technology launched the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA) to enable nationwide health information exchange.

Jordan Everson and colleagues conducted a national survey of regional, local, and state health information organizations (HIOs) to assess their plans to participate in the agreement.

During COVID-19, many states expanded access to telehealth services. One of those states, Minnesota, directed its Department of Health to study the impact of telehealth expansion and payment parity.

Arkadipta Ghosh and colleagues report their findings here, focusing on private insurance and examining disparities in telehealth use and health outcomes.

Three Policy Inquiry papers explore:

• how global regulatory agencies can fast-track innovative medicines to those who need them and also generate data to justify continued use,
• accessibility of diabetes education in the US, and
• lessons for regulating cannabis from the e-cigarette experience.

Dongzhe Hong on Biosimilar Uptake in the US

Health Affairs' Editor-in-Chief Alan Weil interviews Dongzhe Hong of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard University on his recent paper that explores how patient and prescriber factors play into biosimilar uptake in the US.

Universal Basic Income, Health Equity & Social Democracy w/ Seth Berkowitz

Health Affairs' Jeff Byers welcomes Seth Berkowitz of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine to the program to discuss his recent book Equal Care: Health Equity, Social Democracy, and the Egalitarian State, which offers a vision for the future of health equity by examining the social mechanisms that link injustice to poor health.

A New Drug Could Change The HIV Prevention Landscape, But Only With A Fair Price Tag

Amy Killelea and Jeremiah Johnson

Enhancing Global Health Security: An Assessment Of The New International Health Regulations

Vivek Nenmini Dileep

Rationalizing Physician Regulation

David A. Hyman et al.

Implementing Revised Federal Race/Ethnicity Data Standards Won’t Sufficiently Address Health Inequities

Jennifer M. Haley et al.

The FTC's Noncompete Rule: Legal Challenges And Potential Solutions For Physician Markets

Erin C. Fuse Brown et al.

For Some Medical Students, The Most Important Textbook May Be Their Community

Jonathan Staloff et al.

part of our Health Affairs Reads series

The Future of Telehealth and Its Impact on Primary Care

Join Health Affairs Tuesday, September 24, for a virtual event examining the future of telehealth and its impact on primary care.