TODAY ON THE BLOG

COVID-19

Expand COVID-19 Testing With Real-Time Processing Through Community Pharmacies
By S. Lawrence Kocot

The Emergency Prescription Assistance Program was designed to be flexible. It could be expanded and leveraged by states to increase the current capacity for local community diagnosis testing for COVID-19 and to facilitate the eventual distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. Read More >>

COVID-19 And The Financial Viability Of US Rural Hospitals
By Ge Bai and Gerard F. Anderson

COVID-19 imposes financial challenges on rural hospitals that were already struggling prior to the pandemic. Structural changes, notably paying for standby services, are needed to fundamentally improve rural hospital financial viability. Read More >>

HEALTH CARE FINANCE

Why States’ ‘Netflix Model’ Prescription Drug Arrangements Are No Silver Bullet
By Harry Liu and Andrew Mulcahy

Despite the buzz and catchy notion, it’s hard to come up with a theoretical case that supports subscription models over traditional price negotiation between payers and manufacturers over a per-dose or per-unit price. Read More >>

FOLLOWING THE ACA

Access To ACA Coverage In The COVID-19 Crisis
By Katie Keith

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reports increased marketplace enrollment during the pandemic through existing special enrollment periods (SEPs), but many believe a broad SEP that would allow any uninsured person to enroll is necessary to meet the enormous need. Read More >>

MONTHLY GRANTWATCH ROUND-UP

The COVID-19 Crisis: An Opportunity To Build A Fairer, Healthier Nation
By Nadia J. Siddiqui, Dennis P. Andrulis, Derek A. Chapman, Kimberly Wilson, Beth Jacob, Gail C. Christopher, and Naima Wong Croal (6/24/20)

Creating conditions for all communities to thrive is central to containing the immediate spread and adverse outcomes of COVID-19, and to building a country better prepared to respond to future crises. The Health Opportunity and Equity (HOPE) Initiative, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, provides an interactive data tool showing where the US and states are doing well, and could do better, on reaching health equity goals. Now focused on COVID-19 and health inequities, HOPE uses data from The COVID Tracking Project for its analyses.
Read More >>

Expanding Access To Treatment For Opioid Use Disorder: The Pandemic Presents A Learning Opportunity
By Karen Scott (6/12/20)

A national funder that launched in 2018 decided that its first priority should be making it easier for people with opioid use disorder to access evidence-based treatment services. The foundation wanted to focus on groups with the highest risks of overdose deaths, including people leaving correctional facilities, postpartum women, and residents of remote, rural, and inner-city areas. Then COVID-19 hit. The foundation has adapted to the pandemic and aims to learn from it. Read More >>

The Movement Toward Equity: One Philanthropy's Shifting Role In Catalyzing Change
By Kristy Klein Davis (6/3/20)

The Missouri Foundation for Health is carving out a unique niche for itself as a "changemaker" in that state. It is working "collaboratively to build communities where inequities in health and well-being are nonexistent," says its chief strategy officer. For example, the foundation has been working to eliminate "the root causes of infant mortality, including dismantling structural racism embedded in our health care systems." Read More >>

What Have Foundations Been Doing In The Fight Against COVID-19? Part III
By Lee-Lee Prina (5/28/20)

During this difficult time, foundations around the country have come forward to help—with funding for a variety of purposes, including useful surveys and publications. In this small sampling, read about the varied ways foundations are aiding people around the world, the US, their state, or their region. This is Part III of a GrantWatch series. Read More >>

IN THE JOURNAL

ACCOUNTABLE CARE

Accountable Care Organizations’ Increase In Nonphysician Practitioners May Signal Shift For Health Care Workforce
By David J. Nyweide, Woolton Lee, and Carrie H. Colla

Both the number and the size of accountable care organizations (ACOs) in the Medicare Shared Savings Program have been increasing. The number of ACOs rose from 220 in 2013 to 548 in 2018, while the average number of participating clinicians in ACOs increased from 263 to 653. Although increases occurred for primary care physicians (from an average of 141 to 251) and medical specialists (from an average of 76 to 157), the increase for nonphysician practitioners (from an average of 47 to 245) was the largest. Read More >>

GRANTWATCH

Funders' Efforts: Aging And Health, COVID-19
By Lee L. Prina

The June 2020 GrantWatch column offers a sampling of how foundations are helping older people. The John A. Hartford Foundation, for example, awarded a large grant aiming "to improve the quality of care and outcomes for older adults in retail clinic settings." You can also read about the SCAN Foundation's work related to California's Master Plan for Aging. (Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that plan in June 2019.) Content on falls prevention, as well as COVID-19, is also included. In the Key Personnel Changes section, read about Bruce Chernof's upcoming retirement from the SCAN Foundation, and more in the column. Read More >>

A CLOSER LOOK—End-Of-Life Expenditures

Health care spending in the months before death varies across geographic areas but is not associated with outcomes. Using data from the prospective multiregional Cancer Care Outcomes Research and Surveillance Consortium (CanCORS) study, Health Affairs authors assessed the extent to which such variation is explained by differences in patients’ sociodemographic factors, clinical factors, and beliefs; physicians’ beliefs; and the availability of services.

About Health Affairs

Health Affairs is the leading peer-reviewed journal at the intersection of health, health care, and policy. Published monthly by Project HOPE, the journal is available in print and online. Late-breaking content is also found through healthaffairs.org, Health Affairs Today, and Health Affairs Sunday Update.

Project HOPE is a global health and humanitarian relief organization that places power in the hands of local health care workers to save lives across the globe. Project HOPE has published Health Affairs since 1981.

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