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The

Commonwealth

Fund Connection

A roundup of recent Fund publications, charts, multimedia, and other timely content.


September 5, 2019

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What's New


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The ACA Has Reduced Racial Disparities in Coverage

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has not only spurred a decline in the country’s uninsured rate, it’s also reduced disparities in coverage among racial and ethnic groups. New York University researchers found the coverage gap between blacks and whites declined from 11.0 percentage points in 2013 to 5.3 percentage points in 2017. The gap between Hispanics and whites, meanwhile, dropped from 25.4 points to 16.6 points.

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TOP TWEET


By working with community partners, health care organizations can better meet the nonmedical needs of high-need, high-cost patients, from supportive housing to food and transportation.


@Commonwealthfnd
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Medicare and Medicaid


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Designing Value-Based Payment for Children’s Services in New York

The New York State Medicaid program’s shift away from fee-for-service reimbursement and toward value-based payments, which reward providers for achieving improved patient outcomes, could encourage the state’s child health care providers to focus more on their young patients’ lifelong health and well-being, according to a new report from the United Hospital Fund and the Commonwealth Fund. New York started redesigning its Medicaid program in 2015.

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Toolkit: Leveraging Medicaid Managed Care to Advance Primary Care

The Center for Health Care Strategies has a new toolkit to help states work with Medicaid managed care plans to promote innovation in primary care, including new ways to address social determinants of health, integrate behavioral health services, and use technology to improve access to care. The toolkit also compares the approaches taken by three leading states in this area — New York, Ohio, and Oregon.

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Access and Coverage


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Why People Remain Uninsured

Although the ACA has greatly expanded health insurance coverage in the U.S., some 30.4 million people are still uninsured. A new analysis of Commonwealth Fund survey data finds they are disproportionately low income, Latino, and under age 35. Authors Munira Gunja and Sara Collins say the cost of insurance is a key reason why so many remain without coverage.

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What Could Happen to Texas’s Economy If the State Expanded Medicaid?

A new Commonwealth Fund–supported survey of low-income adults in Texas shows that if the state were to expand Medicaid, 1.2 million people without coverage could become eligible for the health insurance program, according to the Harvard University researchers. Two of five low-income Texas residents not currently enrolled in Medicaid said gaining this coverage would help their financial situation. The state, which has the nation’s highest uninsured rate, is one of 17 that have not expanded eligibility for Medicaid.

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Tim Jost: What Courts May Have in Store for the ACA

Lawsuits challenging the validity of the ACA are making their way through the courts, as are suits challenging attempts by the Trump administration to undermine the law. Timothy S. Jost, emeritus professor at the Washington and Lee University School of Law, reviews the status of the major cases for To the Point.

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Why the Individual Health Insurance Market Now Looks More Like the Group Market

The ACA’s insurance reforms were intended to help the small-group and individual insurance markets perform more like the well-functioning large-group market, which can offer people benefits like comprehensive coverage and relatively low premiums. On To the Point, Mark Hall of Wake Forest University’s School of Law and Michael McCue of Virginia Commonwealth University examine the financial performance of the individual, small-group, and large-group markets during the first four years of the ACA era to see how that’s played out.

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Reducing Wasteful Pharmacy Spending: Employers’ Options

How can self-insured employers and other health plan sponsors remove low-value or wasteful drugs from their pharmacy benefit plans and save money? Lauren Vela of the Pacific Business Group on Health explains in a new Commonwealth Fund brief.

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Delivery System Reform


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Community Health Centers Have Upped Their Game

A new analysis of data from the Fund’s 2013 and 2018 national surveys of federally qualified health centers shows how these critical providers of care to low-income Americans have responded to the increase in demand for health services since the ACA took effect.

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Determining the Business Case for Investing in Social Services

Health care organizations and community-based organizations seeking a sustainable path to funding the delivery of social services to patients are invited to try the Commonwealth Fund’s new ROI Calculator for Partnerships. Users also can access evidence on the financial impact of different types of services.

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Dementia Care Improves Outcomes for Patients and Caregivers

A UCLA dementia care program in which nurse practitioners work closely with primary and specialty care physicians holds promise for improving outcomes for both patients and their caregivers, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society by Commonwealth Fund–supported researchers.

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International Health Policy and Practice Innovations


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The Paradoxes of U.S. Health Care: International Perspectives

It’s not really one system. It’s a privilege, not a right. Prices and accountability are problems. These are among the observations about U.S. health care in Health Affairs from the 2018–19 Harkness Fellows in Health Care Policy and Practice. The Commonwealth Fund–supported fellows lend their insights as health care researchers, policymakers, and practitioners from Australia, England, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Norway.

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Affordable, quality health care. For everyone.

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