The Latest Research, Commentary, And News From Health Affairs
Thursday, August 19, 2021
Dear John,
To explore veterans' health, authors of an August article in Health Affairs looked at surgical complication rates at different care facilities.
Community Versus VA-Delivered Care
Increasingly, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) purchases care for veterans as opposed to delivering care in its own facilities. Alex Harris and coauthors compared postoperative complication rates for total knee arthroplastiesthat were delivered in VA facilities versus purchased from community providers.
The authors found that "adjusted complication rates were significantly lower for arthroplasties delivered by the VA compared with those that were purchased."
"These results support VA monitoring of overall local comparative hospital performance to improve the quality of care that the VA delivers while ensuring optimal outcomes in VA-purchased care," the authors write.
Peter Nelson argues that instead of building on Affordable Care Act policies that led to costlier health insurance premiums, we need to find a better way to ensure a stable insurance market.
Michele Cohen Marill
explains the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists' new guidance on a race-based standard that could lead to undertreatment of anemia in Black pregnant women.
The Health Equity Fellowship for Traineesis part of Health Affairs’ national initiative to advance racial equity in health policy and health services scholarly publishing. Its objective is to value and increase the quality and quantity of equity-related research published in Health Affairs that isauthored by members of racial and ethnic groups that have historically been underrepresented in scholarly publishing.
In the program, fellows will receive multilayered mentorship from experienced Health Affairs authors and editorial staff for one year (from January 2022 to December 2022). Mentors will work with fellows to make fellows’ manuscript submissions more likely to be accepted by the journal or another journal within the fellowship year. Manuscript submissions must be related to racial equity.
The application period closes on September 13, 2021.
Health Affairs is the leading peer-reviewedjournalat
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.
