Wednesday, March 16, 2022 | The Latest Research, Commentary, And News From Health Affairs
Dear John, Health Affairs is launching a new health reform–focused newsletter written by Katie Keith. The newsletter will examinehealth policy developments—from legislation to litigation—and explain what these changes mean for patients, payers, providers, and other key health care stakeholders.
The Leading To Health column in the March issue of Health Affairs highlights Penn Medicine’s efforts to advance equity in Black maternal health, namely tying executive compensation to the goal of reducing birth-related complications.
Kevin Mahoney, CEO of the University of Pennsylvania Health System, added health equity to the Penn Medicine fiscal year 2021 team goals.
As a result, Penn Medicine's ability to reduce major maternal morbidity would be factored into determining executive pay for the health system and medical school.
Setting a metric for the team goal posed challenges. Severe maternal complications, although much more common than maternal deaths, are still rare events, which means that it would be difficult to discern improvements in care.
Eventually, Penn Medicine created a composite quality metric to improve their data and protocols around measurement.
“In the first year after setting the goal, the health system was able to reduce severe pregnancy-related complications among Black women by 29.4 percent,” says Elizabeth Howell, the chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in the Perelman School of Medicine.
Today in Health Affairs Forefront, Marian Grant and coauthors examine the merits of advance care planning, which was designed to prepare people for future medical decision making, particularly for those living with serious illness.
The authors’ findings suggest that patient cost sharing for this process has turned out to be a barrier that disproportionately affects Black and Latinx communities.
Ready, Set, Stall - ED Clinicians On The Boarding Crisis
In this podcast episode, Avni Kulkarni and Sania Ali head to the emergency department (ED) to learn how our nation’s safety net is struggling to keep up with the increasing demand for emergency psychiatric treatment.
Health Affairs is seeking applicants for the Health Policy Podcast Fellowship. The program is intended for early or mid-early stage career individuals with an interest in health policy and storytelling.
The program is intended to support applicants who have an audio project in mind to inform and educate the public.
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.
