To view this email as a web page, go to the link below, or copy and paste it into your browser's address window.
[link removed]


Having trouble viewing this email?
[link removed]
View online

The

Commonwealth

Fund Connection

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


December 18, 2019

[link removed]

[link removed]

[link removed]










What's New


[link removed]
International Survey: U.S. Primary Care Doctors Struggle to Coordinate Care

Primary care physicians in the United States face greater struggles than doctors in some other high-income countries in coordinating care and communicating with other health and social service providers, according to findings from the 2019 Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy Survey, published in Health Affairs. The survey of more than 13,000 primary care physicians in 11 nations found that only half of physicians in the U.S. are usually notified when their patients are seen in an emergency department or admitted to the hospital, compared to at least eight in 10 physicians in the Netherlands and New Zealand.

[link removed]
READ MORE

[link removed]
Strategies to Help U.S. Physicians Better Meet Patients’ Needs

In an op-ed for STAT, the Commonwealth Fund’s Michelle Doty and David Blumenthal, M.D., discuss three key strategies they’ve identified to help U.S. primary care physicians “catch up with their counterparts elsewhere and better meet their patients’ diverse needs,” including social services. Doty is the lead author of the recent Health Affairs study that analyzes results of the Fund’s latest International Health Policy Survey.

[link removed]
READ MORE
TOP TWEET


At least seven of 10 primary care doctors (PCPs) in Norway, France, and New Zealand say they receive information from specialists about changes to their patients’ care plans or medications. In the U.S., fewer than half of PCPs say this is true for them.


@Commonwealthfnd
[link removed]
[link removed]




Access and Coverage


[link removed]
The Future of Preexisting Condition Protections

If a pending court decision finds the Affordable Care Act and its guarantee of coverage for preexisting conditions unconstitutional, 54 million Americans with health problems may be at risk. As Commonwealth Fund President David Blumenthal, M.D., writes in The Hill, it’s an issue at the forefront of voters’ minds.

[link removed]
READ MORE

[link removed]
Congress Presents More Proposals on Surprise Billing

Members of Congress from both parties have offered new legislation to protect consumers from surprise bills — those unwelcome tabs patients can get when they have no way to avoid out-of-network charges. On To the Point, Georgetown University’s Jack Hoadley and Kevin Lucia and B&J Health Policy’s Beth Fuchs outline two proposals and explain how they differ in their approaches to payment standards and settling disputes.

[link removed]
READ MORE

[link removed]
A Call for All Nations to Cover the Uninsured

On December 12, 2012, the United Nations passed a resolution urging countries worldwide to work for universal health coverage. On To the Point, the Commonwealth Fund’s Roosa Tikkanen and Elizabeth Fowler explore how Germany, the Netherlands, and Canada achieved this goal and reflect on U.S. progress to date.

[link removed]
READ MORE


Health System Views


[link removed]
A Tale of Two Systems

Two primary care physicians from the Netherlands chose to practice medicine in different countries: one worked in a Dutch medical office, while the other started a family practice outside Seattle. In a new Commonwealth Fund feature article, journalist Noam Levey of the Los Angeles Times reports on their vastly different feelings about the practice of medicine and the state of health care in the two countries.

[link removed]
READ MORE

[link removed]
Health Care in America: What Do We Value?

How do Americans’ values align with their health care experiences and views on health reform? In a new feature article, Commonwealth Fund researchers discuss findings of a joint survey from the New York Times, the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and the Commonwealth Fund that helped answer this question. Some of the survey responses might surprise you — both in the areas of consensus they reveal and the stark contrasts they highlight.

[link removed]
READ MORE


Medicare and Medicaid


[link removed]
Can Medicaid Help Solve America’s Maternal Mortality Crisis?

On the latest episode of The Dose podcast, the Commonwealth Fund’s Laurie Zephyrin, M.D., and Akeiisa Coleman talk about how Medicaid — which pays for nearly half the 4 million births in the U.S. each year — can help address the nation’s maternal mortality crisis.

[link removed]
READ MORE


Delivery System Reform


[link removed]
Case Studies: Integrating Care for Dual Eligibles

Two new Commonwealth Fund–supported case studies from the Center for Health Care Strategies explore how managed care plans are working to promote care management for people enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid. The first explores how
[link removed]
two health plans in California successfully transitioned dually eligible members in need of long-term services and supports from institutional to community settings. The second describes how Pennsylvania-based
[link removed]
UPMC for Life Dual Health Plan is using a robust care coordination and member engagement model to reduce urgent and unplanned inpatient admissions for people with serious mental illness.

[link removed]
READ MORE

[link removed]
More Americans Dying at Home Means New Care Models Needed

For the first time since the early 20th century, more Americans are dying at home than in hospitals — a shift that calls for assessing the experiences and needs of patients and their caregivers. Last year, Commonwealth Fund researchers compared different models of caring for people in their homes through serious illness and the end of life.

[link removed]
READ MORE


Announcements


[link removed]
Fund Welcomes New Board Chair, New Members

Michael V. Drake, M.D., a physician and the president of The Ohio State University, has been named the new chair of the Commonwealth Fund’s board of directors. A member of the board since 2008, Drake succeeds Benjamin K. Chu, M.D. The Fund also elected two members to its board: Carrie L. Byington, M.D., executive vice president of UC Health; and Alan Jones, senior managing director at Intermediate Capital Group.

[link removed]
READ MORE





Affordable, quality health care. For everyone.

[link removed]
Subscribe |
[link removed]
Privacy policy |
[link removed]
Unsubscribe

Add
mailto:[email protected]?omnicid=CFC1735499&[email protected]
[email protected] to your address book [
[link removed]
vCard ]


2019 (c) The Commonwealth Fund


THE COMMONWEALTH FUND | One E 75th St, New York, NY 10021 United States | Phone: 212.606.3800










----------------------------------------

This email was sent by:
THE COMMONWEALTH FUND
One E 75th St
New York, NY, 10021, United States

We respect your right to privacy - visit the following URL to view our policy.
( [link removed] )

----------------------------------------

Visit the following URL to manage your subscriptions.
( [link removed] )

Visit the following URL to update your profile.
( [link removed] )

Visit the following URL to unsubscribe.
( [link removed] )