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.
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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.
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| | 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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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 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
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.
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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.
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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.
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