Study: COVID Booster Outreach Would Help Tame Winter Surge
With booster uptake for the COVID vaccine low and federal funding for vaccination campaigns drying up, the goal of high coverage as winter approaches seems to be slipping out of reach. A Yale team modeled the effects that an accelerated vaccination campaign could potentially have in the coming months. According to the researchers, even a moderately successful campaign could prevent more than 75,000 deaths and 745,000 hospitalizations and save $44 billion in health costs in the next six months alone.
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How Can We Engage Diverse Voices in Health Policy?
One of the keys to advancing racial equity in health care is to engage marginalized communities in the policymaking process. But seeking out the voices, perspectives, and experiences of historically oppressed groups requires careful thought. On To the Point, Jamila Michener and Tiffany Ford of Cornell University offer five recommendations for centering the perspectives of people of color to create opportunities for achieving equity in health policy.
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The NHS Takes on Racism: Can the U.S. Follow Its Lead?
International Insights, a new Commonwealth Fund newsletter, aims to connect U.S. health policy conversations with health care innovations and data from around the world. In the inaugural issue, Reginald D. Williams II, vice president of the Fund’s international program, discusses a major new report from the U.K. National Health Service documenting racism in British health care. He compares it to the Institute of Medicine’s landmark 2003 publication Unequal Access, showing how the NHS version goes further in recognizing racism’s effect on treatment disparities.
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Understanding and Addressing Medical Mistrust
How do clinicians rebuild trust with their patients following generations of racism and mistreatment at the hands of medical professionals? In a new interview with Transforming Care, Laura Bogart of the RAND Corporation frames mistrust as a form of resilience — a survival mechanism that arises in response to discrimination. She describes how health care providers can acknowledge these experiences, broach open conversations, and ultimately strengthen relationships and trust.
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Application Open for Minority Health Policy Fellowship at Harvard
The Commonwealth Fund Fellowship in Minority Health Policy at Harvard University is pleased to announce the call for applications for the 2023–24 year. The fellowship is designed to prepare physicians, particularly those from groups underrepresented in medicine, to become leaders in transforming health care delivery systems and promoting innovation in policies, practices, and programs that address health equity and the drivers of health for historically marginalized populations. The one-year, degree-granting, full-time fellowship begins in July 2023. The application deadline is December 1, 2022. To apply, visit
https://cff.hms.harvard.edu/how-apply. |
Improving Health Care for Trans Youth
Bills targeting the rights of LGBTQ+ people are under consideration in state legislatures across the country. Many aim to make it more difficult for transgender people to get health care — something that’s already a challenge for many, particularly trans youth. On The Dose podcast, Austin Johnson, an assistant professor of sociology at Kenyon College, says that one way to expand access to care for transgender youth is to “make sure you center trans experience, center trans people’s understandings of their health care, education, and family life, and rely on . . . scholarship that is led by trans people.”
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Can Prescription Drug Affordability Boards Rein in High Costs?
To fight rising prescription drugs costs, some states have established, or are working to establish, prescription drug affordability boards — independent bodies that analyze the drivers of high drug spending and recommend ways to lower prices. How do these boards work, and what factors are crucial to their ability to rein in drug costs? Health policy experts from Pyxis Partners survey the growth and potential of these new state cost-control tools.
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Hospital Rate-Setting Done Right
To slow down rapid price increases for hospital care, rate-setting systems have been tried with some success in the past. But many economists are wary of this kind of market intervention. On To the Point, Robert Murray explains that while the pitfalls of regulation are real, they’re also manageable. He says best practices include the use of global budgeting, the establishment of attainable and well-understood performance targets, and a focus on the costliest hospitals.
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Improving Behavioral Health Services for Youth
In October, the Wall Street Journal reported on the benefits of using targeted, time-limited interventions to address behavioral health issues, including anxiety and depression. One of the featured interventions was Project YES, a single-session mental health tool for youth who might otherwise go without support. A recent issue of Transforming Care focuses on Project YES and other innovations designed to
expand youth access to mental health supports and build resilience. |
Deciding What Works When Investing in Social Need Interventions
When health care providers and systems partner with local community resources to provide high-need patients with social supports, use of costly health services and overall health spending often go down. As Commonwealth Fund researchers explain on To the Point, the Fund’s newly updated Guide to Evidence for Health-Related Social Needs Interventions, together with a return-on-investment calculator,
can help organizations develop social need interventions and negotiate contracts to financially sustain them.
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