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  • Strengthening Medicaid with Health Information Technology: Are Providers & States Up to the Challenge?

    Event Date:
    Event

    Health care providers can receive Medicare and Medicaid payment incentives when they adopt electronic health records and demonstrate their "meaningful use." Additionally, states must establish a website by 2014 for Medicaid beneficiaries to electronically enroll and renew coverage. Yet many challenges remain so that health information technology (HIT) can help the Medicaid program operate more effectively. How can Medicaid health plans and providers use HIT to provide better care delivery and improve health outcomes while…

  • A Primer on Dually Eligible Beneficiaries

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    Event

    The nine million dually eligible beneficiaries are generally poorer and sicker than other Medicare beneficiaries, tend to use more health care services, and thus account for a disproportionate share of Medicare and Medicaid spending. Because they often have complex medical and long-term care needs, and must navigate both Medicaid and Medicare benefits and financing, they present a special challenge for those seeking a more efficient and coordinated care delivery system. The panel will address such…

  • Accountable Care Organizations: A New Paradigm for Health Care Delivery?

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    Event

    The health reform law of 2010 authorizes Medicare, beginning next year, to contract with accountable care organizations (ACOs) in a Medicare Shared Savings Program. ACOs provide financial incentives to improve the coordination and quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries, while reducing costs. But providers have raised red flags, saying the arrangements are burdensome and too hard to achieve. This briefing addresses questions raised by the law and the subsequent regulation implementing ACOs, including: How will…

  • Innovations in Primary Care: What’s in the ACA?

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    The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act aims to move the health care system away from an episodic, fee-for-service approach and towards a coordinated, preventive model of care delivery. Exactly how does the law encourage innovations in primary care? What roles will states and purchasers of care play in this transformation? This December 13 briefing, cosponsored the Alliance for Health Reform and The Commonwealth Fund, explored this and related questions. For more information, please visit…

  • The Health Workforce Dream Team: Who Will Provide the Care?

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    Event

    Many providers and policymakers envision team-based care as an important way to improve quality and maximize resources. The “dream team” includes nurses and many other non-physician providers. But how will we ensure enough health care workers for a growing, aging population with ever-increasing chronic care needs? This December 2 briefing, sponsored by the Alliance for Health Reform and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, explored the question, focusing on a new report from the Institute of…

  • Investing in Health IT: What the U.S. and Other Countries Are Learning

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    Recent legislation, including the stimulus package and the new health reform law, invests substantial funds in health information technology which can help prevent medical errors and improve the quality and value of care. However, questions have been raised about the cost of implementation and personal privacy considerations. This briefing addressed questions such as: What have the U.S. and other countries learned from their experience with health IT? How is the adoption of this technology progressing…

  • Health Reform Hits Main Street

    Video

    This short cartoon explains the problems with the current health care system, the health reform changes that are happening now, and the big changes coming in 2014 as part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). You can view the video on our site and it is also available on YouTube.

  • New Orleans Five Years After the Storm: A New Disaster Amid Recovery

    Poll Finding

    This comprehensive survey of the experiences of New Orleans residents is the third in a series conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation since 2005.  Five years after Hurricane Katrina, an increasing majority of the city’s residents says the rebuilding process is going well, but substantial majorities still report that the city has not recovered and feel the nation has forgotten them.  The survey also finds the scope and immediacy of the Gulf oil spill weighing heavily on…

  • Wisconsin’s BadgerCare Plus Program: Moving Forward on Health Reform Amid a Recession

    Fact Sheet

    This fact sheet provides a brief overview of Wisconsin's BadgerCare Plus Program, a three-year-old initiative that merged the state's three distinct Medicaid programs for children, parents and pregnant women into a single comprehensive health coverage program. It also expanded eligibility to provide near-universal coverage for children and greater coverage for parents and childless adults. As of April 2010, the program provided coverage to 770,000 state residents, including 445,000 children. Fact Sheet (.pdf)

  • Rural Health: Laying the Foundation for Health Reform

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    The Alliance for Health Reform and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation co-sponsored this briefing to have a panel of experts answer questions about how some aspects of pending health reform proposals may have a substantial impact on rural care. What provisions in the various reform proposals affect rural health care? What particular challenges need to be overcome in order to improve care delivery in rural areas? What aspects of health reform will require special accommodation…