This data note quantifies the availability of providers capable of providing critical care in each state relative to state-level population. It finds that the number of intensivist physicians is substantially smaller than that of “second-line” providers that sometimes provide critical care, such as hospitalists, pulmonologists, and anesthesiologists, lending credence to longstanding concerns that intensivists are in short supply in the U.S. at baseline.

A new chart collection explores the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the U.S. health care workforce, and finds that between February and April 2020, nearly 1.5 million health care jobs were lost. While more than 300,000 health services jobs were recovered in May 2020, mainly in dental offices, employment in some…

A new chart collection examines where changes in health care employment have been concentrated amid the coronavirus pandemic, and what these changes might tell us about short-term health spending. Health care employment decreased 9.5% from February through April 2020, as more than 1.5 million healthcare workers lost their jobs. While…

The highly transmissible nature of the coronavirus combined with the congregate nature of long-term care facility settings and the close and personal contact that many long-term care workers have with patients puts them at elevated risk of infection. This analysis focuses on the characteristics of the 4.5 million people who work in long-term care settings, based on the 2018 American Community Survey.

Compared to most similarly large and wealthy countries, the U.S. has fewer practicing physicians per capita but has a similar number of licensed nurses per capita. Looking specifically at the hospital setting, the U.S. has more hospital-based employees per capita than most other comparable countries, but nearly half of these hospital workers are non-clinical staff.

A new analysis and chart collection finds that the U.S. has fewer hospital beds and practicing physicians per capita than many similarly large and wealthy countries with health care systems already strained by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Compared to Italy and Spain, two countries in which hospitals have already been…

The bills in this table address a number of related maternity care issues, including extending Medicaid postpartum coverage from 60 days to one year, funding for clinical training on health equity and implicit bias, developing broader networks of maternity care providers in rural areas, and research on the potential benefits of Medicaid coverage for doula care.

This Data Note presents findings on reported acceptance of Medicare patients among non-pediatric primary care physicians, based on data from the Kaiser Family Foundation/Commonwealth Fund 2015 National Survey of Primary Care Providers. In addition to comparing physicians’ acceptance of Medicare to private insurance and Medicaid, this Data Note also explores the characteristics of non-pediatric primary care physicians who accept new Medicare patients and who have greater shares of Medicare patients in their caseloads.

In his column for The Wall Street Journal’s Think Tank, Kaiser’s President Drew Altman is joined by The Commonwealth Fund’s President David Blumenthal to discuss the impact of the Affordable Care Act’s coverage expansion on the primary care delivery system. Their analysis is based on the Kaiser-Commonwealth National Survey of…

In this column for The Wall Street Journal’s Think Tank, Kaiser’s President Drew Altman is joined by The Commonwealth Fund’s President David Blumenthal to discuss the impact of the Affordable Care Act’s coverage expansion on the primary care delivery system.