Guides/Reports
American Hospital Association guides and reports for members and the health care field.
Today, Medicare covers more than 48 million people, and that number is growing rapidlybaby boomers are reaching the eligibility age of 65 at the rate of 10,000 a day.1 Medicare patients exhibit a growing prevalence of chronic conditions and risk factors for these conditions, such as obesity. This…
In 2008 Don Berwick, Tom Nolan, and John Whittington first described the triple aim of simultaneously improving population health, improving the patient experience of care and reducing per capita cost. The Institute for Healthcare Improvement developed the 'Triple Aim' as a statement of purpose for…
Medicine involves decisions. But for Medicare patients with conditions for which surgery is an option, whether they undergo elective surgery depends largely on where they live and the clinicians they see. Research suggests that for many conditions -- especially those that can be treated with…
A central goal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is to significantly reduce the number of uninsured by providing a continuum of affordable coverage options through Medicaid and new health insurance exchanges. Following the June 2012 Supreme Court decision, states face a decision…
Barriers and Strategies for Overcoming Them
Health care professionals whose focus is on patient safety are very familiar with these alarming and frequently cited statistics from the Institute of Medicine: medical errors result in the death of between 44,000 and 98,000 patients every year. Health care professionals whose focus is on…
The Affordable Care Act and state Medicaid reform efforts present opportunities to reengineer health care payment and delivery systems to promote higher performance. This opportunity will be squandered, however, unless Medicare and Medicaid work collaboratively to develop a common framework for…
Assisted living facilities allow residents to 'age in place' by adjusting their level of care and services to meet changing needs. For assisted living residents who are dying, hospice care can help facilitate their desire to stay out of hospitals or nursing homes. Commonwealth Fund–supported…
While there is broad agreement on the general concepts defining patient-centered medical homes, little is known about physician practices' on-the-ground experiences. In this Commonwealth Fund–supported study, researchers examined five practices engaged in efforts to become medical homes…