Publications on Health Care Organization and Capacity
RAND Health research on the organization and capacity of the health care system takes a broad perspective. Our work has examined how organization affects the system’s ability to provide high-quality care and to use resources efficiently and effectively. Many studies have focused on the link between health system organization and the ability of the public health system to respond to public health emergencies, whether natural or the result of hostile action.
Selected Publications, 2007 to Present
2010
Does Improved Patient Safety Reduce Malpractice Litigation? — April 7, 2010
Investigates the relationship between safety outcomes in hospitals and malpractice claiming against providers, using data for California hospitals and insurers from 2001 through 2005.
Health Care on Aisle 7: The Growing Phenomenon of Retail Clinics — June 8, 2010
Presents information on the growing phenomenon of retail medical clinics, the types of patients they serve and the types of care they provide, and whether some common claims about retail clinics are supported by evidence.
Hospital Executives' Perspectives on Pay-for-Performance and Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Care — October 1, 2010
The findings suggest that payers should be hesitant to use pay-for-performance as a mechanism for reducing disparities until a wide variety of concerns about the design of such programs can be addressed.
Is There a Shortage of Anesthesia Providers in the United States? — July 7, 2010
Analysis of labor market trends suggests that the United States is experiencing a shortage of anesthesiology providers.
Post-Katrina Project Demonstrates a Rapid, Participatory Assessment of Health Care and Develops a Partnership for Post-Disaster Recovery in New Orleans — March 10, 2010
Stakeholders in communities in which health care access was disrupted by Hurricane Katrina were engaged in an assessment of health priorities, as well as in data interpretation and plan design, to produce a sustainable community-academic partnership.
2009
California Ambulatory Surgery Centers: A Comparative Statistical and Regulatory Description — September 28, 2009
Ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) are rapidly growing as a setting for the delivery of health care services, both in California and in the United States. This report describes the California ASC landscape, compares California ASCs to hospital outpatient surgery departments, and compares California's regulation of Ambulatory Surgery Centers to the regulations of other states.
Electronic Health Records are Associated with Higher Quality in Primary Care Practices — October 27, 2009
Demonstrating a link between use of electronic health records in community-based primary care practices and higher-quality care, this study encourages prioritization of such technologies and their advanced functionalities.
Hospital Market Consolidation: Trends and Consequences — January 1, 2009
Examines the effects of hospital consolidation on hospital costs and prices to consumers.
A Policy-Relevant Picture of California's Ambulatory Surgery Centers — October 1, 2009
Examines how California's ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs) compare with hospital outpatient surgery departments and how the state compares with other states in regulating ASCs.
2008
Delivery of Genomic Medicine for Common Chronic Adult Diseases — April 2, 2008
This fact sheet summarizes recommendations for health care workers, consumers, and the scientific community to prepare the health care system for genomic medicine for common chronic diseases.
Outcome Measures for Effective Teamwork in Inpatient Care: Final Report — March 5, 2008
Addresses one step in the process of moving from teamwork training to teamwork practices that improve outcomes of care: identifying outcomes that are most likely to be affected as teamwork practices improve in an implementing organization. Discusses a literature search, methods for selecting and testing candidate measures, measures highly rated by clinical experts, and results of measure testing on administrative data of the DoD health system.
Retail Clinics, Primary Care Physicians, and Emergency Departments: A Comparison of Patients' Visits — January 1, 2008
Compares the demographics of and reasons for visits to retail clinics, primary care physicians (PCPs), and emergency departments. Finds that retail clinics appear to be serving a patient population that is underserved by PCPs.
Scope of Rapid HIV Testing in Private Nonprofit Urban Community Health Settings in the United States — January 1, 2008
The authors examined patterns of rapid HIV testing in a multistage national random sample of private, nonprofit, urban community clinics and community-based organizations to determine the extent of rapid HIV test availability outside the public health system.
Spreading Nursing Unit Innovation in Large Hospital Systems — January 1, 2008
Evaluates efforts of three major hospital systems to internally disseminate nursing unit change among medical-surgical units. All organizations carefully planned, coordinated, and implemented a spread process; none left dissemination to chance.
Validating the Link Between Good Physician Process of Care and Better Health-Related Quality of Life for Patients — July 6, 2008
This fact sheet describes a study that confirms, for the first time, that better physician process of care leads to better health-related quality of life for patients receiving ambulatory care.
2007
Accelerating the Adoption of Clinical IT Among the Healthcare Providers in US: Strategies & Policies — June 18, 2007
Analyzes the process of adopting clinical health information technology in hospitals and healthcare systems and derives policy strategies that could promote nationwide adoption.
Do Policies That Target Physicians Who Make Medical Malpractice Payments Reduce Negligent Injuries? — August 23, 2007
This fact sheet describes a study that found that policies targeting physicians' medical malpractice payment histories as a way to deter medical malpractice are ineffective, mainly because paying physicians are not the negligent ones.
Estimating the Potential Impact of Regionalizing Health Care Delivery Based on Volume Standards Versus Risk-Adjusted Mortality Rate — January 1, 2007
To examine whether basing regionalization on risk-adjusted mortality would lead to better population outcomes than basing regionalization on procedure volume.
The Evolution of Changes in Primary Care Delivery Underlying the Veterans Health Administration's Quality Transformation — January 1, 2007
Although VA's quality transformation had many underlying causes, investment in primary care development may have served as an essential substrate for many VA quality gains.
Forecasting the Supply of and Demand for Physicians in the Inland Southern California Area — September 12, 2007
Beckett and Morrison summarize their analysis of the projected supply of and demand for physicians who provide patient care in a region that includes Inland Southern California. As a means of comparison, they also analyzed the projected demand for and supply of physicians in the San Joaquin Valley and in California as a whole under a number of possible scenarios, including the creation of a new medical school in Inland Southern California.
Nurse Working Conditions and Patient Safety Outcomes — June 1, 2007
Nurse working conditions were associated with all outcomes measured. Improving working conditions will most likely promote patient safety. Future researchers and policymakers should consider a broad set of working condition variables.
Organizational Culture and Physician Satisfaction with Dimensions of Group Practice — January 1, 2007
Some dimensions of physician organizational culture are significantly associated with various aspects of individual physician satisfaction with group practice.
Redesign of the National Hospital Discharge Survey: Conceptual Framework and Feasibility Study: Final Report — April 24, 2007
The National Hospital Discharge Survey (NHDS), now over 40 years old, must reflect the types of care and services now offered in American hospitals. This report describes the first phase of an effort to develop an approach to redesigning the NHDS and to recommend, through a feasibility study, specific data elements to be included and field procedures to be used in that survey.
Teaching Systems-Based Practice to Primary Care Physicians to Foster Routine Implementation of Evidence-Based Depression Care — January 1, 2007
Although health care organizations seeking to improve quality often must change the system for delivering care, there is little available evidence on how to educate staff and providers about this change. As part of a 2002-2003 Veterans Health Administration multisite project using collaborative care to improve the management of depression, the authors implemented the Translating Initiatives for Depression into Effective Solutions (TIDES) program
Time Allocation and Caseload Capacity in Telephone Depression Care Management — January 1, 2007
Documents time allocated to care management activities and care manager workload capacity using data collected for studies of telephone care management of depression.
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