RAND advances understanding of health and health behaviors and examines how the organization and financing of care affect costs, quality, and access. RAND's body of research—conducted primarily through the RAND Health division—includes innovative studies of health insurance, health care reform, health information technology, and women's health, as well as topical concerns such as obesity, complementary and alternative medicine, and PTSD in veterans and survivors of catastrophe.
A team from RAND and the University HealthSystem Consortium developed a toolkit to help hospitals enhance their quality improvement efforts using quality indicators from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
Vaccine-preventable diseases take a heavy toll on U.S. adults despite the widespread availability of vaccines. Office-based providers can do more to promote adult vaccinations but need clearer guidance and a better business case to offer them.
With regard to Army families, the study examines the effects of long and frequent parental deployments on children’s academic performance as well as their emotional and behavioral well-being in the school setting.
The use of dedicated anesthesia providers for routine gastroenterology (GI) procedures is seen as medically justifiable only for high-risk patients. Eliminating these services for low-risk patients could generate $1.1 billion in savings per year.
An analysis of the effects of implementing the Affordable Care Act without an individual mandate found that over 12 million people who would have otherwise signed up for coverage will be uninsured and premium prices will increase by 2.4 percent.
Since Massachusetts enacted health reform legislation in 2006, health care employment in the state has grown more rapidly than in the rest of the United States, primarily in administrative positions.
This brief summarizes options for improving value for money in HIV funding by using a case study that focuses on the two largest funders, the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and the Global Fund, and antiretroviral therapy.
Examines the health care needs of released California prisoners, communities most affected by reentry, safety net capacity, and provider experiences with ex-prisoners, given California's Public Safety Realignment Plan and federal health care reform.
Describes a new equipping strategy for the Army's Combat Support Hospitals.
Provides overviews and detailed descriptions of 211 programs currently sponsored or funded by the Department of Defense to address psychological health and traumatic brain injury, along with recommendations to maximize program effectiveness.
The quality of mental health care delivered by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is generally as good or better than care delivered by private health plans, although it falls short of the high standards set in VA guidelines.
The most comprehensive analysis of the risk of malpractice claims by physician specialty in more than two decades finds that U.S. physicians have a greater than 75% career-long risk of facing litigation. In some specialties, doctors can be virtually certain of a lawsuit over the course of their careers. However, the vast majority of those claims will not result in payment to a plaintiff.
RAND's evaluation of Safe Start Promising Approaches identified program successes and challenges in implementing programs for children exposed to violence. The evaluation results, though largely inconclusive, can inform similar efforts going forward.
Between 1990 and 2009, the number of emergency rooms (ERs) in nonrural U.S. hospitals declined by 27 percent (from 2,446 to 1,779). Economic factors play a central role in an ER's ability to remain open.
Fast-rising health care costs have eaten nearly all the income gains made by a median-income American family of four over the past decade, leaving them with just $95 per month in extra income, after accounting for taxes and price increases.
Summarizes key RAND studies on the causes of obesity, its economic and health consequences, and potential strategies for prevention, including work on health care costs, junk food, food deserts, school meals, and proximity of parks.
RxNorm has potential to improve how medications are represented in e-prescribing transactions.
If all veterans suffering from major depression and posttraumatic stress disorder were to receive evidence-based treatments, policy simulations suggest that cost savings generated would be $138 million (15 percent) over two years.
Two goals of the joint medical training and education campus at Ft. Sam Houston are to become a high-performing learning organization and an accredited, degree-granting institution. A research and evaluation capability would help it meet these goals.
Health care personnel who were offered vaccination at work were much more likely to be vaccinated for seasonal flu and pandemic flu than those who were not offered vaccination at work.
RAND® is a registered trademark. Copyright © 1994-2012 RAND Corporation.