The debate within the U.S. government about reforming the health care system centers on ways to control rising costs and assure high-quality, affordable care. RAND Health and its health care reform initiative—RAND COMPARE (Comprehensive Assessment of Reform Efforts)—provide objective research and analysis on topics that can inform the health care reform debate, including financing; increasing access, insurance coverage, and quality; decreasing costs; and promoting wellness and prevention.
With the complex process of implementing the ACA underway, RAND research is tracking the progress of implementation and assessing the potential consequences of choices facing federal and state governments, employers, families, and individuals.
In its second term, the Obama Administration can restrain further health care spending growth—without compromising quality—by employing four broad strategies: fostering efficient and accountable providers, engaging and empowering consumers, promoting population health, and facilitating high-value innovation.
Commentary
While a governor or legislator may disagree with Medicaid expansion for philosophical reasons, the claims that the expansion will be a burden on states' economies seem misguided given the full range of projected economic impacts on the states, writes Carter C. Price.
Research Brief
This infographic presents findings from a RAND analysis of the economic and other effects of the Affordable Care Act on the state of Arkansas.
Report
Public and private sector purchasers are actively working to design value-based payment programs to achieve the goals of improved quality and more efficient use of health care resources. How these programs are designed is a complex undertaking and one that will determine the likelihood of their success.
Periodical
RAND's November 2012 Politics Aside weekend brought together leaders in government policy, business, and philanthropy to discuss challenges and solutions in an objective, nonpartisan environment.
Report
For Arkansas, the Affordable Care Act will result in an increase in GDP of around $550 million and the creation of about 6,200 jobs. The new law will also increase health insurance coverage by 400,000 newly insured individuals.
Journal Article
Payment reform affects market entry and exit, which in turn may affect market structure, access to care, quality and cost of care, and patient outcomes.
Blog
The Affordable Care Act focuses primarily on extending coverage to uninsured Americans, but it is also intended to help curb cost growth. M. Susan Ridgely explains one of the key tools for doing that—the “accountable care organization,” an alternative delivery model intended to lower costs while also improving quality of care.
Research Brief
RAND Health research supports four strategies to restrain health care spending growth and maintain quality: foster efficient and accountable providers, engage and empower consumers, promote population health, and facilitate high-value innovation.
Research Brief
Providers can dramatically improve American health care by focusing on value instead of volume, eliminating wasteful and inappropriate care, applying the best available evidence to their practices, and enhancing patient safety.
Commentary
Regardless of which candidate wins in November, and regardless of whether “Obamacare” is repealed, amended, or defended by the next Congress, the next president will have to contend with the spiraling cost of health care in the United States—a problem that is growing more acute with each passing year, writes Arthur Kellermann.
Report
An analysis of factors that impede the translation of comparative effectiveness research (CER) into clinical practice and those that facilitate it, based on case studies of five recent CER studies.
Commentary
Despite high per-capita expenditures in the U.S., Americans under the age of 65 are less likely than their peers in France, Germany, or the United Kingdom to receive timely and appropriate health care, writes Ellen Nolte.
Periodical
Whether the Affordable Care Act is repealed, defended, or weakened will hinge on who holds the balance of power next January. Regardless of what happens with the ACA, the spiraling cost of health care in the United States will remain a huge challenge.
Journal Article
Innovative payment reform initiatives occur in both the public and private sector, but the optimal role in such reforms of the public sector, specifically the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, is up for debate
Journal Article
Amenable mortality—deaths that should not occur in the presence of timely and effective health care—were higher in the U.S. compared to France, Germany, and the U.K. between 1999 and 2007. Deaths from circulatory conditions like cerebrovascular disease and hypertension are the main reason amenable death rates remained high in the U.S.
Commentary
The bottom line is this: With or without the Affordable Care Act, the nation can no longer kick the can down the road on costs, writes Arthur Kellermann.
Blog
Adequate compensation is critical to recruiting and retaining an all-volunteer force—in peacetime and wartime alike. To assess the effectiveness of U.S. military pay and benefits, the president directs a review of military compensation every four years. Four RAND studies contributed to this review.
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