Using zoning laws to shape the type of development and activity that occur in a neighborhood may be one way to reduce crime in urban areas. Single-use commercially zoned blocks in Los Angeles have crime rates that are 45 percent higher than similar blocks that include residential uses.
California health regulators should begin collecting physician identifiers as part of their routine data collection efforts about the services provided at the state's hospitals. Such a move would help providers improve quality by aiding efforts to benchmark performance and reduce variations in the delivery of care.
In an effort to look beyond the 2012 U.S. election and promote "farsighted leadership in a shortsighted world," the latest edition of the RAND Corporation's magazine offers commentaries intended to transcend partisan rhetoric and foster policies that both presidential candidates could well accept.
A decade of unprecedented efforts in Arkansas has cut cigarette use by nearly one-third and reduced incidence of tobacco-related illnesses such as heart attacks and stroke. To maintain the gains it has made, Arkansas should continue its financial commitment of devoting the tobacco settlement funds to public health programs.
Most California school districts with new flexibility about how to spend $4.5 billion in education funds opted to move most of the money into their general funds to balance budgets and avoid teacher layoffs.
The first evaluation of the California Injury and Illness Prevention Program found evidence that it reduces workplace injuries, but only at businesses that had been cited for not addressing the regulation's more-specific safety mandates. Higher penalties could enhance compliance but having inspectors conduct more in-depth assessments and linking the violations and injuries to the program would have more impact.
With the health care safety net in California under stress from the state's continuing financial crisis, jurisdictions across the state face unprecedented challenges caring for the health and social service needs of people released from state prisons.
Asbestos bankruptcy trusts—created to compensate people injured by the mineral—may be influencing tort cases. The current way that the trusts and the tort cases are linked together may result in payments that are not consistent with the basic principles of the tort liability system.
California school districts -- wielding new fiscal flexibility granted by state lawmakers -- cut deeply into several popular programs to balance local budgets, according to a study of 10 diverse districts released today.
A series of new reports by the RAND Corporation outlines the impact that national health care reform will have on individual states, estimating the increased costs and coverage that are expected in five diverse states once reform is fully implemented in 2016.
National health care reform will help 6 million California residents obtain health insurance and increase health care spending by state government by about 7 percent when it is fully implemented in 2016.
National health care reform will help 5 million Texas residents obtain health insurance and increase health care spending by state government by about 10 percent when it is fully implemented in 2016.
A proposal for the federal government to support state-run catastrophe-insurance programs would increase the number of people buying earthquake coverage in California and modestly lower both uninsured losses and government assistance following a major quake.
Law enforcement agencies in areas where terrorist threats are considered to be high have expanded their focus beyond traditional crime prevention and investigation to include counterterrorism and homeland security operations.
Legalizing marijuana in California will not dramatically reduce the drug revenues collected by Mexican drug trafficking organizations from sales to the United States.
Legalizing the production and distribution of marijuana in California could cut the price of the drug by as much as 80 percent and increase consumption.
Reducing the number of preventable patient injuries in California hospitals from 2001 to 2005 was associated with a corresponding drop in malpractice claims against physicians.
California's dirty air caused more than $193 million in hospital-based medical care from 2005 to 2007 as people sought help for problems such as asthma and pneumonia that are triggered by elevated pollution levels.
Restrictions on fast-food chain restaurants in South Los Angeles are not addressing the main differences between neighborhood food environments and are unlikely to improve the diet of residents or reduce obesity.
Inmates released from California prisons have a high need for drug treatment, health care and mental health services, but they face barriers to accessing such aid because many return to communities where health care services are severely strained.
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