Jeanne S. Ringel

The Equity-First Vaccination Initiative's Challenges and Successes

The Equity-First Vaccination Initiative invested $21 million in community-based organizations to reduce racial disparities in vaccination rollout and support strengthening public health systems in the United States over the longer term. The initiative demonstrated a path forward for funders to center equity in their approach to grantmaking.

Vaccinating All Kids for COVID-19 May Demand a Block-by-Block Effort

Community-based organizations know how to register voters and increase census participation. Reaching out block by block, even door to door, they can be just as effective in boosting vaccination rates.

Will the United States Declare Freedom from COVID-19 Too Soon?

RAND analyzed what could happen with COVID-19 deaths in the United States if restrictions all go away on July 4. Fully reopening the economy before Biden's vaccination target was met doubled the average number of COVID-19 deaths between Independence Day and the end of the year.

Modeling the Future of COVID-19: Q&A with RAND Experts

The phrase “flatten the curve” familiarized Americans with epidemiological models used to estimate virus transmission, cases, and potential deaths from COVID-19. But new models are needed as the country enters a different stage of the crisis.

Relaxing COVID-19 Restrictions Presents Stark Health and Economic Choices

RAND's new COVID-19 interventions impact tool uses epidemiological and economic models and continually refreshed data to estimate what could happen as restrictions are eased. The tool won't make the choices confronting state leaders less painful. But it can provide clear, evidence-based estimates of the health and economic trade-offs.

A New Tool to Assess the Costs and Effectiveness of Traffic Crash Interventions

Motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of death in the U.S. An online tool can help policymakers understand the available evidence-based interventions that can help prevent crash injuries and deaths, what they will cost, and how effective they will be in their state.

The Disneyland Measles Outbreak: 'Anti-Vaxxers' Aren't the Only Issue

The recent measles outbreak that began in Disneyland is the latest reminder that Americans have ceded ground in the fight against the potentially deadly disease. So-called 'anti-vaxxer' parents have received a lot of attention following the outbreak, but they may comprise less of the population than you think.

Germs Go Back to School, Too: Five Ways to Protect Your Kids

With kids working and playing in close contact and sharing supplies and equipment, schools can be hotbeds for infection. Each year, K-12 students miss about 60 million school days due to colds and the flu combined. But these five approaches can help reduce their chance of spreading infections and getting sick.

Six Takeaways from the Ebola Outbreak in West Africa

No amount of research can save those who've already perished from Ebola in West Africa, but our capacity to learn from such tragedies is a silver lining that has historically enhanced global resilience to disease. With that in mind, here are six key lessons from the outbreak.

Journal Article

Perspectives on Financing Strategies for Evidence-Based Treatment Implementation in Youth Mental Health Systems

This study collected quantitative and qualitative survey data on how youth mental health system decision-makers viewed financing strategies that support implementation and sustainment of evidence-based treatments.

Journal Article

The Equity-First Vaccination Initiative's Challenges And Successes

RAND collected, analyzed, and co-interpreted with other Equity-First Vaccination Initiative (EVI) partners both quantitative and qualitative data to promote equity in the COVID-19 response through vaccination.

Research Brief

Putting Equity First in COVID-19 Vaccination

The Equity-First Vaccination Initiative aimed to reduce racial disparities in COVID-19 vaccination rates in the United States. Five demonstration sites implemented hyperlocal, community-led strategies to increase vaccine confidence and access.

Report

The U.S. Equity-First Vaccination Initiative: Impacts and Lessons Learned

The authors detail impacts and lessons learned from the U.S. Equity First Vaccination Initiative, which aimed to increase COVID-19 vaccination access and confidence in communities of individuals who identify as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color.

Report

The U.S. Equity-First Vaccination Initiative: Early Insights

The Equity-First Vaccination Initiative aims to reduce racial/ethnic disparities in U.S. coronavirus vaccination rates. Five demonstration sites are using hyper-local, community-led strategies to increase vaccine confidence and access.

Journal Article

Coordination of Sustainable Financing for Evidence-Based Youth Mental Health Treatments: Protocol for Development and Evaluation of the Fiscal Mapping Process

This protocol describes a mixed-methods research project designed to (1) develop and (2) evaluate a novel Fiscal Mapping Process that guides strategic planning efforts to finance the sustainment of evidence-based treatments in youth mental health services.

Research Brief

Early Insights from the Equity-First Vaccination Initiative

The Equity-First Vaccination Initiative aims to reduce racial/ethnic disparities in COVID-19 vaccination rates in the United States. Five demonstration sites are using hyper-local, community-led strategies to increase vaccine confidence and access.

Journal Article

Reopening California: Seeking Robust, Non-Dominated COVID-19 Exit Strategies

This paper uses simulation models and the Robust Decision Making (RDM) approach to stress-test California's reopening strategy and other alternatives over a wide range of futures.

Journal Article

Value-Based Payment and Health Care System Preparedness and Resilience

This report explores issues related to VBP and health system preparedness and resiliency to inform discussions about policy options for jointly promoting value, efficiency, and preparedness in the health care system.

Tool

Vulnerability, Inequity, and COVID-19: A Portrait of the Pandemic in Allegheny County: Tracking Evolving Disparities in Testing, Cases, Hospitalizations, Deaths, and the Ability to Practice Physical Distancing

RAND researchers, the Black Equity Coalition, and Surgo Ventures created an interactive online tool to consider disparities and community vulnerability to COVID-19 in Allegheny County.

Journal Article

Translating Economic Evaluations Into Financing Strategies for Implementing Evidence-Based Practices

We use three case examples to illustrate the importance of implementation financing strategies, which secure and direct funds to support Evidence-Based Practices adoption and continued use.

Commentary

Reopening Under Uncertainty: Stress-Testing California's COVID-19 Exit Strategy

Researchers used the Robust Decision Making approach to stress-test California's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This Perspective presents lessons learned from these experiments and outlines four characteristics of the best reopening strategies.

Commentary

Messaging Strategies for Mitigating COVID-19 Through Vaccination and Nonpharmaceutical Interventions

This Perspective addresses matching the message, the audience, and the sender in encouraging people to get a COVID-19 vaccine and discusses how to deal with misinformation.

Tool

The Health and Economic Impacts of Nonpharmaceutical Interventions to Address COVID-19: A Decision Support Tool for State and Local Policymakers

There is an urgent need for an assessment of public health interventions to address coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and determine when to relax them. This document describes the COVID-19 Decision Support Tool, which is designed to fill that need.

Report

Options for Improving Timely Access to Care Reporting in California

The state of California has developed standards for monitoring timely access to health care, but health plans face challenges in collecting and reporting the information. This report documents these challenges and identifies potential solutions.

Research Brief

Federal Block Grants to States for Mental Health, Substance Abuse, and Homelessness: Potential Improvements to Funding Formulas

RAND researchers analyzed the formulas for distributing funds to states under three block grants for services related to mental health, substance abuse, and homelessness (unchanged since 1992) to determine whether they should be modified.

Report

Review and Evaluation of the Substance Abuse, Mental Health, and Homelessness Grant Formulas

RAND researchers analyzed the formulas for distributing funds to states under three block grants for services related to mental health, substance abuse, and homelessness (unchanged since 1992) to determine whether they should be modified.

Report

Updating the Costs of Compliance for California's Hospital Seismic Safety Standards

California Senate Bill 1953 requires structural and nonstructural upgrades to hospital buildings to enhance resilience to seismic events. This report estimates the costs to hospitals of compliance, with a focus on the 2030 deadline.

Tool

Costs and Effectiveness of Interventions to Reduce Motor Vehicle–Related Injuries and Deaths: Supplement to Tool Documentation

This report documents the update of an online tool to help assess costs and effectiveness of implementing up to 14 interventions and select those most effective in reducing death and injury from motor vehicle crashes for a given budget.

Tool

Motor Vehicle Prioritizing Interventions and Cost Calculator for States (MV PICCS)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's updated interactive Motor Vehicle Prioritizing Interventions and Cost Calculator for States can help state decisionmakers prioritize motor vehicle injury-prevention interventions.

Research Brief

Improving Children's Lives: Balancing Investments in Prevention and Treatment in the Child Welfare System

RAND researchers' model of the child welfare system shows that increasing prevention while also increasing treatment improves system experience and long-term outcomes while paying for itself by reducing lifetime child welfare system costs.

Report

Improving Child Welfare Outcomes: Balancing Investments in Prevention and Treatment

To analyze the effects of prevention and treatment programs on child welfare outcomes, RAND researchers modeled how different policy options would affect a child's pathway through the system, costs, and early adulthood outcomes.

Tool

Developing the Pardee RAND Food-Energy-Water Security Index: Toward a Global Standardized, Quantitative, and Transparent Resource Assessment

To provide information to agencies and efforts focused on food, water, and energy resources, the RAND Corporation developed the Pardee RAND Food-Energy-Water Security Index. This report serves as the technical documentation for the index.

Journal Article

The National Adult Immunization Plan: Strengthening Adult Immunization Through Coordinated Action

Addressing persistent structural and policy barriers to adult immunization will benefit all Americans.

Report

Resources and Capabilities of the Department of Veterans Affairs to Provide Timely and Accessible Care to Veterans

The Department of Veterans Affairs health care system, with broad resources and capabilities, provides timely and high-quality care to most, but not all, patients. Meeting veterans' needs over the next five years will require additional capacity.

Tool

Costs and Effectiveness of Interventions to Reduce Motor Vehicle–Related Injuries and Deaths: Project Report and Online-Tool Documentation

This report documents production of an online tool to help assess costs and effectiveness of implementing up to 14 interventions and select those most effective in reducing death and injury from motor vehicle crashes for a given budget.

Research Brief

How to Get the Biggest Impact from an Increase in Spending on Traffic Safety

According to analysis with a free new tool, allocating increased federal traffic safety funding by cost-effectiveness ratios rather than equally among states would save more than double the number of lives and prevent almost five times the injuries.

Research Brief

A New Tool to Help Decisionmakers Select Interventions to Reduce Traffic Crash Deaths and Injuries

This brief describes an interactive tool that can help statedecisionmakers choose policies that are effective in reducing motor vehicle accidents in their states and appropriate to state budgets, saving lives and reducing economic and societal loss.

Research Brief

Should Traffic Crash Interventions Be Selected Nationally or State by State?

According to analysis using a new, free tool, a national allocation of funds for traffic crash prevention might cost less than allocating according to state-by-state needs, but it might save significantly fewer lives and reduce far fewer injuries.

Report

Using Cost-Effectiveness Analysis to Prioritize Spending on Traffic Safety

This report examines how traffic safety funding could be spent to reduce motor vehicle crash-related injuries and deaths by identifying the most cost-effective interventions at the national and state levels.

Research Brief

Which Behavioral Interventions Are Most Cost-Effective in Reducing Drunk Driving?

Drunk driving is extremely dangerous, but not all drunk driving policies are equally cost-effective in all states. This brief describes a tool that can help decisionmakers choose policies that are appropriate for their states and state budgets.

Report

Small Ideas for Saving Big Health Care Dollars

A review of RAND research identified small ideas that could save the health care system $13 to $22 billion per year if successfully implemented. Ideas include changing payment policy for emergency transport and greater use of $4 generic drugs.

Report

Evaluation of the Council to Improve Foodborne Outbreak Response (CIFOR) Guidelines for Foodborne Disease Outbreak Response and Associated Toolkit

Assesses to what extent the Council to Improve Foodborne Outbreak Response's Guidelines and associated Toolkit are reaching their intended users and achieving their intended goals.

Journal Article

Nongovernmental Resources to Support Disaster Preparedness, Response, and Recovery

Although recent emergencies or disasters have underscored the vital role of nongovernmental (NGO) resources, they remain not well understood or leveraged.

Journal Article

Systematic Review of Strategies to Manage and Allocate Scarce Resources During Mass Casualty Events

We analyze published evidence on strategies to optimize the management and allocation of scarce resources across a wide range of mass casualty event contexts and study designs.

Journal Article

Understanding Disparities in Health Care Access - and Reducing Them - Through a Focus on Public Health

Approaching disparities through a public health framework can provide the foundation for developing more robust evidence to inform additional policies for improving access and reducing disparities.

Research Brief

The Public Health System a Decade After 9/11: Key Successes and Continuing Challenges

Despite substantial improvements in public health systems and preparedness since 9/11, significant challenges remain, and a cultural shift is needed to engage all sectors of society in emergency preparedness, response, and recovery.

Research Brief

Preventing Obesity and Its Consequences: Highlights of RAND Health Research

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.

Report

The Long Shadow of 9/11: America's Response to Terrorism

In a series of essays, this book addresses the question of how America has responded in the ten years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks and suggests options for more effectively dealing with the terrorist threat in the future.

Research Brief

What Is the Impact of Using Evidence-Based Treatments for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Depression in Veterans?

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.

Research Brief

How Will Health Care Reform Affect Costs and Coverage? Examples from Five States

Projects how the coverage-related provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will affect health insurance coverage and state government spending on health care in five states.

Report

The Impact of the Coverage-Related Provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on Insurance Coverage and State Health Care Expenditures in Illinois: An Analysis from RAND COMPARE

Projects how the coverage-related provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will affect health insurance coverage and state government spending on health care in Illinois through 2020.

Report

The Impact of the Coverage-Related Provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on Insurance Coverage and State Health Care Expenditures in Texas: An Analysis from RAND COMPARE

Projects how the coverage-related provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will affect health insurance coverage and state government spending on health care in Texas through 2020.

Report

The Impact of the Coverage-Related Provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on Insurance Coverage and State Health Care Expenditures in California: An Analysis from RAND COMPARE

Projects how the coverage-related provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will affect health insurance coverage and state government spending on health care in California through 2020.

Report

The Impact of the Coverage-Related Provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on Insurance Coverage and State Health Care Expenditures in Montana: An Analysis from RAND COMPARE

Projects how the coverage-related provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will affect health insurance coverage and state government spending on health care in Montana through 2020.

Report

The Impact of the Coverage-Related Provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on Insurance Coverage and State Health Care Expenditures in Connecticut: An Analysis from RAND COMPARE

Projects how the coverage-related provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will affect health insurance coverage and state government spending on health care in Connecticut through 2020.

Research Brief

Will Adoption of Electronic Health Records Improve Quality in U.S. Hospitals?

Shares findings on the potential effects of electronic health records (EHRs) on health care quality, based on analysis of extensive data from 2003 and 2006 on EHR adoption, hospital characteristics, and hospital quality in nearly 2,100 hospitals.

Journal Article

Invisible Wounds, Visible Savings? Using Microsimulation to Estimate the Costs and Savings Associated with Providing Evidence-Based Treatment for PTSD and Depression to Veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom

This study simulated the social costs and savings of providing universal access to care for depression and PTSD to troops returning from Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.

Journal Article

Electronic Health Record Adoption and Quality Improvement in US Hospitals

Existing quality measures may not capture the effect of electronic health records or hospital quality.

Research Brief

RAND COMPARE Analysis of President Obama's Proposal for Health Reform

Compares President Obama's Proposal for Health Reform, the U.S. House and Senate health care reform bills, and the status quo on changes in number of uninsured and government and national costs, as estimated by the RAND COMPARE microsimulation model.

Research Brief

Coverage, Spending, and Consumer Financial Risk: How Do the Recent House and Senate Health Care Bills Compare?

Compares how two health care reform bills, HR. 3962 and H.R. 3590, passed by the U.S. House and Senate, respectively, in late 2009 compare on a variety of projections made using the RAND COMPARE microsimulation model.

Research Brief

Analysis of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (H.R. 3590)

Using the COMPARE microsimulation model, estimates the effects of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (H.R. 3590) on the number of uninsured, the costs to the federal government and the nation, and consumers' health care spending.

Journal Article

Bias Associated with Failing to Incorporate Dependence on Event History in Markov Models

Failing to incorporate dependence on prior event history in subsequent relapse risk in Markov models can bias modeling results, overestimating the impact of prevention and treatment by up to 85% or underestimating the impact by up to 20%.

Research Brief

Analysis of the Affordable Health Care for America Act (H.R. 3962)

Using the COMPARE microsimulation model, estimates proposed health care reform legislation's effects on the number of uninsured, the costs to the federal government and the nation, revenues from penalty payments, and consumers' health care spending.

Journal Article

Modeling Health Care Policy Alternatives

Current modeling approaches could be improved by enhancing longitudinal data, improving access to linked data, and developing data focused on providers.

Journal Article

Off-premise Alcohol Sales Policies, Drinking, and Sexual Risk Among People Living with HIV

This study of national survey and state policy data found that restrictive alcohol sales policies may reduce drinking and transmission risk in HIV-positive populations.

Draft

Overview of the COMPARE Microsimulation Model

To enhance the assessment of proposals to reform U.S. health policy, RAND researchers created the COMPARE microsimulation model, which develops a synthetic U.S. population and projects how it would respond to a variety of coverage-oriented options.

Report

Create or Expand Access to Purchasing Pools

This document explores how creating or expanding access to purchasing pools would affect health system performance along nine dimensions.

Report

Improving the Impact and Effectiveness of the National Vaccine Advisory Committee

Identifies the reasons the National Vaccine Advisory Committee has not had a greater impact on vaccine and immunization policy and practice, and suggests strategies to improve the committee's effectiveness.

Tool

Enhancing Public Health Emergency Preparedness for Special Needs Populations: A Toolkit for State and Local Planning and Response

Presents a toolkit and a Web-based Geographic Information Systems tool meant to help state and local public health agencies improve their emergency preparedness activities for special needs populations.

Research Brief

Risk Communication in the Early Stages of the H1N1 (Swine Flu) Alert: How Effective Were State and Local Public Health Departments?

Presents an assessment of how effectively state and local health departments communicated information regarding the April 2009 H1N1 virus (swine flu) outbreak via the Web to their constituents.

Journal Article

How Well Did Health Departments Communicate About Risk at the Start of the Swine Flu Epidemic in 2009?

On Sunday, 26 April 2009, the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services declared a public health emergency in response to the outbreak of H1N1 influenza (known as swine flu) in the United States. Through an analysis of state and local health department Web sites, we determined whether departments were able to provide online information to their constituents within twenty-four hours of the declaration. The overwhelming majority of state health departments, and more than half of health departments participating in the Cities Readiness Initiative--but only a quarter of smaller, local health departments--were successful in doing so.

Journal Article

Public Health Preparedness for Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Weapons

Review of what scientists and scholars know about WMD terrorism and America's options for confronting it.

Report

Public Health Preparedness for Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Weapons

Presents a broad overview of the U.S. public health response system, recent efforts to improve preparedness, challenges faced, and options for moving forward.

Journal Article

Understanding the Current Population Survey's Insurance Estimates and the Medicaid 'Undercount'

The widely cited Census Bureau estimates of the number of uninsured people, based on the Current Population Survey, probably overstate the number of uninsured people.

Journal Article

Will Routine Annual Influenza Prevention and Control Systems Serve the United States Well in a Pandemic?

Assesses the extent to which the systems in place for prevention and control of routine annual influenza could provide the information and experience needed to manage a pandemic

Report

PREPARE for Pandemic Influenza: A Quality Improvement Toolkit

A toolkit intended to help state and local health departments of all sizes incorporate quality improvement methods and promising strategies in six key domains into their current emergency preparedness activities.

Research Brief

Invisible Wounds: Mental Health and Cognitive Care Needs of America's Returning Veterans

This research brief summarizes a comprehensive RAND study of the mental health and cognitive needs of returning servicemembers and veterans of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.

Report

Invisible Wounds of War: Summary and Recommendations for Addressing Psychological and Cognitive Injuries

Summarizes key findings and recommendations from Invisible Wounds of War: Psychological and Cognitive Injuries, Their Consequences, and Services to Assist Recovery (Tanielian and Jaycox [Eds.], MG-720-CCF, 2008).

Report

Invisible Wounds of War: Psychological and Cognitive Injuries, Their Consequences, and Services to Assist Recovery

A comprehensive study of the post-deployment health-related needs associated with post-traumatic stress disorder, major depression, and traumatic brain injury among servicemembers returning from Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.

Journal Article

The Incremental Inpatient Costs Associated with Marijuana Comorbidity

In this paper the authors examine the incremental cost of marijuana comorbidity for alcohol, mood and thought diagnoses in hospital settings.

Journal Article

The Relationships Between States' DUI Penalties and HIV-positive Adults' Drinking Behaviors

Punitive DUI policies (e.g., jail time, license suspension) might curb many drinking behaviors among HIV-positive adults, while harm reduction policies (e.g., court treatment programs) might have been established in response to higher drinking rates.

Draft

Lessons Learned from the State and Local Public Health Response to Hurricane Katrina

Collects and synthesizes the public health lessons learned from the response to Hurricane Katrina so that public health agencies can learn from the experience and improve their preparedness.

Research Brief

Obesity and Disability: The Shape of Things to Come

This research brief summarizes studies that found that individuals who are obese face greater challenges in terms of disability and chronic disease than do their non-obese counterparts.

Journal Article

High School Drug Use Predicts Job-Related Outcomes at Age 29

Examines the relationship between hard drug use in high school and occupational and job quality outcomes measured at approximately age 29.

Report

Alcohol and Environmental Justice: The Density of Liquor Stores and Bars in Urban Neighborhoods in the United States

Characterizes the density of liquor stores and bars that individuals face according to race, economic status, and age in the urban United States and finds mismatches between alcohol demand and the supply of liquor stores.

Report

Public Health Preparedness: Integrating Public Health and Hospital Preparedness Programs

Examines different models for coordination that have been employed by local health departments and general acute-care hospitals to improve public health preparedness.

Journal Article

The Relationship Between High School Marijuana Use and Annual Earnings Among Young Adult Males

This article uses a unique panel data set to examine the relationship between high school marijuana use and annual earnings at age 29.

Journal Article

Time Trends and Demographic Differences in Youth Exposure to Alcohol Advertising on Television

To examine trends in youth exposure to alcohol advertising on television across different demographic groups.

Research Brief

Analyzing — and Influencing — How the VA Allocates Its Health Care Dollars

In 2000, the Veterans Health Administration (VA) asked the RAND Corporation to conduct a study to assess whether the Veterans Equitable Resource Allocation (VERA) was shortchanging some areas of the country and some veterans with special health care needs.

Draft

Today or Last Year? How Do Interviewees Answer the CPS Health Insurance Questions?

Today or Last Year? How Do Interviewees Answer the CPS Health Insurance Questions?

Draft

Under-Reporting of Medicaid and Welfare in the Current Population Survey

Journal Article

Effects of Public Policy on Adolescents' Cigar Use: Evidence from the National Youth Tobacco Survey

Raising excise taxes on cigars could reduce cigar use prevalence among youths.

Report

Effects of Public Policy on Adolescents' Cigar Use: Evidence From the National Youth Tobacco Survey

Investigates the effect of prices and regulation on the demand for cigars among youth.

Draft

Does Marijuana Use Impair Human Capital Formation?

In this paper we examine the relationship between marijuana use and human capital formation by examining performance on standardized tests among a nationally representative sample of youths from the National Education Longitudinal Survey.

Report

Career Paths of School Administrators in Illinois: Insights from an Analysis of State Data

A further exploration of school administrators and the issue of their shortage and their importance to student learning outcomes, this report adds to the current understanding of school administrators' careers.

Journal Article

Moderate and Severe Obesity Have Large Differences in Health Care Costs

Obesity imposes a burden on the health care system, and that burden grows disproportionately large for the most obese segment of the U.S. population.

Report

Understanding Potential Changes to the Veterans Equitable Resource Allocation (VERA) System: A Regression-Based Approach

This analysis determines how particular patient and facility characteristics influence Veterans Equitable Resource Allocation (VERA) system allocations to the Department of Veterans Affairs regional service networks and simplifies and refines the models created in earlier RAND research to reflect policy changes and more recent data.

Journal Article

Increasing Obesity Rates and Disability Trends: If It Continues at Its Current Rate, Rising Obesity Could Wipe Out Recent Improvements in Disability Among Older Americans

Unhealthy body weight has increased dramatically, but other data show that disability rates have declined.

Report

Who is Leading our Schools? An Overview of School Administrators and Their Careers

Presents what is known about attracting and retaining school administrators, including the factors that influence people's decisions to pursue an administrative career, and concludes that there is no national shortage of qualified people for school administrative positions.

Report

An Analysis of Potential Adjustments to the Veterans Equitable Resource Allocation (VERA) System

This analysis provides a tool that Veterans Administration policymakers can use for making resource allocation decisions for the Veterans Equitable Resource Allocation System (VERA) and that can also be used for a wide range of simulations as well as for

Journal Article

The Relationship Between Cigarette Use and Other Tobacco Products: Results from the 2000 National Youth Tobacco Survey

This report, based on 2000 National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) data, presents prevalence estimates for current use of smokeless tobacco, cigars, bidis, kreteks, and pipes among youth in the United States.

Research Brief

Are Schools Facing a Shortage of Qualified Administrators?

This research brief describes work documented in Who Is Leading Our Schools? An Overview of School Administrators and Their Careers (MR-1679-EDU).

Journal Article

Does Marijuana Use Impair Human Capital Formation?

Marijuana use remains statistically associated with a 15% reduction in performance on standardized math tests.

Journal Article

Geographic Disparities in Children's Mental Health Care

It is widely believed that only a minority of vulnerable children and adolescents receive any mental health services.

Journal Article

The Role of Managed Care and Financing in Medical Practices: How Does Psychiatry Differ from Other Medical Fields?

The organization and financing of medical practice has experienced substantial changes during the past decade.

Report

The Elasticity of Demand for Health Care: A Review of the Literature and Its Application to the Military Health System

This report reviews the economic literature on the elasticity of demand for health care to provide a framework for understanding the effects of changes in the Military Health System benefit structure on the demand for healthcare services paid for by the DoD.

Report

Countywide Evaluation of the Long-Term Family Self-Sufficiency Plan: Countywide Evaluation Report

This document summarizes the quantitative and qualitative findings from three previous RAND reports on Los Angeles County's Long-Term Self-Sufficiency Plan.

Report

Countywide Evaluation of the Long-Term Family Self-Sufficiency Plan: Establishing the Baselines

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors' Long-Term Family Self-Sufficiency Plan (LTFSS) is given baseline trends for five indicators — low birth weight births, domestic violence arrests, annual income under poverty level, personal behaviors ...

Journal Article

Variations in Mental Health Specialty Care Across Metropolitan Areas

Investigates how area of residence affects use of health care services.

Report

An Analysis of the Veterans Equitable Resource Allocation (VERA) System

A study of the Veterans Equitable Resource Allocation (VERA) System and how allocations are affected by a number of factors, including infrastructure age, extreme weather conditions, and participation in medical education.

Journal Article

Cigarette Taxes and Smoking During Pregnancy

This study sought to estimate how changes in state cigarette excise taxes affect the smoking behavior of pregnant women.

Journal Article

Financial Burden and Out-Of-pocket Expenditures for Mental Health Across Different Socioeconomic Groups: Results from Health Care for Communities

Report

Financial Burden and Out-of-Pocket Expenditures for Mental Health across Different Socioeconomic Groups: Results from HealthCare for Communities

Examines differences in out-of-pocket expenditures for mental health services and their burden across different populations.

Research Brief

Mental Health Care for Youth: Who Gets It? How Much Does It Cost? Who Pays? Where Does the Money Go?

A team of RAND researchers has assembled a current national picture of mental health costs and utilization for children ages 1-17.

Journal Article

National Estimates of Mental Health Utilization and Expenditures for Children in 1998

No recent data on expenditures and utilization are available to provide a benchmark for reform of mental health systems for children and adolescents.

Journal Article

Psychotropic Medication Costs Among Youth with Private Insurance in 1998

Recent studies have documented a substantial increase in the use of psychotropic medications by children and adolescents.

Report

Drug Offenders and the Criminal Justice System: Will Proposition 36 Treat or Create Problems?

Drug Offenders and the Criminal Justice System: Will Proposition 36 Treat or Create Problems?