Mary E. Vaiana

Senior Communications Analyst

Santa Monica Office

Education

Ph.D. in English linguistics, Indiana University

One Page Bio

Overview

Mary Vaiana is a senior research communications analyst at the RAND Corporation. She helps to design and implement dissemination strategies for key research projects. Recent examples include structural and editorial input for Opioids Uncharted (a comprehensive policy review volume); editing multiple papers and presentations and authoring a series of synthesis pieces for the Center of Excellence on Health System Performance (highlighting what this AHRQ-funded five year grant learned about topics ranging from safety net hospitals and HIT to health system performance and vertical integration); and leading all communications efforts for a seven-year project examining multiple dimensions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. She designs derivative materials such as policy briefs, fact sheets, and special web features that synthesize and highlight research findings in non-technical language, and develops presentations for audiences ranging from practitioners and clinical health services researchers to private and public sector decisionmakers, Congress, and the media. Vaiana earned her Ph.D. in English linguistics from Indiana University.

Commentary

Patient Experience

Creating More Savvy Consumers Through Public Reporting
Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) surveys are designed to capture patients' experiences in a systematic way that facilitates reporting the results publicly to help other consumers make more savvy care decisions. Consumer choices may influence providers to improve the care they offer so that they can effectively compete in the market.
Dec 27, 2012
Military Personnel

Gays in the Military: New Facts Conquer Old Taboos
RAND's updated research on sexual orientation and U.S. military personnel policy played a role in the likely repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell.' But it also tells a story of how public opinion has shifted on the issue since we first studied it in 1993.
Apr 29, 2011

Publications

Report
America's Opioid Ecosystem: How Leveraging System Interactions Can Help Curb Addiction, Overdose, and Other Harms
Patterns and consequences of opioid use are changing dramatically. Researchers provide a nuanced assessment of America's opioid ecosystem, highlighting how leveraging system interactions can reduce addiction, overdose, suffering, and other harms.
Mar 16, 2023
Visualization
The Ecosystem Approach to Opioid Policy
RAND researchers created a tool to help federal, state, and local policymakers better understand issues surrounding opioids as an ecosystem—and explore innovative policy ideas.
Mar 16, 2023
Report
Barriers to Price and Quality Transparency in Health Care Markets
RAND researchers gathered information on how health care prices are set, price variation in health care markets, barriers to price and quality transparency for consumers, and the extent to which price and quality information is used in marketing.
Apr 19, 2021
Report
Alternatives in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
RAND researchers used a novel focus group approach to assess which, if any, of five possible alternative futures in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would be supported by Israelis and Palestinians.
Feb 10, 2021
Journal Article
The Importance of Understanding and Measuring Health System Structural, Functional, and Clinical Integration
We explore if there are ways to characterize health systems-not already revealed by secondary data-that could provide new insights into differences in health system performance.
Dec 10, 2020
Report
Consolidation by Any Other Name: The Emergence of Clinically Integrated Networks
In this report, the authors offer an initial assessment of clinically integrated networks (CINs), describe how health systems are using CINs strategically to compete in crowded health care markets, and identify why CINs require further study.
Aug 3, 2020
Journal Article
What Are the Determinants of Health System Performance? Findings from the Literature and a Technical Expert Panel
This study is part of an ongoing effort to discover how and why some health systems in the United States are high performing and others are not.
Feb 1, 2020
Journal Article
Understanding U.S. Health Systems: Using Mixed Methods to Unpack Organizational Complexity
Researchers need qualitative data to understand how health systems actually work and influence clinical practice.
Nov 26, 2019
Journal Article
Are Value-Based Incentives Driving Behavior Change to Improve Value?
Early indications suggest that value-based incentives are leading to changes; however, incentives remain small, potentially limiting their effectiveness in driving the significant changes needed to derive large improvements in performance.
Feb 5, 2019
Journal Article
Evidence-Based Best Practices for Outpatient Management of Warfarin
Three recommendations to improve warfarin management at outpatient clinics are: measure your own performance, have a working registry, try to emulate the aspects of structure of care associated with higher time in therapeutic range (TTR).
Aug 22, 2018
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.
Dec 31, 2015
Report
The Costs of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Executive Summary: (Arabic translation)
An Arabic translation of a study‘s executive summary estimating the net costs and benefits if the long-standing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians follows its current trajectory over the next ten years, relative to five other trajectories.
Nov 23, 2015
Report
The Costs of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Executive Summary: (Hebrew translation)
A Hebrew translation of an executive summary of a study estimating the net costs and benefits if the long-standing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians follows its current trajectory over the next ten years, relative to five other trajectories.
Nov 23, 2015
Report
The Costs of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
This study estimates the net costs and benefits if the long-standing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians follows its current trajectory over the next ten years, relative to five other possible trajectories that the conflict could take.
Sep 8, 2015
Report
The Costs of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Executive Summary
This executive summary shares findings from a study that estimates the net costs and benefits if the long-standing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians follows its current trajectory over the next ten years, relative to five other trajectories.
Jun 18, 2015
Tool
Costs of the Conflict Calculator
The RAND Costs of Conflict study estimates the net costs and benefits of five alternative trajectories -- a two-state solution, coordinated unilateral withdrawal, uncoordinated unilateral withdrawal, nonviolent resistance, and violent uprising.
Jun 8, 2015
Journal Article
Using the Knowledge Base of Health Services Research to Redefine Health Care Systems
This Perspective discusses 12 key facts derived from 50 years of health services research.
Apr 22, 2015
Research Brief
Healing Medical Product Innovation
Identifies promising policy options to spur the creation of new medical technologies that will reduce total U.S. health care spending or will provide health benefits that justify any increase in spending.
Apr 22, 2014
Report
Redirecting Innovation in U.S. Health Care: Options to Decrease Spending and Increase Value
This report identifies promising policy options to spur the creation of new medical technologies that will reduce total U.S. health care spending or will provide health benefits that justify any increase in spending.
Mar 31, 2014
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.
Jan 30, 2014
Journal Article
Making Health Care Safer II: An Updated Critical Analysis of the Evidence for Patient Safety Practices
The goal of this project was to conduct a systematic literature review evaluating the evidence for a large number of patient safety practices.
Mar 1, 2013
Journal Article
Making Health Care Safer II: An Updated Critical Analysis of the Evidence for Patient Safety Practices : Executive Summary
The authors review patient safety practices for evidence of effectiveness, implementation, and adoption.
Mar 1, 2013
Research Brief
Flattening the Trajectory of Health Care Spending: Facilitate High-Value Innovation
Health information technology has not achieved its full potential, but its benefits should grow over time. Because health care is largely regulated at the state level, the states can play a valuable role as laboratories for innovative policies.
Nov 15, 2012
Research Brief
Flattening the Trajectory of Health Care Spending: Foster Efficient and Accountable Providers
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.
Nov 15, 2012
Research Brief
Flattening the Trajectory of Health Care Spending: Engage and Empower Consumers
Cost-sharing leads consumers to reduce both highly beneficial and less beneficial care, so they must be empowered with useful information to make informed decisions. Public cost and quality reports must be accurate, accessible, and understandable.
Nov 15, 2012
Research Brief
Flattening the Trajectory of Health Care Spending: Insights from RAND Health Research
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.
Nov 15, 2012
Research Brief
Flattening the Trajectory of Health Care Spending: Promote Population Health
Reversing the rising tide of obesity and further reducing rates of tobacco use could produce substantial long-term dividends in terms of lives saved and disabling illnesses prevented. Communities, employers, and parents all have important roles.
Nov 15, 2012
Periodical
RAND Review: Vol. 35, No. 1, Spring 2011
Stories discuss gays in the military, police recruitment, home health care, breast cancer, health insurance exchanges, alternative fuels, refinery taxes, alcohol prices, outer space debris, mental illness, diplomatic trends, and health care costs.
Apr 29, 2011
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.
Feb 9, 2011
Periodical
RAND Review: Vol. 34, No. 3, Winter 2010-2011
Stories discuss Haitian recovery, transportation finance, teacher accountability, childhood psychological problems, aging Americans, military savings, U.S. space systems, Middle East peace, the Wallace Foundation, and Politics Aside 2010.
Jan 6, 2011
Journal Article
Improving Childhood Asthma Outcomes in the United States: A Blueprint for Policy Action
Asthma is increasingly being recognized as an important public health concern for children in the United States. The objective of this project was to create a blueprint for improvement of national policy in this area.
2011
Report
Medicare Facts and Figures Chartbook
Provides a factual framework to help consumer advocates, health care providers, and policymakers better understand California's Medicare population and inform their efforts to design programs and policies that meet beneficiaries' needs.
May 3, 2010
Periodical
RAND Review: Vol. 33, No. 2, Summer 2009
A section on U.S. health care reform accompanies features on piracy, education priorities, emerging technologies, and Arkansas antismoking programs; other stories discuss climate change, parolees, oil risks, Mexican security, and global drug policies.
Aug 17, 2009
Brochure
The RAND Palestine Initiative - Arabic Translation
A description of the Arc, RAND's proposal for a sweeping infrastructure corridor linking urban centers, within and between the West Bank and Gaza.
May 19, 2009
Brochure
The RAND Palestine Initiative - Hebrew Translation
A description of the Arc, RAND's proposal for a sweeping infrastructure corridor linking urban centers, within and between the West Bank and Gaza.
May 19, 2009
Brochure
The RAND Palestine Initiative
A description of the Arc, RAND's proposal for a sweeping infrastructure corridor linking urban centers, within and between the West Bank and Gaza.
May 7, 2009
Draft
Educating Military Personnel and Their Families About Post-Deployment Stress
Reviews the available (as of June 2007) information resources for military personnel and their families on post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and traumatic brain injury and describes the creation of new educational booklets on these topics.
Jun 9, 2008
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.
Apr 8, 2008
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).
Mar 30, 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.
Mar 26, 2008
Journal Article
The Teen Photovoice Project: A Pilot Study to Promote Health Through Advocacy
How youth perceive health issues and how they can become advocates for health promotion in their communities.
2007
Journal Article
Medicare Facts and Figures: A California Perspective
This graphic overview of Medicare in California covers demographics, health status, insurance coverage, quality of care, utilization, and spending.
2006
Journal Article
An Update on Adolescent Drug Use: What School Counselors Need to Know
School counselors need to have accurate and age-appropriate prevention education information in order to counsel teens on drug use.
2006
Report
Are L.A.’s Children Ready for School?
Because school readiness is important for children, for their families, and for society at large, this book focuses on how the home literacy environment, parenting behavior, and social characteristics are associated with two aspects of school readiness.
Aug 15, 2004
Journal Article
Health Insurance: Should California Regulate Health Insurance Premiums?
California Senate Bill 26 (SB 26) was introduced in 2003 to curtail insurance premium growth.
2004
Periodical
RAND Review: Vol. 28, No. 3, Fall 2004
Proposes ways to transform the U.S. military's personnel and compensation systems; also examines the influence of family socioeconomic background on student educational achievement and lessons of the Green Revolution for the "Gene Revolution."
2004
Report
Reporting About Health Care Quality: A Guide to the Galaxy
A review of research on the reporting of health care quality information and related fields in applied social and cognitive science led to identification of seven basic principles that should be followed when planning to report health care quality information to consumers or other audiences.
2004
Journal Article
The Role of Schools in Meeting Community Needs During Bioterrorism
Schools will likely play a critical role in helping communities recover from a bioterrorist attack.
2003
Report
In Our Backyard: How 3 L.A. Neighborhoods Affect Kids' Lives
In Our Backyard: How 3 L.A. Neighborhoods Affect Kids' Lives
2002
Research Brief
How to Improve Childhood Asthma Outcomes: A Blueprint for Policy Action
This research brief describes work documented in MR-1330-RWJ and MR-1330/1-RWJ.
2002
Report
Improving Childhood Asthma Outcomes in the United States: A Blueprint for Policy Action
Improving Childhood Asthma Outcomes in the United States: A Blueprint for Policy Action
2002
Report
What Cognitive Science tells us About the Design of Reports for Consumers
What Cognitive Science tells us About the Design of Reports for Consumers
2002
Report
Improving Childhood Asthma Outcomes in the United States: A Blueprint for Policy Action
A set of policy recommendations to promote the development and maintenance of communities in which children with asthma can be swiftly diagnosed, effectively treated, and protected from exposure to harmful environmental factors.
2001
Report
Putting Practice Guidelines to Work in the Department of Defense Medical System: A Guide for Action
The DoD and the VA have placed a priority on the standardization of care in the military and VA health systems to achieve greater consistency, quality, and cost-effectiveness in the delivery of health care services.
2001
Report
Just, Speedy, and Inexpensive? : An Evaluation of Judicial Case Management Under the Civil Justice Reform Act: A Summary
The Judicial Conference and the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts asked the RAND Institute for Civil Justice to evaluate the implementation of the Civil Justice Reform Act in ten pilot districts.
Jan 1, 2000
Report
Discovery Management: Further Analysis of the Civil Justice Reform Act Evaluation Data
The Advisory Committee on Civil Rules of the Judicial Conference of the United States asked RAND to conduct further analyses of the CJRA evaluation data to see if additional light could be shed on discovery management.
1998
Research Brief
Compensating Permanent Workplace Injuries: A Study of the California System
Conducted an evaluation of the California system that comprises both a qualitative portrait of the system's effectiveness and a ground-breaking wage-loss study that sheds new, empirical light on the experiences of injured workers, ...
1998
Report
Findings and Recommendations on California's Permanent Partial Disability System: Executive Summary
This is the executive summary of a comprehensive report that evaluates the workers' compensation system by examining its efficiency and the adequacy and equity of its benefits, and suggests system reforms.
1997
Report
Just, Speedy, and Inexpensive? : An Evaluation of Judicial Case Management Under the Civil Justice Reform Act
This executive summary provides an overview of the purpose of the CJRA (Civil Justice Reform Act of 1990), the basic design of the evaluation, the key findings, and their policy implications.
1996
Report
California’s Ozone Reduction Strategy for Light-Duty Vehicles: An Economic Assessment
This report is a summary of MR-695, California's Ozone-Reduction Strategy for Light-Duty Vehicles: Direct Costs, Direct Emission Effects, and Market Responses.
1996
Report
An Evaluation of Judicial Case Management Under the Civil Justice Reform Act
The report describes the effects of the Civil Justice Reform Act of 1990 (CJRA) case management principles on time to disposition, costs, and participants' satisfaction and views of fairness.
Jan 1, 1996
Report
An Evaluation of Mediation and Early Neutral Evaluation Under the Civil Justice Reform Act
The report describes an assessment of the effects of six different alternative dispute resolution (ADR) programs that included mediation and early neutral evaluation.
Jan 1, 1996
Research Brief
How Big Is the Price Tag for Excess Auto Injury Claims?
This research brief describes RAND’s examination of the pattern and costs of excess automobile medical claims across the United States. The authors found that about one-third of claims submitted to insurers appear to be excess.
1996
Report
Implementation of the Civil Justice Reform Act in Pilot and Comparison Districts
The report traces the stages in the Civil Justice Reform Act of 1990 (CJRA) implementation: the recommendations of the advisory groups, the plans adopted by the districts, and the plans actually implemented.
Jan 1, 1996
Research Brief
Just, Speedy, and Inexpensive? An Evaluation of Judicial Case Management Under the CJRA
Examined the effects of the CJRA's (Civil Justice Reform Ac) case management principles on time to disposition, costs, and participants' satisfaction and views of fairness.
1996
Draft
Making ZEV Policy Despite Uncertainty: An Annotated Briefing for the California Air Resources Board
An analysis of the existing estimates of the cost and effectiveness of California's zero emission vehicle mandate.
1996
Report
The Costs of Excess Medical Claims for Automobile Personal Injuries
This study analyzes the pattern of excess medical claiming across the states to estimate how much excess medical claiming exists and how much it costs consumers.
1995
Draft
Liability System Incentives to Consume Excess Medical Care
However, there has been no empirical evidence about how excessive claims, in the aggregate, affect the costs of the health care system, or to what extent such claims impose other costs on society, such as claims-handling, legal and other...
1995
Report
Urban America: Policy Choices for Los Angeles and the Nation
This report attempts to provide answers in a series of essays on four general areas of urban problems: inner city; children, youth and families; crime and criminal justice; and public services and social welfare.
1992
Research Brief
Accidental Injury Compensation in the United States
This research brief summarizes the results of a study of accidental injury costs compensation, focusing on the tort liability system.
1991
Report
Compensation for Accidental Injuries: Research Design and Methods
This Note describes the overall design and research procedures of the injury compensation study, whose results are fully documented in R-3999-HHS/ICJ.
1991
Report
Compensation for Accidental Injuries in the United States
One in every six Americans sustains an injury in an accident that results in measurable economic loss, and about one-third of those victims suffer a moderate to very severe injury that imposes significant costs on them and on society.
1991
Report
Compensation for Accidental Injuries in the United States: Executive Summary
The Institute for Civil Justice has developed a program of research on the design and performance of alternative compensation systems and the role played by the tort liability system in the network of programs.
1991
Journal Article
Appropriateness of Care
1989
Report
Recent Contributions of Information Sciences Research at RAND to Modeling- and Simulation-Based Policy Analysis
RAND's current research agenda involves not only the development of new information sciences tools and techniques but also applications of those tools to current policy analysis issues.
Jan 1, 1987
Report
Trends in Tort Litigation: The Story Behind the Statistics
The research suggests that discrepancies among the statistics on tort litigation can be explained by the fact that there is no longer, if there ever was, a single tort system.
Jan 1, 1987
Report
Cost and Schedule Implications of Multinational Coproduction
This paper examines the cost, schedule, and program management implications of multinational coproduction--international collaboration during weapon system production.
1984
Report
CLARIFY:™ : An On-Line Guide for Revising Technical Prose
This Note describes the development and testing of CLARIFY, a computerized writing aid designed to assist writers in revising technical prose.
1983
Report
Policy Analysis of Water Management for the Netherlands: Vol. I, Summary Report
Summarizes the PAWN project, documented in RAND Notes N-1500/2 to N-1500/20, which designed alternative water management policies for the Netherlands and assessed their consequences.
1983
Report
Time-of-Day Electricity Rates for the United States
The authors' major policy recommendations for electricity pricing. The detailed analyses on which these findings are based are contained in some 48 separate studies.
1983
Report
Demographic Challenges in America's Future
From an examination of post-World War II events, this report distills a specific scenario of how demographic and economic phenomena may evolve over the next several decades.
1982
Report
The Urban Impacts of Federal Policies: Vol. 1, Overview
Summarizes the findings of a RAND study of the intended and unintended urban effects of federal policies.
1980