Health Care Facilities

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Infrastructure Investment for Veterans

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs provides health care to over 9 million veterans through its network of medical facilities. Improved infrastructure could help attract veterans to care, boost provider morale, and ensure high-quality care.

Carrie M. Farmer @carriefarmer, Rajeev Ramchand @RRamchand

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Who Gets Care When Hospitals Are Overwhelmed? Clear Policies Are Often Lacking

As COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations surge to new highs, states, health systems, and the public continue to need clarity on health care resource allocation policy. A RAND checklist provides clear and consistent criteria for structuring such difficult decisions.

Lori Frank @LoriBethFrank, Thomas W. Concannon @tconcannon

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How Hospitals Could Step in to Help Manage GP Practices

The supply of doctors in primary care, known as 'GPs' in the UK, is falling behind a growing demand for their services, as GPs leave general practice in large numbers. One way to help struggling GP practices could be vertical integration—combining health care organizations operating at different stages along the patient pathway.

Manbinder Sidhu, Jon Sussex

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COVID Could Surge Anywhere. This Tool Helps Hospitals Prepare

The number of new coronavirus cases is growing in most states. As the pandemic continues to strain U.S. health care systems, a tool developed by RAND researchers can help hospitals prepare for the worst.

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Implement Critical Care Surge Strategies Now to Save Lives

As COVID-19 continues to spread, hospitals are bracing for a surge of patients requiring critical care. To meet the demand, U.S. health care facilities may need to fundamentally change the way they allocate space, staff, and equipment.

Mahshid Abir, Kaitlyn Entel, et al.

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Should You Consider Taking a Loved One Out of a Long-Term Care Facility Now?

As modern living is changing during this pandemic, so is assisted living. Already, many of us are facing difficult decisions about whether someone we know should stay in an assisted living facility or be taken out due to the coronavirus crisis. If you're in the position to bring someone to hunker down with you, is it even a good idea?

Lori Frank @LoriBethFrank, Sharon Inouye, et al.

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Hospital Prices, Border Solutions, Sri Lanka: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on hospital prices, common-sense solutions to the border crisis, myths about the Sri Lanka attacks, and more.

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Cryptocurrency, Russian Social Media, Congestion Pricing: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on cryptocurrencies, Russian social media influence, congestion pricing, and more.

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On Nurse Staffing Ballot Measure, Massachusetts Voters Should Look to Evidence from California

Massachusetts residents will soon vote on the Patient Safety Act, a mandate to increase nurse-to-patient ratios in acute care facilities. Evaluating existing data on the impact of a similar nurse staffing law implemented in California in 2004 may help inform voters as they head to the polls.

Mahshid Abir, Jason E. Goldstick, et al.

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Personalized Hospital Ratings: Transparency for the Internet Age

Each annual release of hospital ratings captivates journalists, hospital leaders, and health care consumers in the United States. These ratings aggregate many measures into a single score for each hospital. But why should the opinions of report creators hold sway, if the intent is to inform patient choice? Why not ask patients instead?

Juliet Rumball-Smith, Jill Gurvey, et al.

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Community Hospitals: A Traditional Solution to Help Today's NHS?

Community hospitals could be better integrated into the current healthcare system in England and can play an important role in the middle of the patient journey between home and hospital. If done correctly, community hospitals could be a traditional solution to help address some of the modern day challenges of the NHS.

Emma Pitchforth, Edwin van Teijlingen, et al.

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Moving Outpatient Care into the Community

A prominent feature of NHS England policy, “moving care into the community” means that care traditionally provided in hospitals is moved into primary care, such as general practice. This can benefit patients, but it is also important to look at the costs.

Celine Miani, Eleanor Winpenny

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Can Hospital Services Work in Primary Care Settings?

Shifting health care from hospitals to the community will only be justified if patient satisfaction and convenience is valued above costs to the NHS, or if this shift reduces health care costs in the long term.

Celine Miani, Eleanor Winpenny

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Ransomware Hackers Are Coming for Your Health Records

Cyber criminals may be preying on hospitals because cyber protection measures likely have not kept pace with electronic data collection and because hospitals typically do not have backup systems and databases in place, even though such attacks can strain health care systems and potentially put patients' lives at risk.

Lillian Ablon, Mark W. Friedberg

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Electronic Health Records: Yesterday's Ebola and Today's Zika

Electronic health records in U.S. hospitals are not yet prompting for screening questions related to Zika virus. Why? The existing system is too slow to respond and when it does, it finds itself chasing the past.

Shira H. Fischer @ShiraFischer