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Health Care Services Capacity

commentary

Community Colleges Need Guidance and Money to Meet Today's Mental Health Challenge
Higher education institutions play a key role in supporting the mental health of college students. But community colleges face significant resource constraints. With little guidance on how to adapt solutions originally developed for universities with more money and infrastructure, community colleges are struggling to find answers.
Mar 15, 2024

commentary

Preparing for the Potential Rollout of New Alzheimer's Drugs: Towards a Policy, Research, and Innovation Agenda
Several promising new drugs appear to slow cognitive decline in individuals with early-stage Alzheimer's disease. A number of challenges need to be addressed to ensure their successful rollout, but there are also opportunities for health innovation.
Jan 30, 2024
commentary

Lost Opportunities to Contain COVID-19 in China
Three years after the SARS-COV-2 virus emerged in Wuhan, China is now facing a tsunami of COVID-19 infections. The unprecedented spread of the disease appears to have been fueled by an ill-timed change in COVID-19 policy and a lack of vaccination and boosting. A rethinking of national strategy could still help.
Jan 6, 2023
commentary

Tunisia: Challenges and Successes in COVID-19 Pandemic Response
Tunisia's response to the COVID pandemic has been spotty, though vaccination rates have improved and mortality rates have dropped. When the political instability is factored in, Tunisia's emergence from the pandemic may not be quick.
Jul 22, 2022
commentary

Jordan: Challenges and Successes in COVID-19 Pandemic Response
Lockdown restrictions that may have contributed to low COVID-19 case numbers in Jordan early in the pandemic resulted in economic stresses and increased psychological distress in the general population. RAND researchers identified challenges faced by Jordanians during the crisis and the country's innovative and equitable response to mitigate them.
Jun 20, 2022
commentary

Qatar: Challenges and Successes in COVID-19 Pandemic Response
Qatar adopted a spectrum of policies and health measures to contain the spread of COVID-19 and encouraged its innovation ecosystem to play a role in fighting the pandemic. The health sector has gained experience during the pandemic that might inform response to future spikes in demand for health system resources.
Jun 9, 2022
commentary

Addressing the Shortage of Behavioral Health Clinicians: Lessons from the Military Health System
Access to behavioral health services is one of the top challenges for the U.S. health care system, due in part to a shortage of licensed mental health providers. One potential solution to expanding the behavioral health workforce can be found in the U.S. military.
May 23, 2022
commentary

Lebanon: Challenges and Successes in COVID-19 Pandemic Response
In Lebanon, COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations, and daily deaths continue to decline. This is an accomplishment worthy of celebration in the midst of hyperinflation, all-time high unemployment, nadir purchasing power, and a health sector on the verge of collapse.
May 6, 2022
commentary

Iran: Challenges and Successes in COVID-19 Pandemic Response
Iran has faced an uphill battle since the first cases of COVID-19 were found in the country. Despite limited resources, Iran has also had its share of successes and innovations in combating the virus.
Apr 20, 2022
blog

RAND Video Highlights of 2021
The best RAND videos from the past year brought our research to life in new ways. From the sidewalks of Pittsburgh to preschools in the Middle East, see how people around the world are using RAND research to make their communities safer and more secure, healthier and more prosperous.
Dec 20, 2021
commentary

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.
Jan 21, 2021
essay

A Stable Blood Supply Is Critical in the COVID-19 Era
Millions of lives depend on the U.S. blood supply. But no one knows exactly how much blood is in the system at any given time, or whether it's enough to meet demand. The federal government has no way to collect that data, and hospitals don't share it with each other. What can be done to strengthen the system?
Aug 27, 2020
essay

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.
Jul 1, 2020
commentary

Want to Stem the Rising Mental Health Crisis? Look Beyond the Usual Suspects for Help
As the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic effects spread, concerns about mental health impacts continue to grow. Many communities and policymakers are desperate to stem the tide of unaddressed mental health needs, and with the right investments in training, task-shifting models have enormous potential to bolster available, accessible mental health services.
May 12, 2020
commentary

Don't Waste This Crisis: How America Can Begin Building a System of Health
COVID-19 is shining a harsh spotlight on long-recognized but under-addressed gaps in the U.S. health system. There may never have been a more pressing time to think differently, broadening from health care services to a health-producing System of Health.
May 4, 2020
commentary

Amidst a Pandemic, a Mental Health Crisis May Be Looming
The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on health care workers' mental health could be significant and may weaken the health care system's ability to resolve the crisis and survive over the long term. Interventions to promote psychological well-being should be implemented now.
Apr 1, 2020
commentary

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.
Apr 1, 2020
q&a

U.S. COVID-19 Cases on the Rise: Q&A with RAND Experts
COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, is now in all 50 states. And more and more U.S. cases and deaths are being reported. As orders to close schools and restaurants take effect across America, RAND researchers answer some questions about the crisis.
Mar 18, 2020
commentary

Coronavirus, Telemedicine, and Dustbusters
Telemedicine has been with us for decades. And yet it hasn't transformed health care in the way that ATMs have transformed banking or cordless vacuums have transformed household cleaning. But the coronavirus pandemic could forever change how telemedicine is used.
Mar 16, 2020
commentary

COVID-19: A Stress Test for a U.S. Health Care System Already Under Stress
There are many things hospitals and health systems could be doing in the coming weeks to best prepare for the advancing novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. Evaluating their surge response plans will be critical.
Mar 12, 2020
commentary

Recognizing Family Caregivers as Part of the Health Care Team
Recent shifts in health care practices have left family caregivers increasingly responsible for medical tasks. Given family caregivers' central role in medical care, there are efforts underway to improve family caregiver integration into the health care team, but there are barriers to effective integration and engagement.
Nov 18, 2019
essay

More Can Be Done to Save Veterans from Suicide
A decade of research at RAND has sought to focus the national conversation about suicide in general, and veteran suicide in particular, around solutions that work. The overwhelming message: We could do more to save the lives of veterans like Daniel Somers. Here is his story.
Nov 4, 2019
essay

How Private Health Care Providers Could Better Serve Veterans
Almost a third of U.S. veterans live 40 miles or more from the nearest VA medical center, so the VA is trying to make it easier for them to use private providers closer to home. But it will take significant efforts to better prepare civilian doctors to deliver high-quality care to veterans.
Nov 7, 2018
q&a

Committed to Improving Health Care Policy: Q&A with Jodi Liu
Jodi Liu, an associate policy researcher at RAND, studies how to deliver high-quality care and how to pay for it. She discusses her assessment of a single-payer health care proposal in New York State and the supply-and-demand challenges that might arise if an Alzheimer's treatment became available.
Oct 23, 2018
commentary

Do Americans Expect Too Much from Health Insurance?
Americans expect affordable coverage for pre-existing conditions, access to routine services, and protection from unpredictable and significant financial risk from accidents or illness. As a product designed primarily for risk protection, insurance may not be the most efficient or affordable approach to achieving all of these objectives.
Sep 23, 2017
commentary

Did We Improve Veterans Health Care? It's Unclear
The Veterans Choice program was designed to expedite veterans' access to health care and relieve pressure on the VA system. Before making the program permanent, the VA should better understand its effectiveness.
May 24, 2016
commentary

100 Stories, 10 Years, 1 Transformation: A Recent History of NIHR's Impacts on the Health Research Landscape
The National Institute for Health Research is now ten years old. What benefits has it had on the health research landscape in the UK since its formation?
May 19, 2016
commentary

Meeting the Caregivers Challenge
Ill or injured military personnel and veterans and people with dementia are unique populations, but they give us a preview of the enormous long-term care challenges Americans will face in the decades to come.
Aug 25, 2014
q&a

Quick Takes: The Convenience Revolution in the Treatment of Minor Health Problems
Convenient options for treating minor health problems are an important new feature of the health care landscape. Ateev Mehrotra discusses these options and their implications for the medical marketplace.
Nov 26, 2013
commentary

Medicaid Access for the Formerly Incarcerated Under the ACA: Helping the Oft-Forgotten
America's prison population tends to be sicker than the general population. While Medicaid eligibility under the ACA offers an historic opportunity, enrolling the formerly incarcerated into the health exchanges or Medicaid will be neither simple nor straightforward.
Oct 3, 2013
commentary

NHS 24/7: An Effective Way to Improve Quality of Care?
There are proposals to have England's National Health Service offer non-emergency service on weekends. Since there is a strong association between the health and well-being of staff and the quality of patient care, 24/7 working could have unintended consequences for patients.
May 24, 2013
announcement

Lois Davis's Prisoner Re-Entry Work Earns Recognition from California Assembly
RAND congratulates senior policy researcher Lois Davis, whose work on the public health consequences of prisoner re-entry in California earned RAND the 64th Assembly District's AB 109 Re-Entry Award.
Jan 23, 2013
blog

Caring for the Uninsured: What Role Do Emergency Rooms Play?
Absent from the discussion about health care during the first debate between President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney was any mention of one of the main providers of care for America's uninsured: emergency rooms. What does research tell us about the use of ERs and the relevant implications on health care access and cost?
Oct 9, 2012
commentary

The Coming Afghanistan Surge—and the Severely Wounded
As America starts its ninth year at war, more than 32,000 U.S. service members have already been wounded in action in Iraq and about 3,500 in Afghanistan. Will U.S. resolve to strengthen care for wounded Americans be maintained, asks Ralph Masi.
Jan 15, 2010
commentary

Co-Ops: A Very Tall Order
Cooperatives are a very tall order: a new type of organization, never before tested on a large scale, meant to fix the apparently intractable problems of high and rising costs, barriers to access and poor quality care. Proponents can point to the impressive example of Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound, writes Elizabeth McGlynn.
Aug 19, 2009