June 2015

commentary

Nature and Nurture: What's Behind the Variation in Recent Medical Home Evaluations?

As demonstrated in Pennsylvania, conveners of medical home pilots are drawing from their early experiences to refine their intervention designs and improve their effectiveness. Such a learning process is likely to be a critical part of successfully implementing any new model of payment and care delivery.

Mark W. Friedberg, Connie Sixta, et al.

blog

Summer Learning Day: Stopping the Summer Slide

RAND is conducting the first-ever assessment of large-scale, voluntary, district-run, summer learning programs serving low-income elementary students. The results may help districts, educators, and policymakers make better decisions about funding and implementing programs to stop summer learning loss.

commentary

Caregivers in England Report Poorer Health and Healthcare Experiences

Caregivers in England have poorer health-related quality of life than non-caregivers, reporting an average of 11 fewer days of full health per year.

Catherine L. Saunders

commentary

What Pakistan and Saudi Arabia Want from Each Other

Whatever overlapping interests they may have in dangerous groups like Lashkar-e Taiba, the Saudis and Pakistanis have much bigger reasons for seeking each other's friendship. These reasons may be largely transactional, but the transaction has been a mutually beneficial one for nearly 40 years.

Jonah Blank

commentary

Aging in Asia: Can the 'Tigers' Continue to Roar?

Changing demographics will force Japan and the “Asian Tigers” — Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan — to find ways to remain economically dynamic while increasingly looking after their elderly. How might public policy help accomplish this?

Rafiq Dossani, Rachel M. Swanger

q&a

Reaching the 80 Percent: Q&A with Krishna Kumar

Krishna Kumar discusses studying agriculture in China, low-income housing in India, and labor markets in Bangladesh, and how research can help the developing world.

commentary

TSA Flunked Its Security Test Big Time — Now What?

We have to accept that humans, no matter how well-trained they are or how dedicated they are to their mission, are just not very good at maintaining laser-like focus while performing repetitive tasks. That does not mean airport security can ever be completely given over to machines.

Brian Michael Jenkins @BrianMJenkins

commentary

What Americans Know About King v. Burwell

An upcoming Supreme Court ruling regarding the Affordable Care Act could impact millions of Americans. Are Americans aware of the court case? And if so, what do they know about it?

Katherine Grace Carman @KGCarman, Christine Eibner @Chrissyeibner

commentary

Military Security Contractors Get PTSD, Too

Largely absent from the conversation about the use of military security contractors are the parallel issues of mental health and the deployment-related stress contractors can face.

Molly Dunigan, Carrie M. Farmer @carriefarmer

commentary

Expanding the Caliphate

ISIS in South Asia, which it calls the Islamic State of Khorasan, is larger than most recognize, boasting between several hundred and several thousand fighters. But for now, it is closer to a loose affiliate than a direct arm of the organization.

Seth G. Jones

announcement

Community Partners in Care Receives Accolade

Community Partners in Care, a partnership that uses a unique approach to improve depression care in under-resourced communities, has received the 2015 Community-Campus Partnerships for Health Award.

commentary

War or Peace? Putting a Price on the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse

Today, more than 90 percent of Israelis and Palestinians were born after 1948 and have known nothing other than some version of the impasse. Both sides could be better off with a stable two-state solution. Prolonging the impasse for another generation would have real costs.

Charles P. Ries @charles_ries, C. Ross Anthony

commentary

Social Media as a Tool for Reaching Veterans in Need of Mental Health Care

Reaching veterans to learn more about their mental health care seeking poses a conundrum. They are typically recruited for studies in clinical settings, so those who are not seeking care are not represented. Facebook may be a viable method to reach them.

Eric R. Pedersen @ericrpedersen

commentary

Why the United States Needs an Active Denial Strategy for Asia

The evolving balance of power will require adjustments to U.S. strategy. Making those adjustments will help ensure that the U.S.-China relationship, now merely tense, doesn't escalate to hostile.

Eric Heginbotham, Jacob L. Heim

commentary

G7 Leaders to Discuss Threat of Antimicrobial Resistance

The threat of drug resistance can be tackled with the right set of actions, including the development of new antimicrobial drugs and alternative therapies to disrupt the rise in resistance. German Chancellor Merkel has emphasized the importance of a joint global action plan for addressing this growing problem.

Marco Hafner, Jirka Taylor