Quality of care is the extent to which all individuals receive the right care, at the right time, every time. RAND has been conducting research on measuring and assessing quality of health care for 40 years, and RAND teams developed many of the quality measures being used around the world today. In 2005, RAND analysts produced the first national report card on quality of care in the United States.
To ensure fair comparison of serious illness programs, quality measure scores should be case-mix adjusted for variables that influence patients' reports about care quality, but are not under the control of the program administering care.
Mental health services provide essential supports to people living with psychiatric disorders. However, in the United States as a whole and in New York City in particular, the use of mental health services is low and care is not equitably distributed. To advance policy strategy for addressing gaps in the mental health services system, RAND researchers investigate the availability and accessibility of mental health services in New York City.
Many states separate, or "carve out," Medicaid financing of behavioral health services from that for other types of health care, but there has been a recent trend in some states toward "carve-ins," whereby financing for behavioral health services is combined with the larger pool of Medicaid-covered services. To inform California's consideration of a carve-in approach, the authors examine the experiences of other states that have implemented it.
This study aimed to examine the content of the recommendations given to providers aimed at improving provider-patient interactions, characterize these recommendations, and examine their actionability.
RAND Corporation and MedStar researchers examined the intersection of patient safety and racism, focusing on patient safety and health equity from clinician leaders' perspectives. An overarching emphasis of the work concerned the impact of racism and other related factors (i.e., bias) on patient safety events and potential interventions or changes (such as creating a culture of speaking up about racism in care) that can help prevent such events.
This study was a cross-sectional mixed-methods analysis of in-depth multimodal data from 31 POs affiliated with 22 purposefully selected health systems in 4 states. Data were analyzed from June 2019 to September 2020.
This paper presents evidence that the quality of health care interactions changed in important ways during the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic.
On February 7, 2022, the RAND Corporation convened a Technical Expert Panel web meeting to gather input about the potential development of a measure to capture value-based care arrangements Medicare Advantage organizations have with their contracted providers.
The authors identified ten standards for the delivery of high-quality care for veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, substance use disorders, and mild traumatic brain injury. They also provide considerations for implementing and disseminating these standards as a first step to improve access to high-quality care for veterans with invisible wounds.
RAND researchers identified ten standards for the delivery of high-quality care for veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, substance use disorders, and mild traumatic brain injury.
This issue brief describes challenges and opportunities related to measuring, reporting, and monitoring the quality of HCBS sponsored by Medi-Cal.
The article examines whether subjective performance assessments from health system executives match objective performance assessments and qualitatively explores ways to achieve high performance.
Between 2014 and 2017, clinics with EHRs having greater capabilities had better quality measures than other clinics, but clinics that gained EHR capabilities during this time had smaller increases in quality that were not statistically significant.
Consumers of health care in the United States often lack information on the actual prices of the care they receive and can also lack access to information about the quality of their care. 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 efforts.
Across a sample of patients seen by chiropractors, spinal manipulation was rated by experts as appropriate for most patients with chronic lower back pain and as equivocal (uncertain) for most patients with chronic neck pain.
Medicare’s value-based purchasing programs do not currently include health equity measures. This work identified 10 existing approaches to health equity measurement and convened a technical expert panel to identify the most promising approaches.
We performed an observational cohort analysis of Medicare Advantage plans that were eligible for the Star Ratings program.
In this perspective piece, we explore the implications of poor quality electronic health data on the use of population health management algorithms for patients, clinicians, and policymakers.
This article reviews the literature on associations between patient experience and business outcomes, including patient allegiance and retention, complaints, lawsuits, provider job satisfaction, and profitability.
This report provides an independent assessment of the breadth, scope, and impact of health services and primary care research funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs from FYs 2012 to 2018. The authors identify research gaps and offer recommendations for maximizing the outcomes and value of future investments in health services and primary care research by federal agencies.
