Letter from the Editor

This issue of RAND Health Quarterly includes two articles on mental health. Rajeev Ramchand and Lynsay Ayer synthesized the available scientific data on whether mental illness is a risk factor for gun violence in an article that is part of RAND's Gun Policy in America project. A team led by Stephanie Brooks Holliday studied the Los Angeles County jail mental health population to identify those who would likely be eligible for release into community services based on legal and clinical factors, with the aim of providing them with needed care and reducing recidivism.

In military health, Beth Ann Griffin and colleagues investigated how accounting for demographic factors beyond age and gender (race/ethnicity, time, marital status, and educational attainment) affects suicide rate differences between soldiers and the general U.S. population. A team led by Kimberly Hepner identified factors associated with changes in outcomes for soldiers who received Army behavioral health specialty care and provide recommendations to improve care and outcomes for posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety.

In public health and emergency preparedness, a group of researchers led by Anita Chandra examined health and social services in Puerto Rico before and after Hurricane Maria, with a focus on 31 courses of action to better recover from health crises, build a system that is more resilient to future disasters, and actively promote health and well-being.

In health care delivery, quality, and patient safety, Kandice Kapinos and Cheryl Montemayor examined access to medical care among injured workers in California using medical billing data from the Workers' Compensation Information System. A team led by Emily Chen summarized information-gathering activities conducted by RAND to develop two measures of palliative care quality for patients receiving such care in outpatient, clinic-based settings. Joshua Breslau and colleagues evaluated the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Primary and Behavioral Health Care Integration grants program.

In health policy and health economics, Chapin White and Christopher Whaley found that the prices paid to hospitals by private employer-sponsored health plans rose from 236 percent of Medicare reimbursement rates in 2015 to 241 percent in 2017. Michael Dworsky and colleagues updated analyses from a 2010 study on firefighters in California and considered the impacts of the 2013 workers' compensation reforms and the economic shocks of the late 2000s on outcomes for firefighters with musculoskeletal disorders.

Lisa S. Meredith, Ph.D., Editor