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RAND advances understanding of health and health behaviors, and examines how the organization and financing of care affect costs, quality, and access. Our body of research includes innovative studies of health insurance, health care reform, and health information technology, as well as obesity, substance abuse, and PTSD. RAND findings also help inform policies that aim to improve the health of seniors and the care they receive.

Report

Private Health Plans Pay Hospitals 247% of What Medicare Would Pay

Sep 18, 2020

Employers are the largest source of U.S. health insurance yet lack of price transparency makes it hard for them to assess the costs of hospital services. An analysis of hospital spending by private insurers finds that prices vary among states and are on average almost two and a half times more than Medicare's.
Essay

What Telemedicine Needs to Succeed Beyond COVID-19

Sep 2, 2020

Virtual doctor visits have become part of the new normal. Since the first COVID-19 stay-at-home orders, Medicare and other payers have relaxed their rules to make it easier for patients to connect to care. But without permanent policy changes, physicians may not continue telemedicine services.

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Report

Schools Weren't Prepared for a Crisis Like COVID-19

Before COVID-19, less than half of U.S. public schools had a written plan for dealing with a pandemic and only 38 states had publicly available school health emergency plans. How did schools' preparation affect their transitions to remote learning and principals' confidence in student achievement?

Sep 29, 2020
Journal Article

Journal Article

The Effects of Job Characteristics on Retirement

We present results from a survey fielded in the RAND American Life Panel. The survey queried older workers about their current,desired, and expected job characteristics, and about how certain characteristics would affect their retirement decisions.

Sep 29, 2020
News Release

Alcohol Consumption Rises Sharply During the Pandemic; Heavy Drinking by Women Rises 41%

American adults have sharply increased their alcohol consumption during the COVID-19 shutdown, with women increasing their heavy-drinking episodes (four or more drinks within a couple of hours) by 41 percent.

Sep 29, 2020
Commentary

Managing the Challenge of Workforce Presenteeism in the COVID-19 Crisis

Presenteeism occurs when people work when in suboptimal health. Both presenteeism and absenteeism are key influences on workplace productivity, but presenteeism is by far the most significant. It's vital that employers identify and deal with presenteeism, for the health of their people as well as that of the organization.

Sep 25, 2020
Commentary

It May Be Time to Rethink the Design of Jobs to Deliver Good Health for Workers

Even before the COVID-19 crisis, the impact of poorly designed jobs on the health of workers was drawing attention. Now may be the time to fundamentally rethink the design of jobs so that they promote good health and lessen poor health and its costs.

Sep 25, 2020
Commentary

When It Comes to U.S. Health Systems—Diversity Matters

Health care systems are a powerful and relatively well-resourced stakeholder in the effort to eliminate inequities both among the health workforce and among patient populations. The deliberate practice of increasing diversity within the workplace may have the power to create significant, positive impacts on workplace culture and patient care.

Sep 25, 2020
Blog

Health Care Price Transparency, COVID-19 Vaccinations, Gun Laws: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on what private health plans pay compared to what Medicare pays, when COVID-19's global spread really began, laws that could reduce firearm deaths, and more.

Sep 25, 2020
Multimedia

RAND Remote Series: Preparing for Elections During a Pandemic

In this video conversation, RAND's Jennifer Kavanagh and Quentin Hodgson discuss the unique voting challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sep 25, 2020
Journal Article

Journal Article

Nationwide Qualitative Study of Practice Leader Perspectives on What It Takes to Transform Into a Patient-Centered Medical Home

Primary Care Medical Home efforts necessitated support and assistance to practice leaders. Changes include financial incentives,leadership direction and support, and staff with experience with the PCMH application process, implementation, and QI.

Sep 24, 2020
Journal Article

Journal Article

Digital Health Technologies: Opportunities and Challenges in Rheumatology

Digital health technology offers enormous potential to improve rheumatology care but this potential has so far been largely unrealized.

Sep 24, 2020
Journal Article

Journal Article

Disentangling Moral Hazard and Adverse Selection in Private Health Insurance

This study disentangled the effects of moral hazard from health plan selection. Our estimates imply that 53% of the additional medical spending observed in the most generous plan in our data relative to the least generous is due to adverse selection.

Sep 24, 2020
Journal Article

Journal Article

SNAP Participants Improved Food Security And Diet After A Full-Service Supermarket Opened In An Urban Food Desert

This study explored two federal programs: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Healthy Food Financing Initiative. The results suggest that HFFI amplifies SNAP participation on improving food security and diet for low-income Americans.

Sep 24, 2020
Report

Report

American Instructional Resources Surveys: 2020 Technical Documentation and Survey Results

This technical report provides information about the sample, survey instrument, and resultant data for the American Instructional Resources Surveys administered to principals and teachers in spring 2020 via RAND's American Educator Panels.

Sep 24, 2020
Commentary

Georgia: From COVID-19 to a Critical Test of Democracy

Georgia has successfully dealt with the COVID-19 outbreak but now must meet the task of conducting free, fair, and transparent parliamentary elections on October 31 and dealing with the economic impacts of the pandemic.

Sep 23, 2020
Tool

Tool

Making Improvements to Stackable Credential Pipelines: A Toolkit on Using Data to Drive Improvement in Ohio Postsecondary Institutions

Stackable credential programs are designed to make it easier for students to earn multiple postsecondary credentials within a field. This toolkit provides steps for identifying issues in and making improvements to stackable credential pipelines.

Sep 23, 2020
Journal Article

Journal Article

Distinguishing High-Performing Health Systems Using a Composite of Publicly Reported Measures of Ambulatory Care

A composite measure that uses publicly reported data can produce valid, reliable, and stable rankings of quality of ambulatory care.

Sep 23, 2020
Report

COVID-19 Was Spreading Globally for Weeks Before It Was Declared a Pandemic

Worldwide exports of COVID-19 cases began increasing at an accelerating rate on February 19, 2020. That was three weeks before the World Health Organization declared the pandemic. By the end of February, nearly 40 cases per week were spreading around the globe via air travel.

Sep 22, 2020
Journal Article

Journal Article

Global Public Perceptions of Genomic Data Sharing: What Shapes the Willingness to Donate DNA and Health Data?

Analyzing genomic data across populations is central to understanding the role of genetic factors in health and disease. This paper presents results from a very large public survey on attitudes toward genomic data sharing.

Sep 22, 2020
Journal Article

Journal Article

Tobacco/nicotine and Marijuana Co-Use Motives in Young Adults: Associations with Substance Use Behaviors One Year Later

We conducted an analysis on 342 young adults with past-year co-administration of tobacco/nicotine and marijuana to determine how emergent classes of 16 co-use motives were associated with use of tobacco/nicotine and marijuana one year later.

Sep 22, 2020
Report

Which African Countries Are Most at Risk of Importing COVID-19?

U.S. forces in Africa are usually in areas of instability and thus have low levels of international air travel. Those regions are less likely to import COVID-19. The near-term driver of COVID-19 risk in Africa will more likely be the flow of travelers from Western Europe to Morocco, South Africa, and Algeria.

Sep 22, 2020

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RAND Topic:
Health, Health Care, and Aging

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