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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.

News Release

Republicans May Be Less Likely to Make Use of Federal Subsidies When Buying Individual Health Insurance Policies

Sep 8, 2021

Republicans who buy individual health plans may be less likely to shop through marketplaces created under the federal Affordable Care Act, leading them to forgo subsidies provided by the federal government.
News Release

Early COVID-19 Vaccine Campaign in the United States Prevented Nearly 140,000 Deaths

Aug 18, 2021

The early COVID-19 vaccination campaign in the United States prevented 139,393 deaths and 3 million cases of COVID-19 by the second week of May. As a result of early vaccination efforts, the average state experienced five fewer deaths from COVID-19 per 10,000 adult residents.

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Blog

China-Pakistan Partnership, Media Literacy, Incarcerated Parents: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on the China-Pakistan partnership in light of the Taliban's rise to power, media literacy education, parenting from prison, and more.

Sep 24, 2021
Commentary

Renters' Last Chance for Pandemic Aid Before Evictions Resume

The pandemic has battered Los Angeles renters, and a new wave of pain is coming with the moratorium on evictions ending September 30. But this housing crisis doesn't have to turn into a new homelessness crisis. Californians with incomes below 80% of their area's median are eligible to receive funds from the COVID-19 Rent Relief program.

Sep 24, 2021
Report

Examining Implementation of the Los Angeles County Office of Diversion and Reentry Supportive Housing Program

The authors describe the implementation of the Office of Diversion and Reentry's Housing Program in Los Angeles County, a jail-based diversion program for those with mental health diagnoses.

Sep 23, 2021
Commentary

Supporting the Mental Health Needs of National Guard and Reserve Members

Over one million U.S. military service members are members of the National Guard or reserves. These troops are being tested like never before, but they do not receive the same physical and mental health care coverage provided to their active-duty counterparts. It may be time to explore policy solutions to ensure that these service members have access to high-quality mental health care.

Sep 22, 2021
Journal Article

Toward an Asthma Patient-Reported Outcome Measure for Use in Digital Remote Monitoring

The study sough to develop and test a patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) for suitability in digital remote asthma symptom monitoring to identify uncontrolled asthma.

Sep 22, 2021
Journal Article

Consensus-based Approach to Managing Opioids, Including Opioid Misuse and Opioid Use Disorder, in Patients with Serious Illness: Protocol for a Modified Delphi Process

Using a modified Delphi approach, we created seven patient cases that capture important management challenges in individuals with serious illness prescribed opioid therapy.

Sep 22, 2021
Testimony

Suicide Prevention for U.S. Veterans: The Need for Data-Driven Solutions

What can be done to prevent veteran suicide in America? Investments in data and science may be the key. Strategies including improving the national mortality data infrastructure and collecting better data on veteran firearm ownership could help save veterans’ lives.

Sep 22, 2021
Journal Article

The Value of Consent for Biobanking

Biobanks facilitate large-scale tests of hypotheses that may advance health, but whether biobanking participants adequately comprehend the potential uses of their data should concern researchers and the public.

Sep 21, 2021
Report

Lessons from COVID-19 Infections on U.S. Navy Ships

The U.S. Navy's handling of the early COVID-19 outbreak on the USS Theodore Roosevelt revealed some cracks in the service's readiness to respond to major medical events. The relative lack of severe consequences in this instance should not prevent the Navy from reviewing those shortfalls and their implications for readiness.

Sep 21, 2021
Commentary

Parenting During the Pandemic: Communicating with Children About COVID-19

School and nursery closures, lockdowns, and ongoing pandemic restrictions brought huge changes to children and families. The way parents communicated with their children about these events was vital in helping children to cope.

Sep 20, 2021
Report

Posttraumatic Stress in California's Workers' Compensation System: A Study of Mental Health Presumptions for Firefighters and Peace Officers Under Senate Bill 542

The authors evaluate the prevalence of mental health conditions among first responders in California and discuss policy implications, with a focus on how posttraumatic stress disorder is handled in the state's workers' compensation system.

Sep 20, 2021
Research Brief

First Responder Claims for PTSD in Workers' Compensation: Assessing the Effects of Senate Bill 542 in California

Under California's Senate Bill 542, which creates a legal presumption that posttraumatic stress disorder in firefighters and peace officers is a work-related injury, additional costs to state and local governments could be large but are uncertain.

Sep 20, 2021
Blog

Prescription Drug Prices, Unemployment Insurance, Anti-Asian Racism: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on lowering prescription drug prices, reforming unemployment insurance, addressing anti-Asian racism, and more.

Sep 17, 2021
Journal Article

Imputation of Race/Ethnicity to Enable Measurement of HEDIS Performance by Race/Ethnicity

We compared performance for several alternative models predicting self-reported race/ethnicity in cross-sectional observational data to assess accuracy of estimates.

Sep 17, 2021
Journal Article

Racial, Ethnic, and Gender Disparities in Health Care in Medicare Advantage

This report describes the quality of health care received in 2018 by Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans nationwide. This 2020 report is the fifth in a series of reports that are updated annually.

Sep 17, 2021
Commentary

Will Unemployment Insurance Be Reformed? Ask Businesses, Not Workers

The expiration of pandemic benefits points to the flaw at the heart of unemployment insurance: The constituency that pays for benefits isn't the constituency who receives them. Lasting reform to the unemployment insurance system will mean finding a way to benefit employers directly.

Sep 15, 2021
Journal Article

Alignment Between Objective and Subjective Assessments of Health System Performance: Findings From a Mixed-Methods Study

The article examines whether subjective performance assessments from health system executives match objective performance assessments and qualitatively explores ways to achieve high performance.

Sep 15, 2021
Report

Claims-Based Reporting of Post-Operative Visits for Procedures with 10- or 90-Day Global Periods: Updated Results Using Calendar Year 2018 Data

The authors of this report summarize patterns of post-operative visits for surgical procedures furnished in 2018 and paid for by Medicare. This report follows an earlier report that summarized these patterns from July 1, 2017, through June 30, 2018.

Sep 14, 2021
Report

Claims-Based Reporting of Post-Operative Visits for Procedures with 10- or 90-Day Global Periods: Updated Results Using Calendar Year 2019 Data

The authors of this report summarize patterns of post-operative visits for surgical procedures furnished in calendar year 2019 and paid for by Medicare. This report follows two earlier reports that summarized these patterns for earlier periods.

Sep 14, 2021
Journal Article

Homeless Children and Young People: A Review of Interventions Supporting Access to Healthcare Services

One of the many risks associated with a lack of secure housing is difficulty in accessing healthcare. This research note looks at the healthcare needs of homeless children and young people and identifies interventions that support them.

Sep 14, 2021

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Health, Health Care, and Aging

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