The New Politics of US Health Care Prices: Institutional Reconfiguration and the Emergence of All-Payer Claims Databases

Prices are a significant driver of health care cost in the United States. Existing research on the politics of health system reform has emphasized the limited nature of policy entrepreneurs’ efforts at solving the problem of rising prices through direct regulation at the state level. Yet this literature fails to account for how change agents in the states gradually reconfigured the politics of prices, forging new, transparency-based policy instruments called all-payer claims databases (APCDs), which are designed to empower consumers, purchasers, and states to make informed market and policy choices. Drawing on pragmatist institutional theory, this article shows how APCDs emerged as the dominant model for reforming health care prices. While APCD advocates faced significant institutional barriers to policy change, we show how they reconfigured existing ideas, tactical repertoires, and legal-technical infrastructures to develop a politically and technologically robust reform. Our analysis has important implications for theories of how change agents overcome structural barriers to health reform

Camaraderie, Collaboration, and Capacity Building: A Qualitative Examination of School Social Workers in a Year Long Professional Learning Community

Professional learning communities (PLCs) have become commonplace in K-12 schools for helping teachers collaborate to build their professional capacities and address school-based problems. However, rigorous research on the key components, mechanisms, and impact of PLCs has been limited overall, with virtually no research conducted on PLCs with school social workers (SSW). This article examines the first-year experiences of school mental health professionals (SMHP) in a two-year PLC made up largely of SSW from an array of schools and districts throughout metropolitan Chicago. Drawing on qualitative data gathered from three rounds of in-depth interviews with participants during the first year of the PLC, we find that the PLC drew participants who sought specific opportunities through the PLC to improve their knowledge and skills to lead their schools in advancing social, emotional, and mental health (SEMH) services and supports in their schools. Through the professional camaraderie they quickly found among their PLC colleagues, participants engaged collaboratively to develop an array of interventions for their schools, strengthened their professional capacities, and enhanced their sense of professional self-efficacy. By the end of the first year, participants overwhelmingly cited their PLC experiences as beneficial to reducing SMHP professional isolation, creating a supportive, resource-rich group of SMHP colleagues, and rejuvenating their commitment to the profession and their ability to lead their schools in advancing SEMH services and supports. Implications for further research on PLCs and advancing the professional development of SSW are discussed

From \u27Trial and Error\u27 to Major Reform: The Politics of Medicare Demonstration Projects

Facing fragmented institutions and partisan polarization, officials in the United States often attempt to engineer policy change without assembling new legislative majorities. To this end, they have increasingly employed demonstration projects, policy innovations undertaken by administrative agencies designed to test alternative approaches to implementation or service delivery on a limited segment of the target population and for a limited period of time. Despite the increasing importance of demonstration projects, they are an undertheorized source of policy change. In this article, we conceptualize demonstration projects as part of a class of experimental institutions that, while incremental in scope, have the potential to \u27scale up\u27 into more substantial reforms. Data from three Medicare demonstrations suggest that policy change is more likely when programmes generate strong support constituencies; minimize administrative and infrastructural costs; are undertaken in contexts with few veto points; and align with the time horizons of elected officials

Sprouty1 regulates reversible quiescence of a self-renewing adult muscle stem cell pool during regeneration.

Satellite cells are skeletal muscle stem cells capable of self-renewal and differentiation after transplantation, but whether they contribute to endogenous muscle fiber repair has been unclear. The transcription factor Pax7 marks satellite cells and is critical for establishing the adult satellite cell pool. By using a lineage tracing approach, we show that after injury, quiescent adult Pax7(+) cells enter the cell cycle; a subpopulation returns to quiescence to replenish the satellite cell compartment, while others contribute to muscle fiber formation. We demonstrate that Sprouty1 (Spry1), a receptor tyrosine kinase signaling inhibitor, is expressed in quiescent Pax7(+) satellite cells in uninjured muscle, downregulated in proliferating myogenic cells after injury, and reinduced as Pax7(+) cells re-enter quiescence. We show that Spry1 is required for the return to quiescence and homeostasis of the satellite cell pool during repair. Our results therefore define a role for Spry1 in adult muscle stem cell biology and tissue repair

EVALUATION OF THE 2006/7 AGRICULTURAL INPUT SUBSIDY PROGRAMME, MALAWI. FINAL REPORT

This report evaluates the 2006/7 Malawi Government Agricultural Input Subsidy Programme (AISP). The main objective of the evaluation is to assess the impact and implementation of the AISP in order to provide lessons for future interventions in growth and social protection. The evaluation combined qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection and analysis. Quantitative data were collected through a national survey in 2007 of 2,491 households who were previously interviewed in the 2004/05 Integrated Household Survey, a survey of retail shops selling inputs in six districts and data on stocks and sales from manufacturers, large-scale importers and dealers of fertilizers and seeds. The quantitative data was triangulated by qualitative data from focus group discussions with smallholder farmers in 12 districts, and key informant interviews with government staff, input distributors and beneficiary and non-beneficiary households. The analysis is based on descriptive statistics, econometric modelling and livelihood and rural economy modelling. An Interim Report in March 2007 provides fuller details of the implementation of the programme.Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, Productivity Analysis,

Earwigs (Dermaptera) from the Mesozoic of England and Australia, described from isolated tegmina, including the first species to be named from the Triassic

Dermaptera (earwigs) are described from the Triassic of Australia and England, and from the Jurassic and Cretaceous of England. Phanerogramma heeri (Giebel) is transferred from Coleoptera and it and Brevicula gradus Whalley are re-described. Seven new taxa are named based on tegmina: Phanerogramma australis sp. nov. and P. dunstani sp. nov. from the Late Triassic of Australia; P. gouldsbroughi sp. nov. from the Triassic/Jurassic of England; Brevicula maculata sp. nov. and Trivenapteron moorei gen. et sp. nov. from the Early Jurassic of England; and Dimapteron corami gen et sp. nov. and Valdopteron woodi gen. et sp. nov. from the Early Cretaceous of England. Phanerogramma, Dimapteron and Valdopteron are tentatively placed in the family Dermapteridae, and Trivenapteron is incertae sedis. Most of the specimens of Phanerogramma heeri are from the Brodie Collection and labelled ‘Lower Lias'; however, some were collected from the underlying Penarth Group, thus this species spans the Triassic/Jurassic boundary. The palaeobiogeography of the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic of England is discussed

Play Your Cards Right: Creating a Library Orientation Game (poster)

A team of four librarians and staff drew upon previous experience with game-based learning to develop an orientation activity for transfer students. Apples to Apples -style cards were created using a free online card generator. The game exposed transfer students to information about the campus library system in a low-key way that allowed players with different knowledge levels to socialize and compete against one another on an equal basis

Creating a Library Orientation Card Game to Reach New Transfer Students

Librarians and staff at a public university drew upon previous experience with instructional games to develop, implement, and assess a card game as a library orientation activity for new transfer students. This project was shaped by a desire to meet transfer students’ unique needs as well as the logistical constraints associated with the university’s transfer student orientation. The card game, modeled after Apples to Apples, presented information about the campus library system in a fun, informal way that allowed transfer students to socialize with each other while learning. Survey responses indicated that students found the game both enjoyable and helpful

Apple Slices: A Card-Matching Party Game about the Library

Inspired by the popular party games Apples to Apples and Cards Against Humanity, this is a fun and flexible small group activity developed for use in library orientation sessions

Building the Deck: Creating a Library Card Game for Outreach to Transfer Students (poster)

University librarians and staff drew upon previous experience with game-based learning to develop an orientation activity for transfer students. A card game was selected due to the large number of students expected and lack of computers in the available space. Apples to Apples-style cards were created using a free online card generator. Multiple decks were printed to accommodate up to 150 players. The game exposed transfer students to information about the campus library system in a low-key way that allowed players with different knowledge levels to socialize and compete against one another on an equal basis