Will the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Address the Problems Associated With Medical Malpractice?

Outlines the limitations of 2010 healthcare reform's medical injury and liability-related provisions; the potential for savings from malpractice reform; promising reforms, including early disclosure with compensation; and alternative approaches

Lessons for Health Reform From the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program

Explores the feasibility of opening up the program to non-federal employees as a way to expand coverage. Outlines lessons learned on countering selection issues, maintaining a wide array of benefit packages, and offsetting costs and premium fluctuations

Rethinking Responsibility for Patient Injury: Accelerated-Compensation Events, a Malpractice and Quality Reform Ripe for a Test

The accelerated-compensation events (ACE) approach in medical malpractice reform was studied. Reforms based on ACE best address the twin goals of making compensation more equitable and avoiding bad outcomes in medical care

Assuring Access to Care Under Health Reform: The Key Role of Workforce Policy

Examines policy and practical options for addressing the projected shortage of primary care physicians to ensure access to health care under expanded insurance coverage, including reorganizing practices to make productive use of nurses and other staff

The Value of Clinical Practice Guidelines as Malpractice "Safe Harbors"

Examines the extent to which evidence-based recommendations for optimizing patient care could help reduce provider defensiveness and overutilization. Outlines context for and challenges in designing and implementing clinical guidelines as policy reform

Keynote Address: Helping the Uninsured: Health Insurance in Ohio and in the Nation

This article briefly discusses five salient issues for decision makers to ponder, in Ohio and in the nation: (1) What, exactly, is the problem? (2) What about National Health Insurance (NHI)? (3) What roles are likely for national, state, and local governments? (4) How can one design solutions and evaluate the trade-offs they pose? (5) What are we willing to pay? A major conclusion is that many ways exist to provide subsidized coverage or other access to care. In other words, many possible solutions exist. They have different emphases, different structural characteristics, different benefits, and different price tags. What does not exist is consensus on the nature of the personal, business, and social obligations that must underlie any possible solution. This lack makes the social-political problems seem intractable, especially at the federal level. States will probably continue to excercise leadership in this area

Making a Business Case for Reducing Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care: Key Issues and Observations

Offers lessons from RWJF's Finding Answers program around issues involved in laying out financial reasons for providers, caregivers, and others to adopt ongoing, effective interventions to improve quality of care for minority patients