Unexpected Counter-Movements to Nationalism: the Hidden Potential of Local Food Communities

 This article identifies a hitherto understudied element of local food communities, namely their potential as counter-movements to nationalist discourses, practices and policies. This potential should be particularly valuable in Eastern Europe, where European integration has been severely contested over the past years by political elites. We support our argument by a closer qualitative inquiry into two cases; one with urban-rural dimensions in the metropolitan area of Budapest and one in a more sparsely populated cross-border region at the Slovak-Hungarian border. Based on 18 interviews with coordinators, producers and consumers, numerous visits to both sites, and studying the organisations’ documents we conclude that the growth of local food communities contributes to strengthened solidarity in local communities. Although nationalist discourses on buying domestic are rarely contested explicitly, the lack of any reference to national movements and discourses testifies to the primary importance of the local

Fair process in physician performance rating systems: Overview and analysis of Colorado\u27s Physician Designation Disclosure Act

Programs to rate, grade, rank, or tier physicians based on quality or other measures are becoming more commonplace as the demand for greater transparency and accountability in the nation’s health care system intensifies. For many years, the preferred provider organization (PPO) reflected the most basic form of tiering—physicians were either included or excluded from the PPO network. However, this approach has become more refined as the tools for evaluating physician performance have evolved

Aligning Forces for Quality: The Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act Regulations: Implications for Health Information Access and Exchange

Summarizes the 2008 law designed to prompt providers to report patient safety and healthcare quality information, the role of patient safety organizations, privacy and security issues, and implications for RWJF's Aligning Forces for Quality initiative

Aligning Forces for Quality: Disparities Reduction and Minority Health Improvement Under the ACA

Highlights reform provisions to reduce racial/ethnic health disparities, including requiring data collection, integrating minority health into national strategies, and funding efforts to increase minorities' representation in the healthcare workforce

Antitrust aspects of health information sharing by public and private health insurers

This policy brief is the first of two to address antitrust considerations that arise in health system transformation aimed at producing greater clinical integration and greater levels of information about the quality and cost of care. The second policy brief will discuss the implications of several recent Federal Trade Commission rulings on physician joint contracting to achieve clinical integration and greater health information accountability. These rulings have significant implications for growing efforts, as part of health reform, to create entities known as accountable care organizations

The reciprocity dimension of solidarity:Insights from three European countries

First published online: 16 January 2019The article argues that closer attention to how solidarity is understood and expressed in different European contexts can shed light on the conditions for establishing a social and solidarity economy. Drawing on data collected within the H2020 SOLIDUS project, which explores current expressions of European solidarity, the comparative analysis covers three social economy initiatives, each representing a country with different political and economic context. The analysis focuses on solidarity as reciprocity and, in particular, how it is affected by such factors as actor motivations, internal participatory functioning, resource mix and political legitimacy. While further empirical work is needed, the findings suggest that solidarity as reciprocity produced by social and solidarity economy organisations thrives where political institutions are both supportive and trusted, where public funding is accessible, and where partnerships with relatively autonomous social and solidarity economy organisations are genuinely collaborative

The Application of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) to Hospital Inpatients

This issue brief provides a brief overview of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) and focuses on its application to hospital inpatients. EMTALA applies differently to patients than non-patients, and also applies differently to patients admitted through the emergency department than patients admitted as regular inpatients. In addition, courts and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have differed in their interpretation of the statute. Depending on the specific facts of any particular case, EMTALA may or may not have implications for specialty-related transfers and discharges