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The Global Payment Program (GPP) seeks to improve health care for California's uninsured by using federal funds to make prospective payments to public health care systems for providing inpatient, outpatient, and nontraditional services. This report presents the final evaluation of the program. Through the GPP, public health care systems have put in place a variety of strategies and offered a wider range of services during its first three years.

The Global Payment Program seeks to improve health care for California's uninsured by providing funds to cover both traditional and non-traditional services, settings, and providers. The 12 participating public health care systems seek to reduce the use of services in high-intensity settings by designing systems of care that emphasize primary care and supportive services. This is the report of the midpoint evaluation of the program.

The California's Workers' Compensation program provides medical care and indemnity (e.g., wage-replacement) benefits to workers who suffer on-the-job injuries and illnesses. This Year 2 report updates the trends in care for injured workers in California that were examined in a Year 1 report — all part of a three-year state effort. This study uses data from claims, a physician survey, and Medical Provider Network listings.

California's workers' compensation (WC) program provides medical care and wage-replacement benefits to workers who suffer on-the-job injuries and illnesses. Individuals who are injured on the job are entitled to receive the medical care they need to relieve the effects of their injury with no deductibles or copayments. Physicians who treat and provide care to injured workers are required to file reports with the WC payer that address the worker's treatment, medical progress, and work-related issues. California's Division of Workers' Compensation (DWC) asked the RAND Corporation to review the reporting process and pricing structure of the WC-required reports to ensure that the policies are consistent with efficient program administration. This study provides a framework for understanding the current processes for filing WC-required reports in California and establishes a baseline for comparison with other state systems. The objective of this study is to provide an assessment of WC-required reports, including the structure and content, level of effort, and allowances, and to compare the elements and processes with other systems to inform potential improvements and further refinements to California's reporting requirements and policies. The study should be of general interest to stakeholders in California's WC system and in other WC programs.

This article describes the design, development, and testing of the Health Care Safety Hotline, a prototype consumer reporting system for patient safety events. The prototype was designed and developed with ongoing review by a technical expert panel and feedback obtained during a public comment period. Two health care delivery organizations in one metropolitan area collaborated with the researchers to demonstrate and evaluate the system. The prototype was deployed and elicited information from patients, family members, and caregivers through a website or an 800 phone number. The reports were considered useful and had little overlap with information received by the health care organizations through their usual risk management, customer service, and patient safety monitoring systems. However, the frequency of reporting was lower than anticipated, suggesting that further refinements, including efforts to raise awareness by actively soliciting reports from subjects, might be necessary to substantially increase the volume of useful reports. It is possible that a single technology platform could be built to meet a variety of different patient safety objectives, but it may not be possible to achieve several objectives simultaneously through a single consumer reporting system while also establishing trust with patients, caregivers, and providers.

The Department of Health and Human Services, acting through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, implemented a three-year project intended to support the transformation of federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) into advanced primary care practices (APCPs) in support of Medicare beneficiaries. RAND is assessing the effects on access, quality, and cost of care provided to Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries.

In December 2009, Department of Health and Human Services was directed to implement a three-year demonstration to support federally qualified health centers in becoming advanced primary care practices for Medicare beneficiaries. RAND was asked to study the processes and challenges involved and assess the effects on access, quality, and cost of care provided to Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries. This is the first report in a series of three.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) plans to implement a new Hospice Experience of Care Survey. This report describes the survey development process, the field test design and procedures, analytic methods and findings from the field test, and the final survey instrument for national implementation.

This fact sheet describes the results of research into the factors influencing physician professional satisfaction and their implications for health care.

Describes the efforts of one surgical specialty medical practice to improve customer service and access for its patients.

Case study of a hospital that used an iterative, six-step quality improvement process to change the way its RNs, nursing assistants, and other nursing staff provided emotional support to the hospital's adult, medical and surgical inpatients.