Policies promoting widespread adoption of electronic medical records (EMRs) are premised on the hope that they can improve the coordination of care. Yet little is known about whether and how physician practices use current EMRs to facilitate coordination.

Practice-based research networks (PBRNs) have a long history of conducting research in community clinical settings, demonstrating a possible approach to executing multiple research projects over time in broad and varied settings. PBRNs also are uniquely structured and increasingly involved in...

There is emerging consensus that enhanced inter-professional teamwork is necessary for the effective and efficient delivery of primary care, but there is less practical information specific to primary care available to guide practices on how to better work as teams.

Oklahoma’s Medicaid managed care 1115 waiver program, SoonerCare, has been through many changes in the last 15 years, including the end of fully capitated managed care in 2003 and expansion statewide of the SoonerCare Choice enhanced primary care case management program. Mathematica’s...

Describes the Medigap market in 1999, both nationally and by state, and compares the national profile in 1999 with that in 1997 to show how the market is changing. Notes that one third of all Medigap policies were pre-standard in 1999, and standard forms F, C, and B accounted for 48 percent of...

Examines the relationship between rising Medicare risk and Medicare+Choice enrollment and the claims experience reported by Medigap insurers between 1996 and 1999. Concludes that adverse selection into Medicare HMOs has probably reduced average medical claims in standard Medigap plans, with a...

In 1990, the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) ended lifelong certification by initiating a 10-year Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program that first took effect in 2000. Despite the importance of this change, there has been limited research examining associations between the MOC...

The end of long-standing exclusive contracts between the dominant Greenville Hospital System and two major health plans, coupled with increased hospital expansion, suggests health care costs will continue to rise in Greenville.

This HSC publication notes that insured consumers may face sticker shock at pharmacy counters as health plans take more aggressive steps, such as three-tier pharmacy benefits, to control rapidly rising drug costs. Under a three-tier design, consumers typically incur the lowest out-of-pocket...