health policy articles

Making the Case for Addressing Health Disparities: What Drives Providers and Payers?

The creation of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Office of Minority Health placed increased emphasis on federal efforts to address health disparities. Although the literature establishes a social justice case for addressing health disparities, there is limited evidence of this case being sufficient for businesses to invest in such initiatives. The purpose of this study was to better understand the “business case” behind an organization’s investment in health disparity reduction work.

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Nearly 1 In 5 Hospice Patients Discharged While Still Alive

A study published last month in the journal Health Affairs finds that hospices with the highest rate of so-called live discharges also have the highest profits. The lead author is Rachel Dolin, a David A. Winston fellow researching health policy. Her paper found an association between high live discharge rates and high profit margins, but it didn’t determine the cause….

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Factors Driving Live Discharge From Hospice: Provider Perspectives

The proportion of patients disenrolling from hospice before death has increased over the decade with significant variations across hospice types and regions. Such trends have raised concerns about live disenrollment’s effect on care quality. Live disenrollment may be driven by factors other than patient preference and may create discontinuities in care, disrupting ongoing patient-provider relationships. Researchers have not explored when and how providers make this decision with patients.

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