Organization

The path to better health for all communities requires the nation’s public health, medical, and social systems to work more closely together. A new American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) supplement from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Systems for Action program presents more than a decade of research demonstrating how cross-sector collaboration leads to better...

Hospitals are on among those on the front lines of the substance use disorder crisis, but a new study from UC Berkeley's Center for Health Management and Policy Research Research (CHAMP) finds that many hospitals are falling short of their potential to connect patients with treatment. Published in Social Science & Medicine, the study by Aryn Z. Phillips and CHAMP Co-Director Hector Rodriguez finds that nearly half of U.S. hospitals with substance use screening systems in place fail to consistently refer identified patients to treatment. This is a gap the authors examine...

Professor Stephen Shortell highlights in his recent invited commentary in JAMA Network Open that while the vertical integration of hospitals and physician practices is an irreversible trend driven heavily by doctors seeking financial viability, it has historically resulted in higher costs and prices without a consistent rise in healthcare quality or patient access. Because price regulations alone fail to address these outcomes, Shortell argues that policymakers must instead focus on leveraging the structural advantages of integrated health systems. He proposes a three-pronged policy...