This article explains the key role the federal government plays in defining the context and process of comparative effectiveness research as well as its funding. It also explores the mission, priorities, and research agenda of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute.

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...

This article examines the lessons and limits of Medicare Advantage, private health plans, and market competition as proposed solutions to traditional Medicare's rising costs and growing eligibility rolls. Gold reviews Medicare's 30-year experience with voluntary private-plan...

This article quantifies in dollars, jobs, and economic value lost how excess growth in health care costs is adversely affecting economic performance of U.S. industries. Researchers analyzed data from 38 U.S. industries from 1987 to 2005 and determined that faster growth in health care costs had...

This book chapter looks at the CMS-funded Informatics for Diabetes Education and Telemedicine demonstration. The chapter summarizes participants’ use of the technology, intervention effects on intermediate clinical outcomes, intervention effects on Medicare services’ use and cost, and...

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...

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...