New Issue Brief: Health Information Technology -- More Than the Money Some health policy analysts believe that the main importance of health information technology lies in its potential for improving health care quality and reducing disparities -- whether it saves money or not. This issue brief explores the quality improvement aspects of health IT, and some barriers to its wider adoption. Written by Alliance health policy associate Deanna Okrent with the support of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.  To download, click here.   Read More

	Issue Brief: Comparative Effectiveness Comparative effectiveness research offers the attractive prospect of cutting costs while improving the quality of health care. What exactly do comparative effectiveness studies compare? What research of this type is already underway in the U.S. and in other countries? What could we do to stimulate more of it? This issue brief, written by Alliance senior health policy associate Lisa Swirsky, addresses these questions and others. Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. To download, click here. Read More

	How Wide Has the Window Opened for Health Reform? Now that we know the next occupants of the White House and the composition of the next Congress, many Americans expect to see an effort to enact significant reform of America’s health system. What are the prospects for expanding health coverage to the uninsured, given the recession? Will we see workable approaches to constraining health care costs and improving quality? Could the tax treatment of employer-sponsored health benefits change? Who will be the key players in health reform – in the Senate, the House and the Obama Administration? Can we avoid the hurdles encountered during previous efforts at significant health reform? This briefing, sponsored by the Alliance and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, addressed these and related questions. Read More