New 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

	Dental Health: Nurturing the Health Care System’s Neglected Stepchild More than 100 million Americans have no insurance to help cover dental needs. With SCHIP reauthorization on the horizon and the chance that elements of last year’s vetoed SCHIP proposal—which included provisions for dental care—may be revived, oral health issues are front and center. What is the best way to include dental health in the larger health reform debate? How should payment to dental health providers be improved? How can dental workforce shortage issues be addressed? To address these and related questions, the Alliance for Health Reform and the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured sponsored a July 25 briefing. Read More

	Green Houses Getting Attention as Long-Term Care Alternative Green Houses, small long-term care facilities housing six to 10 residents, are getting some well-deserved media attention. On June 24, the Wall Street Journal featured a Page 1 story on the Green House movement. For those interested in the subject, we recommend the Alliance issue brief, Changing the Nursing Home Culture, written by Alliance health policy associate Deanna Okrent, and our related briefing. Both were cosponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Read More

	Issue Brief: Employer-Sponsored Coverage This Alliance issue brief, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, offers perspective on why employer-sponsored coverage is shrinking and how alarmed we should be about this trend. Written by Lisa Swirsky, senior health policy associate at the Alliance. To download, click here. Read More