Alan Weil
As seen in:
AARP,
upenn.edu,
Brookings Institution,
A Health Podyssey,
Health Affairs,
Urban Institute
Editor-in-Chief of @Health_Affairs, at intersection of health, health care & policy. Host of #AHealthPodyssey podcast. The usual: Follows/RTs ≠ endorsement
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Articles by Alan Weil
White Paper: Forging a Path Toward Integrated Care for Dually Eligible Individuals
Skip to Content Overcoming fragmented care for dually eligible individuals has been a challenge for decades, with dedicated efforts to test integrated models in state demonstration projects over the past 10 years. As these projects come to an end, we can now apply the lessons learned to the current context, which is characterized by rising costs, growth in Medicare Advantage and value-based payment arrangements, and a commitment to addressing health disparities.
Important Changes To Health Affairs Research Articles: New Word Limits | Health Affairs Forefront
After careful consideration and external consultation, we are changing the word limit for Health Affairs research articles from 5,000, including endnotes, to 3,250, excluding endnotes, effective with submissions received on or after April 1, 2024. Our Rationale As a peer-reviewed, policy-oriented journal, our goal is to take strong, relevant empirical work and make it accessible and useful to a broad health policy audience.
Health Affairs In 2023: Editor’s Picks | Health Affairs Forefront
I am pleased to share my list of the “top ten” articles we published in 2023. I use this list to showcase Health Affairs articles that I find particularly important or unique and that deserve another look. It’s hard enough to select just ten articles, and it would be impossible to rank them, so they are listed in their order of publication. I invite readers to read the pieces listed below—we are making them freely available to all readers for 48 hours.
General 6 - The Other 80
evidence, community and governance with alan weil In Season 2 we’ll be drilling down on questions about what works and how to scale. Alan Weil is a great person to kick off this conversation. He is the editor of the premiere health policy journal Health Affairs, previously directed Medicaid in Colorado and led an ambitious health study at the Urban Institute.
Medicare, Cancer Care, And More
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Health Affairs In 2022: Editor’s Picks | Health Affairs Forefront
I am happy to share my list of the “top ten” articles we published in 2022. As Editor-in-Chief, I read hundreds of articles each year on a range of health policy topics. This list recognizes ten Health Affairs articles that did not receive the attention I thought they deserved in 2022 and are worth a visit if you have not read them already, or a revisit if you have. The researchers behind these articles ask interesting questions and explore topics that move the field forward.
Minimizing Harm: Why We Published An Ad We Found Objectionable
This week, we published in the August 2022 print edition of Health Affairs an advertisement by an organization called Do No Harm. We did so with mixed feelings after considerable deliberation. Knowing that some readers will disagree with our decision, I am writing to explain our choice. While I hesitate to expand the audience for the ad (more on that later), this Forefront piece will make little sense if the reader doesn’t know what the ad says.
HHS Secretaries: Looking Ahead, Looking Back
I had the pleasure of moderating a session at Aspen Ideas Health on Thursday, 6/23, featuring former Department of Health and Human Services Secretaries Donna Shalala and Alex Azar. The session, entitled “HHS Secretaries: Looking Ahead, Looking Back”, focused on what it is like to guide the largest department in the federal government. The former secretaries talked about leadership, management, and relationships. It was a nice break from the policy debates that so often consume our energy.
Announcing Health Affairs Insider
We are excited to announce the launch of Health Affairs Insider, a membership offering exclusive access to content beyond the journal. Health Affairs Insider memberships will be available starting May 24. The Value Of Health Affairs For decades, readers equated Health Affairs with Health Affairs, the leading peer-reviewed journal at the intersection of health, health care, and policy. Today, Health Affairs is so much more.
Health Care Is Now Healthcare
Dear reader: In the spirit of being the bible of health policy, we have reached the Talmudic decision to change our style guide from “health care” to “healthcare.” This reverse-Solomonic decision to not split the baby arises from extensive analysis and consideration on the part of our ad hoc ADHOHC (Analysis to Decide Healthcare Or Health Care) committee, which we referred to as our ad hoc ad hoc committee -- or, when we were in a hurry, the AH-squared committee (not to be confused with...
Where To Begin: Advancing Equity At Health Affairs | Health Affairs Forefront
One year ago I published An Editor's View of Race, Racism, and Equity, where I described our plans at Health Affairs to use our resources and power to reverse the accumulated negative effects of racism on scholarly publishing. By my nature, I tend to focus on the work to be done and lament that progress is slower than I want it to be.
Where To Begin: Advancing Equity At Health Affairs | Health Affairs Forefront
One year ago I published An Editor's View of Race, Racism, and Equity, where I described our plans at Health Affairs to use our resources and power to reverse the accumulated negative effects of racism on scholarly publishing. By my nature, I tend to focus on the work to be done and lament that progress is slower than I want it to be.
Health Affairs In 2021: Editor’s Picks | Health Affairs Forefront
I am pleased to share my “top ten” Health Affairs articles from 2021. As the Editor-in-Chief I read hundreds of interesting articles each year, and while the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic rightfully occupied a large part of the public health conversation last year, I appreciate this opportunity to highlight several articles that did not receive the attention I feel that they deserved in 2021.
Tracking Author Demographics To Increase Equitable Participation
It has been almost a year since we outlined our strategy to dismantle racism and increase racial equity in scholarly publishing of health services research.
Tracking Author Demographics To Increase Equitable Participation
It has been almost a year since we outlined our strategy to dismantle racism and increase racial equity in scholarly publishing of health services research.
Tracking Author Demographics To Increase Equitable Participation
It has been almost a year since we outlined our strategy to dismantle racism and increase racial equity in scholarly publishing of health services research.
Welcome To Health Affairs Forefront | Health Affairs Forefront
Today we are pleased to announce a new name for the former Health Affairs Blog. In recognition of 15 years of robust commentary and analyses that represent some of the most timely and influential thought on the forefront of health policy, we are renaming the blog—Health Affairs Forefront. The mission of Health Affairs Forefront stays the same—to create a space for rigorous, action-oriented insight related to health policy research, ideas, and current policy events.
Welcome To Health Affairs Forefront | Health Affairs Forefront
Today we are pleased to announce a new name for the former Health Affairs Blog. In recognition of 15 years of robust commentary and analyses that represent some of the most timely and influential thought on the forefront of health policy, we are renaming the blog—Health Affairs Forefront. The mission of Health Affairs Forefront stays the same—to create a space for rigorous, action-oriented insight related to health policy research, ideas, and current policy events.
Exploring An Open Access Journal At Health Affairs | Health Affairs Blog
I hope you have noticed some recent changes at Health Affairs. In the past year we have launched two new podcasts, a new event series, and several new newsletters. We’re steadily updating our website, building landing pages and designing new tools to help users navigate our ever-growing volume of content.
An Editor’s View Of Race, Racism, And Equity
I am hopeful that our nation’s current attention to racism will evolve into a sustained campaign to reverse racist policies and their effects. We tend to avert our eyes from uncomfortable subjects. Maybe this time will be different. I hope so. We are renewing and elevating our efforts to address racism and promote equity at Health Affairs. In this blog post I introduce our perspective and agenda. Where there is racism, only anti-racist systems can generate equitable results.
Children’s Health
The US lags behind other developed countries in key indicators of child health and well-being, including infant and child mortality, poverty, and obesity. A defining feature of children’s health in the US is tremendous disparity by race and ethnicity, undercutting the goal of providing all children with equal opportunities for success. This month’s Health Affairs explores children’s health and well-being and provides a road map for future improvement.
Live Plenary: Structural Racism in HSR: Honest Reflections on Our Role and the Path Forward
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Health Affairs | Vol 39, No 6
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Tackling Social Determinants Of Health Around The Globe
Professor Sir Michael Marmot Photograph courtesy Michael Marmot Social determinants of health—factors such as housing, education, neighborhood, and income—have increasingly entered health policy conversations as a growing body of research reveals the direct relationship between these so-called social determinants and health outcomes.
Food, Income, Work, And More
This month’s issue of Health Affairs contains a number of articles examining programs and initiatives outside the health care system that affect people’s health—factors that promote a culture of health. In preparing the issue, I spoke with Sir Michael Marmot, who has led efforts around the world to get policy makers to understand and act on the role social factors play in health and health equity.
The Social Determinants Of Death
I raise my voice in support of those demanding a response to the consequences of institutional racism that are being laid bare before us. I speak as an individual, but as the editor of Health Affairs I feel the need to place my response in the context of health care and health policy. I have long been skeptical of the notion that the health care system can address social determinants of health.
Health Affairs | Vol 39, No 5
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Substance Use, Surprise Billing, And More
With the nation focused on COVID-19, we have developed a new channel that can publish peer-reviewed articles on the pandemic within two weeks of submission. Meanwhile, we continue to publish policy-relevant analysis on a broad range of topics, such as substance use, surprise billing, and maternal mortality—subjects that continue to require our attention. Substance Use People who receive treatment for opioid use disorder may participate in self-help programs, receive medication, or both.
Foundation Funding To Research And Advance The ACA
Grant Watch on the Blog New GrantWatch content appears on Health Affairs Blog under Featured Topics. To receive updates, sign up for Health Affairs Today at www.healthaffairs.org under Newsletter Sign Up. Foundation Funding To Research And Advance The ACA The future of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is “hanging in the balance once again,” commented David Blumenthal, president of the Commonwealth Fund, and a colleague in “Health Care in 2019: Year in Review,” a post on the fund’s blog.
Health Affairs | Vol 38, No 12
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Foundation Funding To Improve Rural Health Care
Grant Watch on the Blog New GrantWatch content appears on Health Affairs Blog under Featured Topics. To receive updates, sign up for Health Affairs Today at www.healthaffairs.org under Newsletter Sign Up. Foundation Funding To Improve Rural Health Care According to a Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Request for Information, fifty-seven million Americans live in rural areas, and such areas “face particular challenges” in accessing health care.
Funders’ Efforts To Prevent Violence In The US
Grant Watch on the Blog New GrantWatch content appears on Health Affairs Blog under Featured Topics. To receive updates, sign up for Health Affairs Today at www.healthaffairs.org under Newsletter Sign Up. Funders’ Efforts To Prevent Violence In The US Alex M. Johnson, a California Wellness Foundation (Cal Wellness) program director, wrote “Don’t Accept Gun Violence as ‘the New Normal,’” an August 5, 2019, online commentary. Cal Wellness has funded in gun violence prevention since 1992.
Violence And The US Health Care Sector: Burden And Response
Violence has significant impacts on the US health care sector, which include the need to care for injured victims and prevent violence to its physicians and employees, as well as the surrounding community. In 2017 violence resulted in about 2.3 million emergency department visits and 376,500 hospitalizations, with an estimated total medical cost of about $8.7 billion. Victims also often need short- and long-term physical and psychological rehabilitation.
Military Health Systems
This month we examine the health systems that serve 1.4 million active duty service members; provide care and coverage for another 8.1 million reservists, retirees, and family members; and provide care for 9.0 million veterans. As the Military Health System (MHS) goes through a major restructuring, it also faces pressures and opportunities similar to those in the civilian sector.
Physicians, Nurses, Disparities, And More
This month’s variety issue of Health Affairs contains papers on physicians, nurses, disparities, global health policy, and more. A few papers use electronically collected data to conduct novel analyses. Physicians In the first of two papers in our Practice of Medicine series, Ming Tai-Seale and coauthors examine how physicians interact with electronic health records (EHRs) at a health care system in California.
BookMarks
Forget ‘Having It All’: How America Messed Up Motherhood—And How To Fix It By WesterveltAmy New York (NY): Seal Press, 2018 320 pp., $27.00 Motherhood in America kind of sucks—and it shouldn’t. That’s the thesis statement behind journalist Amy Westervelt’s Forget “Having It All,” an ambitious book that aims to understand how current notions of motherhood in America came to be.
Community Care For High-Need Patients
Almost everyone wants to live in their own home and community as they age. Yet for many, later age brings frailty and the accumulation of chronic conditions. This month’s issue of Health Affairs examines how we can best provide care in the community for people with advanced illness. Building The Workforce Joanne Spetz and coauthors kick off the issue with an overview of the home care workforce and how to ensure that it is adequately trained and of sufficient size as the demand for care grows.
Social Determinants, Children, And More
As health systems increasingly pay attention to the social determinants of health, this month’s Health Affairs contributes to the evidence base regarding the relationship among programs, policies, living conditions, and the health and well-being of children and families. Family Circumstances Dylan Jackson and coauthors use National Survey of Children’s Health data to analyze the relationship between exposure to violence and health.
Physicians, Medicare, And More
This month’s Health Affairs covers a broad range of topics: from Medicare payment models and access to physicians’ care to improving nutrition, West Virginia’s response to the opioid crisis, and payment policies and patient characteristics in Canada and Europe. Physicians Care transitions pose unique risks for patients. Kira Ryskina and coauthors examine the timing of first physician visits when Medicare patients transition from a hospital stay to a skilled nursing facility (SNF).
New Roles For States In Health Reform Implementation
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 creates a national structure for financing health insurance for low-income Americans. Its national rules eliminate various rating and underwriting practices in the small-group and individual insurance markets.
Funders Supporting Disease Prevention
GrantWatch on the Blog New GrantWatch content appears on Health Affairs Blog under Featured Topics. To receive updates, sign up for Health Affairs Today at www.healthaffairs.org under Newsletter Sign Up. Funders Supporting Disease Prevention Each decade “the Healthy People initiative develops a new set of science-based, 10-year national objectives with the goal of improving the health of all Americans.” In June 2018 Alex M.
Patients As Consumers
As patients have demanded a larger say in their care, they are also expected to play a larger role in selecting their providers and health plans. With increasing amounts of information available to them, but also a growing number of financial considerations when making care choices, this month’s issue of Health Affairs analyzes the ups and downs of expecting patients to act as consumers.
Hospitals, Health IT, And More
This month’s Health Affairs examines topics ranging from hospitals and health information technology (IT) to drug policy and health spending. Additional papers look at cesarean section rates, declining rates of primary care office visits, and Medicare payment models. Hospitals Zack Cooper and coauthors disaggregate the components of growing prices paid by commercial insurers for hospital-based services in the period 2007–14.
Substance Use, Payment, And More
This month’s Health Affairs covers a broad range of topics, including the nation’s ongoing opioid crisis, emerging models designed to pay for improved outcomes, and various ways of considering how much we spend on health care. Substance Use Evidence-based treatment for people with opioid use disorders includes the administration of medication—specifically, buprenorphine, methadone, or naltrexone.
Health Affairs | Vol 37, No 12
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Telehealth
Encompassing a broad range of technologies used to connect clinicians to each other and to their patients, telehealth is an area of substantial investment and innovation. This month’s Health Affairs documents the broad reach of telehealth but also highlights significant areas of unrealized potential.
Health Affairs | Vol 37, No 11
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A Dose Of Reality
There is a certain sense of regret that those of us over fifty may feel when reading the popular literature on healthy living. Much of this genre advances lifestyle changes purporting not only to make us healthier but to extend life as well. But what about all of the years we’ve spent not following these recommendations? Are we not going to live healthily into our eighties and beyond because we failed to adhere to a certain diet or engage in mindfulness practices when we were younger?
Patient Safety
Health care systems have made significant efforts to reduce patient harm due to errors in the nearly two decades since the Institute of Medicine’s To Err Is Human report. Yet our understanding of the scale and types of preventable error has grown, as has our awareness of the varied settings in which harm can occur.
Foundation Funding For Patient Safety
GrantWatch on the Blog New GrantWatch content appears on Health Affairs Blog under Featured Topics. To receive updates, sign up for Health Affairs Today at www.healthaffairs.org under Newsletter Sign Up. Foundation Funding For Patient Safety The National Steering Committee for Patient Safety met for the first time in May 2018.
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