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Room for Interpretation: Causes of Variation in County Medicaid Asset Transfer Rates, Opportunities for Cost Reduction
[PDF]New York State’s assumption of county Medicaid administration could reduce costs, but big savings will depend on improved administrative processes, according to this Institute report. The report examines differences in Medicaid nursing home eligibility denials among counties as an illustration of the challenges the state will face in taking over administration of Medicaid.
Courtney E. Burke, with Barbara Stubblebine and Kelly Stengel, August 2010
Medicaid Policy and Long-Term Care Spending: An Interactive View
[PDF]Institute experts have applied an interactive measure that proves better at explaining wide variations in states' long-term care spending than individual measures analyzed in previous research. The index considers multiple factors, including coverage policies, nursing home payment rates and others. It may assist states in developing new policies to enhance care for elderly and disabled residents, while limiting costs.
James W. Fossett and Courtney E. Burke, August 2010
Thinking Ahead: Health Care Trends
[PDF]This presentation for the Albany Medical Center Horizons Strategic Planning Committee provides an overview of the current health system and what will change under federal legislation, and suggests how the health system might change in the next five-10 years.
Courtney Burke, April 20, 2010
Q&A: What Federal Health Reform Means for the States
[PDF]The effort to reform health care at the national level is a complex one. If federal legislation ultimately passes, the states will need to implement mandated changes and pay for them. The Institute's director of health policy research offers a primer of the challenges that states may face.
Courtney Burke, January 2010
Health Care Reform: What You Need to Know and
How it Will Affect New York State
[PDF]Courtney Burke, who directs the Institute's Health Policy Research Center, discussed federal health reform and its effect on New York State in presentations to the State Academy of Public Administration and the Schenectady Business and Women's Association. The presentation includes a look at similarities and differences in House and Senate bills, the effective dates of various provisions and their potential impacts on the state.
Courtney Burke, January 2010
The Weakening of the States
[PDF]The role of the states in American government is weakening, according to this report released at the Institute's first national conference on states' long-term budget gaps. There are three main causes: The Great Recession has strained state government finances to near the breaking point, while increasing the need for services. Medicaid continues to put heavy pressure on the finances of every state. And the information revolution has produced a de-emphasis on states generally by creating the false impression that more and more of domestic government can be micromanaged from Washington.
Richard P. Nathan, November 30, 2009
Gold, Silver, and Bronze: The Important Role of Product Standardization in Health Insurance Reform
[PDF]National health reform will rely on consumer choice and competition to control costs whether or not there is a public insurance option, according to this Institute report. Rational consumer choice, however, is difficult without standardizing health insurance plans, so that value can be easily compared. States may have to play a key role in such standardization.
Courtney Burke with Dina Belloff, November 10, 2009
Companion piece: State Case Studies: Product Standardization in Small Group and Individual Insurance Markets
The Role of States in National Health Reform
[PDF]Health insurance was the topic of the Tenth Binghamton Symposium on Health Care Management and Policy at Binghamton University's School of Management. Courtney Burke, director of the Rockefeller Institute's Health Policy Research Center, spoke about the role of the states in implementing national health reform efforts. Burke covered such topics as financing, administration, implementation and the need to address issues not covered in federal legislation, like cost and quality considerations.
Courtney Burke, October 10, 2009
The More Things Change:
The New NIH Guidelines on Human Stem Cell Research
Many assumed that the Obama administration would usher in a sea change from the previous administration by expanding support from the National Insitutes of Health for human embryonic stem cell research and reducing the patchwork of state and federal regulations that currently governs it. In this article, Michelle N. Meyer and James W. Fossett of the Rockefeller Institute's Health Policy Research Center conclude that changes in stem cell research from the Bush era are actually likely to be limited in scope.
Michelle N. Meyer and James W. Fossett, Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal, Fall 2009
Managing Risk in Health Insurance Markets:
A Challenge for States in the Midst of Health Care Reform
[PDF]States seeking to manage health-insurance risk while providing coverage to more residents should apply several strategies at once, say the Institute's Courtney Burke and Harvard University's Katherine Swartz in this report. Strategies include a requirement that individuals purchase insurance, creation of an insurance exchange, and merger of small group and individual markets.
Courtney Burke and Katherine Swartz, September 10, 2009
