Research Associate
Health Policy Center
Rachel Burton is a Research Associate in the Urban Institute's Health Policy Center, where she studies strategies to improve the quality of health care. Prior to coming to the Urban Institute in the Summer of 2010, Rachel was a Program Examiner in the White House's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for three years, where her portfolio included the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the expansion of Federal comparative effectiveness research activities, and health information privacy laws and regulations. Prior to OMB, Rachel held a variety of health policy graduate internships, which allowed her to co-author a report to Congress while at the Congressional Research Service, to write articles while at the National Conference of State Legislatures, and to provide research assistance to the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions and the Government Accountability Office. Rachel holds an M.P.P. degree from Georgetown University in Health Policy and a B.A. degree from the University of Pennsylvania in English.
Publications
| Viewing 1-4 of 4. Most recent posts listed first. | |
Patient-Centered Medical Home Recognition Tools: A Comparison of Ten Surveys' Content and Operational Details (Research Report)This report compares ten provider survey tools designed to measure the extent to which a practice is a 'patient-centered medical home' (PCMH). These tools are primarily used for recognition purposes (i.e., to qualify for entry into a payment pilot or demonstration), as opposed to for practice self-improvement, research/evaluation, or quality measurement. Our analysis, Our analysis, conducted for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, compares these ten tools' operational details (e.g., price, whether a site visit is required) and their content emphases (i.e., the different practice capabilities that the tools emphasize). We conclude by discussing issues for payers to consider when selected a PCMH recognition tool.
| Posted to Web: March 01, 2012 | Publication Date: March 01, 2012 |
Health Policy Brief: Next Steps for ACOs (Policy Briefs)This Health Affairs brief provides an overview of accountable care organizations (ACOs), which are networks of physicians and other providers that agree to be held accountable for the cost and quality of the full continuum of care delivered to a group of patients. The brief covers the origins of the ACO concept, describes what makes ACOs different from existing health plans and provider arrangements, and summarizes the current status of adoption by Medicare and private health insurance plans. It also notes that based on the results of a five-year demonstration, ACOs will likely be able to improve clinical care quality but may have a harder time generating meaningful savings.
| Posted to Web: February 09, 2012 | Publication Date: January 31, 2012 |
Accountable Care Organizations in Medicare and the Private Sector: A Status Update (Policy Briefs/Timely Analysis of Health Policy Issues)This issue paper examines the latest developments in accountable care organizations (ACOs), including a look at the final regulations on ACOs issued in October 2011 by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Written by the Urban Institute’s Bob Berenson and Rachel Burton, this paper provides an overview of ACOs, the key complaints about CMS' proposed regulations and their resolution in the final regulations, and the status of adoption of this new model for delivering health care by both Medicare and private health insurance plans. This paper is supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
| Posted to Web: November 03, 2011 | Publication Date: November 03, 2011 |
Will the Patient-Centered Medical Home Transform the Delivery of Health Care? (Research Report)This status report on the patient-centered medical home covers such topics as: What is a medical home? Where did the concept come from? How are medical homes assessed and paid? Do medical homes actually work? How does the health reform law encourage medical homes? The paper, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, concludes that the medical home model has the potential to transform health care delivery, but organizations promoting the model should tread carefully because enthusiasm for the approach may not be borne out in evidence of success. Pilots should be completed and evaluated, and the model should be recalibrated before it is broadly expanded.
| Posted to Web: August 15, 2011 | Publication Date: August 01, 2011 |
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