ASPE Issue Brief

This issue brief examines how Medicare Advantage Special Needs Plans (SNPs) address the care needs of people living with dementia (PLWD) and their caregivers.

Unpaid caregivers play a vital role in supporting older adults and people with disabilities to remain in their homes and communities. They often face substantial financial and emotional strain from the burden of caregiving. In response, federal and state policymakers have advanced proposals to offer targeted tax relief to caregivers.

This Issue Brief explores opportunities that technology-enabled care (TEC) offers to help meet patient and provider needs for high-valued coordinated care to improve health outcomes. It explores literature surrounding existing available TEC options, as well as economic and payment issues that influence whether this is taken up.

This issue brief looks at changes in the utilization of personal care services among Medicaid beneficiaries from 2019 to 2020.

Increasing innovation in medical products is a policy priority. A first step to understanding changes in the level of innovation is to determine how to measure the baseline of innovation. Existing research employs a variety of measurement methods–scientific, therapeutic, and economic measures–to study trends in medical product (e.g., drugs, biologics, devices) innovation.

Providing compensation to clinical research participants to offset the costs associated with participation is often suggested as a way to improve recruitment and retention. However, relatively little is known about the landscape of compensation in clinical research.

Spending on biologics—large, complex molecules made from a living source—has been increasing over time and now represents nearly half of all U.S. prescription drug spending. Biosimilar competition for biologics is limited.

Increasing patient engagement in clinical trials offers opportunities to improve enrollment and retention in clinical trials, helping ensure interventions can be evaluated effectively and that clinical research dollars are used efficiently.

This brief describes how enhancing linked data infrastructure across health and human services programs can improve efficiency, increase transparency through strengthening outcomes research, and empower patients and families to make more informed choices.

The cost of raising a family in America is high and continues to rise, with inflation rising by 23 percent between 2020 and 2025. For working families, some of the largest nondiscretionary expenses continue to be health care and child care.