Physician Services

The U.S. behavioral health (BH) workforce faces significant shortages and distribution disparities, hindering access to quality care and worsening health outcomes. A comprehensive, centralized database of BH providers is vital for advancing patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR), comparative effectiveness research (CER), and evidence-based policymaking.

This report outlines the major issues faced by the U.S. health care workforce. It addresses medical, dental and behavioral health components of the workforce as well as direct care workers. The report also describes opportunities for progress to address these issues and existing activities supported by the Department to address these issues.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) released new research on spending and utilization trends of Medicare Part B drugs, drugs administered in physicians' office or hospital outpatient departments rather than being purchased at the pharmacy counter or by mail order.

The objectives of this research effort were to collect feedback through interviews with physicians in small rural practices on the initial implementation of Medicare’s Quality Payment Program in 2017, a new value-based purchasing program for Medicare physicians.

This issue brief summarizes recent trends in: a) the degree to which physicians accept new Medicare and privately insured patients; and b) Medicare beneficiaries’ access to care before and after the enactment of the Affordable Care Act. [7 PDF Pages]

By: Melinda Beeuwkes Buntin, Steven Zuckerman, Robert Berenson, Anant Patel, Teryl Nuckols RAND Health / Urban Institute

Report authors: Melony E.S.Sorbero, Cheryl L. Damberg, Rebecca Shaw, Stephanie Telekie, Susan Lovejoy, Alison Dechristofaro, Jake Dembosky, Cynthia Shuster

This report describes state medical boards' disciplinary processes, assessed measurement of disciplinary performance, and identified practices that medical boards believe effectively improve their functioning. Finding ways to assess medical boards' performance is important because states have given them a key role in safeguarding medical quality and patient safety.