Milbank Memorial Fund & The Milbank Quarterly

Lessons Rising from the Ruins of a Smallpox Hospital | Milbank Memorial Fund My modern high-rise apartment overlooks one of the few historical ruins in New York City. The remains of New York’s smallpox hospital, opened in

In her new On Balance: Policies for Health post, Milbank Memorial Fund President Debra Lubar discusses smallpox eradication and some of the factors that contributed to smallpox’s spread that we still see today, including social drivers of health, inadequate access to health care, and more.

Public Health Bonds: A New Way to Fund a Healthier Future for America | Milbank Memorial Fund America’s public health system is being eroded. Proposed federal cuts would slash core programs by half, even as communities face rising infectious disease outbreaks, worsening chronic disease, and sh...

As public health systems face federal funding cuts and growing threats from infectious and chronic disease, a new Milbank Quarterly Opinion highlights public health bonds as a way to sustain infrastructure and improve health.

Leveraging Insurer-Provided Health Care Price Data to Inform State Policy Solutions | Milbank Memorial Fund Driven mainly by high and variable prices, United States’ health care spending is among the highest in the world. Yet, higher prices make health care less affordable and are often not linked to higher...

New insurer-provided data is shedding light on the wide variation in health care prices. Find out what it shows and how state regulators and health care purchasers can use it to lower heath care costs. #healthcarecosts #pricetransparency

Primary care: The 'front door' of U.S. health care, but too few Americans are getting in | Medical Economics Milbank Memorial Fund leaders say paying more for primary care is a good deal for patients and the finances of the U.S. health care system.

Richard Payerchin compiled some great interviews on @milbankfund.bsky.social's new report on the importance of investing in primary care to combat chronic disease.

Give the transcripts a quick read below in @medicaleconomics.bsky.social ⬇️
www.medicaleconomics.com/view/primary...

Engaging the Victim’s Voice in Public Safety Research | Milbank Memorial Fund I recently attended a National Institutes of Health (NIH) meeting concerned with criminal justice interventions. Speakers emphasized the importance of involving people with lived experience—which ever...

My latest personal reflections for
@milbankfund.bsky.social: Engaging the Victim’s Voice in Public Safety Research.
www.milbank.org/quarterly/op...

Text reads, "Our message to MAHA is clear. Invest in Primary Care." AAFP logo and a right-pointing arrow are at the bottom.

Blue background with white text saying: "VP and Director of the Robert Graham Center and co-author of the Center's latest report clarified that this year, 'Investing in Primary Care: The Missing Strategy in America's Fight Against Chronic Disease' is targeted to the current administration more than fellow researchers and physicians." The AAFP logo and a right-pointing arrow are at the bottom.

The image features text emphasizing the importance of primary care in preventing chronic disease and highlights inadequate investment in primary care in the U.S. The AAFP logo is present in the lower left corner.

The image contains a quote on a blue background from Dr. Yalda Jabbarpour, discussing the role of primary care physicians in addressing chronic disease. The quote emphasizes the need for greater support. The AAFP logo is displayed at the bottom.

Primary care has the power to prevent chronic disease and improve outcomes; however, primary care does not get the funding it needs.

Read more from Yalda Jabbarpour, MD, on this year's Robert Graham Center report and how this research fuels our advocacy. https://bit.ly/4aUPZ0q

Medicaid Work Requirements: Engaging Clinics and Pharmacies to Prevent Disenrollment | Milbank Quarterly The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, enacted on July 4, 2025, established the first nationwide Medicaid work requirement, replacing prior state-specific Section 1115 demonstrations with a uniform federal s...

OBBA/HR 1 introduced a federal work requirement for certain Medicaid beneficiaries. A new open-access Perspective outlines a framework for engaging primary care clinics and community pharmacies in work requirement verification given their contact w/ beneficiaries & Medicaid billing mechanisms

Investing in Primary Care: The Missing Strategy in America's Fight Against Chronic Disease | Milbank Memorial Fund This analysis shows the tangible benefits of primary care access for people with chronic disease, including substantially lower hospitalization rates and health care spending.

Primary care saves lives and lowers costs, new study from the Robert Graham Center, @milbankfund.bsky.social and the Physicians Foundation reaffirms. Patients with a primary care clinician have 54% lower health care spending for chronic disease. Read the full report here: https://buff.ly/imnmX6E

Join The Milbank Memorial Fund & The Physicians Foundation for a webinar THIS THURSDAY Feb 12, at 2 pm ET, on the findings and policy implications of the Health of US Primary Care report on the role of primary care in the prevention and management of chronic disease.

us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

A Five-State All-Payer Claims Database Collaboration: Onpoint Health Data’s Multi-State Behavioral Health Initiative  | Milbank Memorial Fund Takeaways for states considering cross-state all-payer claims database collaborations to assess health care quality, use, or costs.

All-payer claims databases can provide insights into state health care spending, but cross-state analysis is challenging. Learn about the largest APCD collaboration to date in a new States of Health post led by Onpoint Health Data: www.milbank.org/2026/01/a-fi...

Seeing the Whole Field: Balancing Health Goals in Policymaking | Milbank Memorial Fund I was raised in a football family. Not that anyone played. We were Washington, DC NFL fans, with Sundays consumed by the team now called the Commanders.

As Superbowl Sunday approaches, Milbank President Debra Lubar considers what the evolution of football, a dangerous game, can tell us about health policy decision-making @debeaumontfndtn.bsky.social, @tfah.bsky.social @nacchoalerts.bsky.social @asthonews.bsky.social @nashphealth.bsky.social

Advancing Equity: Lean Leader Practices and a Path Forward | Milbank Quarterly Lean management is a sociotechnical approach to quality improvement that aims for consistency in work processes and outcomes. This can be leveraged to reduce inequities by ensuring delivery of high-qu...

ICYMI: Check out, “Advancing Equity: Lean Leader Practices and a Path Forward”

Join our webinar, Winning Public Trust Through Better Health Communication, TOMORROW, February 4 @ 2PM, to hear from leading communicators
@joannekenen.bsky.social, @drjoshs.bsky.social, @ylepidemiologist.bsky.social & top health officials from Maine & Missouri us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

From Tobacco to Ultraprocessed Food: How Industry Engineering Fuels the Epidemic of Preventable Disease | Milbank Quarterly Context: Ultraprocessed foods (UPFs) now dominate the global food supply and are strongly associated with risks for heart disease, cancers, metabolic

The ultra-processed food industry is designing, marketing, and distributing their products like tobacco, according to a new Milbank Quarterly article by Ashely N. Gearhardt of the @umich.edu and Kelly Brownell, and Allan M. Brandt.

@vitalstrategies.org

From Disappointment to Predominance: Medicare Advantage's Ascendancy and Transformation of Medicare | Milbank Quarterly From 2004 to 2024, Medicare Advantage (MA) went from being a “policy disappointment,” covering 12% of all Medicare beneficiaries, to predominance, covering more than one-half (52%), with more growth p...

Don’t miss this Milbank Quarterly Perspective, “From Disappointment to Predominance: Medicare Advantage’s Ascendancy and Transformation of Medicare” by Rick Mayes and Micah Johnson.

National Analysis of the Requirements and Implementation of State Prescription Drug Price Transparency Laws | Milbank Quarterly Prescription drug prices in the United States are substantially higher than in other high-income countries, with US prices reported to be an average of 2.78 times those of other countries in the Organ...

ICYMI: Read a recent Milbank Quarterly Perspective by @Hannah Rahim and @akesselheim.bsky.social on the impact of state prescription drug price transparency laws. @familiesusa.bsky.social

Turf Wars: How Growth and Competitive Shocks Have Affected the Performance and Stability of Community Health Centers | Milbank Quarterly Community health centers (CHCs) are a critical and growing part of the health care safety net, doubling over the past 15 years to expand access to essential health care services to over 31 million pat...

ICYMI: Check out, “Turf Wars: How Growth and Competitive Shocks Have Affected the Performance and Stability of Community Health Centers,” an open-access Milbank Quarterly article by @justinmarkowski.bsky.social of the @uicpublichealth.bsky.social

Incarceration and Psychiatric Emergency Department Visits Among Black Americans | Milbank Quarterly The justice system incarcerates nearly 2.3 million individuals in the United States. Black Americans comprise 40% of those incarcerated despite representing less than 15% of the population. Theoretica...

Don’t miss the open-access Milbank Quarterly article, “Incarceration and Psychiatric Emergency Department Visits Among Black Americans” by Abhery Das, Michael Esposito, Tim Bruckner, and Hedwig Lee

Hear ASTHO members Puthiery Va (Maine CDC) and Sarah Willson (Missouri DHSS), and ASTHO alum Joshua Sharfstein (@johnshopkinssph.bsky.social) address the importance public health communications during @milbankfund.bsky.social's Feb. 4 webinar. Link below.

When Health Insurance Costs More Than the Mortgage - KFF Health News As health care costs skyrocket and federal lawmakers pull back help on insurance premiums, more middle-income families are facing tough choices on health care.

A premium that’s more than a mortgage and a deductible that’s too high to meet. The rising cost of health care is pushing middle-income people to the brink.

@renukarayasam.bsky.social reports ⤵️ kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

A Policy and Regulatory Framework to Promote Care Delivery Redesign and Production Efficiency in Health Care Markets | Milbank Quarterly In this article, we discuss why reliance on transaction prices and market share alone is not sufficient for effective health policy development and regulatory enforcement in health care markets that a...

Don’t miss this open-access Milbank Quarterly Perspective, “A Policy and Regulatory Framework to Promote Care Delivery Redesign and Production Efficiency in Health Care Markets” by Dennis Scanlon, Jillian Harvey, Cheryl L. Damberg, Pratiksha Mahendra Bhagat & Yunfeng Shi

Longitudinal Associations From US State/Local Police and Social Service Expenditures to Suicides and Police-Perpetrated Killings Between Black and White Residents | Milbank Quarterly Reducing police expenditures and increasing housing expenditures may decrease Black–White inequities in years of potential life lost to suicide and police-perpetrated killing.

In a recent open-access Milbank Quarterly article, Devin English of the Rutgers School of Public Health and coauthors examine associations from police and social services expenditures to later suicides and police-perpetrated killings for Black and White residents.

Toward Monitoring and Addressing the Commercial Determinants of Health: Where Can We Go From Here? | Milbank Quarterly This article seeks to advance discussion on two key priorities related to the commercial determinants of health (CDH): 1) the development of mechanisms to measure and monitor the practices of commerci...

ICYMI: Read a recent Milbank Quarterly Perspective on using corporate nonfinancial reporting to understand the impact of corporate practices on health by Raquel Burgess of Yale School of Public Health.

State Health Care Cost Commissions: Their Priorities and How States’ Political Leanings, Commercial Hospital Prices, and Medicaid Spending Predict Their Establishment | Milbank Quarterly This study identifies states that have established health care cost commissions (HCCCs), examines state-level political and economic factors associated with their establishment, and reports which of t...

ICYMI, check out “State Health Care Cost Commissions: Their Priorities and How States’ Political Leanings, Commercial Hospital Prices, and Medicaid Spending Predict Their Establishment” by Brent Fulton, Dan Arnold, Jordan M. Wolf & Richard Scheffler in The Milbank Quarterly.

What Happened in Delaware Following a Statewide Contraceptive Initiative? | Milbank Quarterly Context: The 2015 to 2020 Delaware Contraceptive Access Now (DelCAN) initiative was motivated by Delaware's having among the highest rates of unintended

For a recent open-access Milbank Quarterly article, Constanza Hurtado Acuña and Michael Rendall researched the impact of Delaware’s statewide contraceptive initiative.

Join The Milbank Memorial Fund & The Physicians Foundation for a webinar on February 12, at 2 pm ET, on the findings and policy implications of the Health of US Primary Care report on the role of primary care in the prevention and management of chronic disease.

Join the Milbank Memorial Fund’s February 4 webinar, Winning Public Trust Through Better Health Communication, to hear from leading communicators @joannekenen.bsky.social @drjoshs.bsky.social @ylepidemiologist.bsky.social & top health officials from Maine & Missouri us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Advancing Medicaid Primary Care Population-Based Payment Models: Four Lessons for States - CHCS Blog Primary care is critical for supporting population health in the U.S., yet it has long been underfunded within Medicaid. This is a dynamic time for Medicaid, with states facing increased financial pre...

This blog post explores key opportunities & challenges for Medicaid primary care population-based payment implementation, highlighting priority areas for states to refine model design. bit.ly/4qCR581 @commonwealthfund.org @arnoldventures.bsky.social

Building Support for Legislation to Shed Light on Drug Costs  | Milbank Memorial Fund News article: Long concerned about the impact of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) on pharmaceutical prices, Milbank’s Emerging Leaders Program alumna Kim Chen developed and helped pass 2025 state budg...

CA HHS Assistant Secretary Kimberly Chen saw an opportunity to bring more transparency to pharmacy benefit managers, which negotiate prices on behalf of insurers/employers, but may also drive drug costs. Hear how she developed and helped pass 2025 legislation to license PBMs in a new Q&A.