William R Phillips, Jeongyoung Park, Michael Topmiller
{"title":"Pathways To Primary Care: Charting Trajectories From Medical School Graduation Through Specialty Training.","authors":"William R Phillips, Jeongyoung Park, Michael Topmiller","doi":"10.1377/hlthaff.2024.00893","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2024.00893","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Shortages of primary care physicians threaten access, quality, and equity in US health care. Policy solutions face disinformation about the complex patterns of physician training. This retrospective cohort study used American Medical Association Physician Masterfile and Historical Residency File data to identify physicians' trajectories from medical school graduation through postgraduate training into primary care specialties for doctors of medicine, doctors of osteopathic medicine, and international medical graduates. Sankey diagrams illustrate flows through training programs. Among 353,590 physicians who graduated during the period 2001-15, 11.8 percent pursued initial training in family medicine, 33.5 percent training in internal medicine, and 10.5 percent training in pediatrics. Primary care yield, defined as the percentage of physicians who complete their initial postgraduate training in a primary care specialty and conclude their training in any primary care specialty, was 97.0 percent for family medicine, 35.5 percent for internal medicine, and 54.4 percent for pediatrics. After internal medicine and pediatrics residencies, large percentages of physicians left primary care to train in subspecialties and other fields. Further research must document how many physicians enter careers in primary care practice.</p>","PeriodicalId":519943,"journal":{"name":"Health affairs (Project Hope)","volume":"44 5","pages":"580-588"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144014986","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Stephan Lindner, Kyle Hart, Brynna Manibusan, Kirbee A Johnston, Dennis McCarty, K John McConnell
{"title":"Opioid Use Disorder Medicaid Waivers: The Authors Reply.","authors":"Stephan Lindner, Kyle Hart, Brynna Manibusan, Kirbee A Johnston, Dennis McCarty, K John McConnell","doi":"10.1377/hlthaff.2025.00061","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2025.00061","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":519943,"journal":{"name":"Health affairs (Project Hope)","volume":"44 5","pages":"640-641"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144056699","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Emily M Hawes, Brianna Lombardi, Mukesh Adhikari, Evan Galloway, Laney McDougal, Maura Biszewski, Erin P Fraher
{"title":"Physician Training In Rural And Health Center Settings More Than Doubled, 2008-24.","authors":"Emily M Hawes, Brianna Lombardi, Mukesh Adhikari, Evan Galloway, Laney McDougal, Maura Biszewski, Erin P Fraher","doi":"10.1377/hlthaff.2024.01297","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2024.01297","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Although the federal government has invested in efforts to bolster graduate medical education in rural and underserved areas, no studies have examined whether these programs have succeeded at increasing physician training in these communities. This study measured trends in the number of medical residency training sites in rural and federally qualified health center (FQHC) settings, using data from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. The number of residency programs with training in rural sites increased from 120 (6.18 percent of all programs) in 2008-09 to 412 (14.34 percent) in 2023-24, whereas residencies at FQHC sites grew from 69 (3.55 percent) to 321 (11.17 percent). A large proportion of this expansion has been funded through federal investments: 21.6 percent of rural residencies are Rural Residency Planning and Development programs, and 28 percent of all current FQHC-based residencies are Teaching Health Center programs. National initiatives that create more training in rural and health center sites have the potential to increase access to care for underserved populations.</p>","PeriodicalId":519943,"journal":{"name":"Health affairs (Project Hope)","volume":"44 5","pages":"572-579"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144016623","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Eden Volkov, Jessica Eloso, Arielle Bosworth, Kenneth Finegold, Thomas C Buchmueller
{"title":"Medicaid 'Unwinding:' Much Of The Reduction In Medicaid-Paid Prescriptions Was Offset By Increased Commercial Coverage.","authors":"Eden Volkov, Jessica Eloso, Arielle Bosworth, Kenneth Finegold, Thomas C Buchmueller","doi":"10.1377/hlthaff.2024.01492","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2024.01492","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>With the expiration of the Medicaid continuous coverage condition on March 31, 2023, states began returning to regular eligibility renewals in Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Because of incompleteness of administrative data and lags in the availability of survey data, there is limited understanding of how this \"unwinding\" process has affected insurance coverage or access to care. Using data from IQVIA PayerTrak, a large, nationally representative, all-payer pharmacy transactions database, we examined the trends in prescription drug use during the unwinding period. Leveraging state variation in Medicaid coverage termination start dates, we found that although prescriptions paid for by Medicaid or CHIP fell during unwinding, this decline was mostly offset by an increase in commercial-paid prescriptions. Total prescriptions were unchanged, suggesting that the unwinding did not result in reduced access to medications.</p>","PeriodicalId":519943,"journal":{"name":"Health affairs (Project Hope)","volume":"44 5","pages":"523-530"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143998122","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A Different Type Of Hunger.","authors":"Heather Thomas","doi":"10.1377/hlthaff.2024.01427","DOIUrl":"10.1377/hlthaff.2024.01427","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>A mother of six whose family is food and nutrition insecure fights to access and maintain food benefits in the US.</p>","PeriodicalId":519943,"journal":{"name":"Health affairs (Project Hope)","volume":"44 4","pages":"505-508"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143805276","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kaitlyn M Fruin, Elizabeth L Tung, Jean M Franczyk, Ketaurah James, Andrew J Koetz, Angela K Mason, Wayne M Detmer
{"title":"An Urban Farm-Anchored Produce Prescription Program's Impacts On Weight Reduction.","authors":"Kaitlyn M Fruin, Elizabeth L Tung, Jean M Franczyk, Ketaurah James, Andrew J Koetz, Angela K Mason, Wayne M Detmer","doi":"10.1377/hlthaff.2024.01345","DOIUrl":"10.1377/hlthaff.2024.01345","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In 2016, the Chicago Botanic Garden and Lawndale Christian Health Center collaborated to develop the Farm on Ogden, a 20,000-square-foot agriculture facility in a historically disinvested food desert in Chicago, Illinois. The partnership's VeggieRx produce prescription program refers patients to the Farm on Ogden for free produce boxes, nutrition counseling, and cooking classes. We first describe this unique cross-sector collaboration and then report on our evaluation of the VeggieRx program for the period January 2016-December 2021, using a retrospective propensity score-weighted cohort design. The overall sample included 680 VeggieRx participants and 978 weighted controls. At eighteen months, the VeggieRx group experienced a mean body weight difference of -6.71 pounds and percentage body weight difference of -4.7 percent relative to control. Our results suggest that Food Is Medicine interventions that anchor produce prescriptions to place-based strategies can improve health outcomes while investing in local communities.</p>","PeriodicalId":519943,"journal":{"name":"Health affairs (Project Hope)","volume":"44 4","pages":"475-482"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143805284","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Food, Nutrition, And Health.","authors":"Donald E Metz, The Editorial Staff","doi":"10.1377/hlthaff.2025.00371","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2025.00371","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":519943,"journal":{"name":"Health affairs (Project Hope)","volume":"44 4","pages":"381"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143805298","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Colin M Schwartz, Alexa M Wohrman, Emily J Holubowich, Lisa D Sanders, Kevin G Volpp
{"title":"What Is 'Food Is Medicine,' Really? Policy Considerations On The Road To Health Care Coverage.","authors":"Colin M Schwartz, Alexa M Wohrman, Emily J Holubowich, Lisa D Sanders, Kevin G Volpp","doi":"10.1377/hlthaff.2024.01343","DOIUrl":"10.1377/hlthaff.2024.01343","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Food Is Medicine interventions are increasingly gaining attention from policy makers, payers, and health care professionals as a promising approach to addressing diet-related chronic health conditions in the health care setting, given the increasing burden and cost of these conditions. The American Heart Association defines Food Is Medicine as the provision of healthy food such as medically tailored meals, medically tailored groceries, and produce prescriptions to treat or manage specific clinical conditions in a way that is integrated with and paid for by the health care sector. Importantly, Food Is Medicine is distinct from, yet complementary to, food and nutrition assistance programs and population-level healthy food policies and programs. In this article, we discuss the importance of this distinction and the prerequisites for successfully integrating Food Is Medicine interventions within the health care system: a standard definition of Food Is Medicine focused on medically tailored meals, medically tailored groceries, and produce prescriptions; a research base showing clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness; and implementation that ensures fidelity and quality.</p>","PeriodicalId":519943,"journal":{"name":"Health affairs (Project Hope)","volume":"44 4","pages":"406-412"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143805309","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Reclaiming Ancestral Abundance.","authors":"Jesse Lipman, Kahaulahilahi Vegas, Fiore Anderson, Kaui Tuihalafatai","doi":"10.1377/hlthaff.2024.01433","DOIUrl":"10.1377/hlthaff.2024.01433","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This article tells the story of a generation of actions taken by the residents of the working-class Honolulu, Hawai'i, neighborhood of Kalihi Valley to merge the efforts of a federally qualified health center with Indigenous and cultural knowledge and practice to address diet-related illness. It recounts the narrative of Captain James Cook's arrival in 1778, which marked the beginning of resource extraction and the decline of traditional sustainable practices in Hawai'i. Fast forward to 2023, when alarmingly high rates of food insecurity in Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander populations highlighted the ongoing effects of this history. Kōkua Kalihi Valley Comprehensive Family Services (KKV) has taken a proactive approach to addressing these challenges. Through community engagement and culturally relevant practices, KKV emphasizes the importance of ancestral knowledge and Hawaiian values, promoting a decolonized understanding of leadership and health. The initiative includes community food systems practices that foster connections to the land and encourage the revitalization of traditional Polynesian food practices, ultimately aiming to enhance the well-being of both individuals and the community.</p>","PeriodicalId":519943,"journal":{"name":"Health affairs (Project Hope)","volume":"44 4","pages":"498-504"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143805303","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}