Health Economics: Blogs, newsletters, and other websites

AcademyHealth is a professional society for health services researchers and health policy analysts. AcademyHealth produces a wealth of publications, ranging from newsletters to issue briefs to monographs and special reports.

AHRQ supports research that helps people make more informed decisions and improves the quality of health care services. The Website provides access to reports, data, and surveys on a variety of topics in health economics (e.g. health care spending, health care costs, etc.).

The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research is a private, nonpartisan, non-profit institution that publishes free papers and reports on a variety of health economics topics (Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, the economics of health care reform, pharmaceutical costs, health insurance costs, etc.). Podcasts of discussions between experts on a variety of health economics topics are available on the Website.

America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) is the national association representing nearly 1,300 member companies providing health insurance coverage to more than 200 million Americans. Access reports and analysis on health insurance plans, cost, and reform on the Website.

The American Society of Health Economists is a newly formed professional organization dedicated to promoting excellence in health economics research in the United States. ASHEcon is an affiliate of the International Health Economics Association.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis, part of the Department of Commerce, produces economic accounts statistics that enable government and business decision-makers, researchers, and the American public to follow and understand the performance of the Nation's economy. To do this, BEA collects source data, conducts research and analysis, develops and implements estimation methodologies, and disseminates statistics to the public.

The Center for Studying Health System Change is a non-partisan, policy research organization. It designs and conducts studies focused on the U.S. health care system, focusing on the national and local market forces driving change in health care. Access to issue briefs, data tables, articles, and analyses on topics in health economics is available on its Website.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is a federal agency that provides access to programs, reports, and information on Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, and HIPAA. Access surveys, reports, and data from its Website.

A program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Changes in Health Care Financing and Organization bridges the health policy and health services research communities by providing public and private decision-makers with usable and timely information on health care policy, financing, and market developments. Access findings briefs, reports, policy briefs, newsletters, grantee publications, and a list of hot topics on a variety of health economics issues.

Commonwealth Fund is a private foundation that aims to promote a high performing health care system that achieves better access, improved quality, and greater efficiency, particularly for society's most vulnerable, including low-income people, the uninsured, minority Americans, young children, and elderly adults. Access reports, data, interactive maps, surveys, and case studies on a variety of health economics issues.

The Cost Effectiveness Analysis Registry is a comprehensive database of 2,576 cost-utility analyses on a wide variety of diseases and treatments.

The Council on Health Care Economics and Policy is an independent, non-partisan deliberative council of experts that identify critical issues generated by health system change, analyze the economic impact of such changes, and disseminate findings to national policy makers, health services researchers, industry leaders, and the general public. Access speeches and presentations and very limited access to some publications and conference briefs on its Website.

For more than 20 years, the Dartmouth Atlas Project has documented glaring variations in how medical resources are distributed and used in the United States. The project uses Medicare data to provide information and analysis about national, regional, and local markets, as well as hospitals and their affiliated physicians.

EBRI is a nonprofit organization that aims to contribute to, encourage, and enhance the development of sound employee benefit programs and sound public policy through objective research and education. Access issue briefs on health care costs, health benefits analysis, health insurance, and a variety of other issues in health economics.

The European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies supports and promotes evidence-based health policy-making through comprehensive and rigorous analysis of the dynamics of health care systems in Europe.

This is a blog from Health Affairs, a leading journal of health policy thought and research.

Health Business Blog is a blog by David E. Williams, co-founder of MedPharma Partners LLC, strategy consultant to pharma, biotech, device, and technology enabled healthcare services industries. The blog focuses mainly on business issues in health care; many posts deal with health economics.

Health Services Research Information Central, a resource portal, provides access to health economics data, key organizations, and reports.

As noted on the blog's site, The Incidental Economist is a blog (mostly) about the U.S. health care system and its organization, how it works, how it fails us, and what to do about it. All blog authors have professional expertise in an area relevant to the health care system. Main contributors Austin Frakt and Aaron Carroll are researchers and professors in health economics and health services.

The ISPOR promotes the science of pharmacoeconomics (health economics) and outcomes research (the scientific discipline that evaluates the effect of health care interventions on patient well-being including clinical outcomes, economic outcomes, and patient-reported outcomes) and facilitates the translation of this research into useful information for healthcare decision-makers to ensure that society allocates scarce health care resource wisely, fairly, and efficiently.

Kaiser Family Foundation is a non-profit, private operating foundation focusing on the major health care issues facing the U.S., as well as the U.S. role in global health policy. The Website provides health care research and health policy analysis papers as well as a large-scale health news and information service and a series of specialized Websites (i.e. costs/insurance), featuring both data they produce as well as the latest and best data from others.

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) is an independent Congressional agency established by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (P.L. 105-33) to advise the U.S. Congress on issues affecting the Medicare program.

The National Academy of Medicine is an independent, nonprofit organization that works outside of government to provide unbiased and authoritative advice to decision makers and the public. Established in 1970, the NAM is the health arm of the National Academy of Sciences. Access reports, agendas, and briefings on health economics from its Website.

The National Center for Health Statistics' Website provides access to reports, data, and statistics on a variety of health economics topics: health insurance, economics of access to health care, health care expenditures. Access data tools (i.e., Health Data Interactive, which allows the user to take tables with national health statistics and customize it by age, gender, race/ethnicity, and geographic location) from its Website.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development Health Data section provides access to statistics and indicators on health and health systems across OECD countries.

The RAND Corporation is at the forefront of research on health insurance and managed care, conducting high-profile studies on a variety of topics, including the influence of insurance coverage on access to health care and on health outcomes. RAND’s 15-year Health Insurance Experiment, which began in 1971, is considered the most important study of health insurance ever conducted, laying the groundwork for future research on health care quality and coverage and on managed care.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is a non-profit, grant-making, and research organization. Access reports and data on health economics topics such as health insurance, access to care, and health care and prescription drug costs from its Website.

The Urban Institute compiles detailed state and national data on insurance coverage and analyzes Medicare, Medicaid, and health care reform options. Access reports on various issues in health economics, mainly focusing on insurance, from its Website.

The Department of Health Systems Governance and Financing (HGF) supports Member States to strengthen policies and institutions related in terms of governance and financing. A major focus is the provision of technical support for the development of policies and strategies, as well as the development of methods, tools and standards to collect, evaluate and use information and evidence in the policy development and implementation cycle. In addition, HGF works in partnership with multilateral and bilateral organizations to maximize this support to countries with the goal of driving progress to universal health coverage, all people obtaining the health services they need without facing financial hardship as a result of paying for services.