JAMA Health Forum Editors' Summary

JAMA Health Forum Editor John Ayanian, MD, MPP, and Deputy Editor Melinda Buntin, PhD, talk with Anne N. Thorndike, MD, MPH, about the challenge of connecting Medicaid Accountable Care Organization (ACO) members with flexible benefits to address food and housing insecurity issues. Dr Thorndike and colleagues used a mixed-methods approach to conduct this evaluation of the implementation of a novel program in an ACO in Massachusetts.

Related Content:

• Assessment of the Massachusetts Flexible Services Program to Address Food and Housing Insecurity in a Medicaid Accountable Care Organization

JAMA Health Forum Editor John Ayanian, MD, MPP, and Deputy Editor Melinda Buntin, PhD, discuss with Brystana G. Kaufman, PhD, Duke Margolis Center for Health Policy, how health care use and spending differ for individuals residing in the community or nursing homes who are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid. They also explore the potential value of more tailored approaches to integrating benefits covered by these 2 public insurance programs.

Related Content:

• Health Care Use and Spending Among Need-Based Subgroups of Medicare Beneficiaries With Full Medicaid Benefits

In this interview, JAMA Health Forum Editor John Ayanian, MD, MPP, and Deputy Editor Melinda Buntin, PhD, speak with Megan B. Cole, PhD, MPH, about changes in performance measures and use of ambulatory services provided by federally qualified health centers in the US during the first 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Related Content:

• Changes in Performance Measures and Service Volume at US Federally Qualified Health Centers During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Adjusting quality measurements and payments for health care services to reflect the social as well as clinical risk factors of patients is controversial. JAMA Health Forum Editor John Z. Ayanian, MD, MPP, and Deputy Editor Melinda B. Buntin, PhD, discuss a structured approach that can be used to make decisions about social risk factor adjustment in Medicare with Yale’s Kasia J. Lipska, MD.

Related Content:

• Adjustment for Social Risk Factors in a Measure of Clinician Quality Assessing Acute Admissions for Patients With Multiple Chronic Conditions

In this interview, JAMA Health Forum Editor John Ayanian, MD, MPP, and Deputy Editor Melinda Buntin, PhD, speak with David A. Hyman, JD, MD, about the role of paid malpractice claims in the past as a predictor of future paid malpractice claims, including how this link applies to lower-risk and higher-risk medical specialties.

Related Content:

• Association of Past and Future Paid Medical Malpractice Claims

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted health care in many domains, including mental health services. JAMA Health Forum Editor John Ayanian, MD, MPP, and Deputy Editor Melinda Buntin, PhD, discuss with Ryan K. McBain, PhD, MPH, of RAND Corporation how the use of mental health care—both in-person and telehealth visits—changed for commercially insured adults during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Related Content:

• Mental Health Service Utilization Rates Among Commercially Insured Adults in the US During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Medicare spending growth per beneficiary has been historically low since the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010. JAMA Health Forum Deputy Editor Melinda B. Buntin, PhD, of Vanderbilt University, speaks with JAMA Health Forum Editor John Ayanian, MD, MPP, and Associate Editor Zirui Song, MD, PhD, about the factors that explain this slowdown in Medicare spending and the implications for policy makers, physicians, and Medicare beneficiaries.

Related Content:

• Trends in and Factors Contributing to the Slowdown in Medicare Spending Growth, 2007-2018

In this conversation with Zoe Bouchelle, MD, of the University of Pennsylvania, JAMA Health Forum Editor John Ayanian, MD, MPP, and Deputy Editor Melinda Buntin, PhD, discuss the magnitude of the increase in food insufficiency among US households following the discontinuation of the COVID-19 pandemic–related monthly child tax credit payments.

Related Content:

• Food Insufficiency Following Discontinuation of Monthly Child Tax Credit Payments Among Lower-Income US Households

Authors Andrew Feher, PhD, of Covered California, and Adrianna McIntyre, PhD, MPP, MPH, of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, speak with JAMA Health Forum Editor John Ayanian, MD, MPP, and Deputy Editor Melinda Buntin, PhD, about research on the best ways to help people losing Medicaid coverage to enroll in health insurance Marketplace plans so they do not become uninsured.

Related Content:

• Effect of Personalized Outreach on Medicaid to Marketplace Coverage Transitions
• Evidence-Based Outreach Strategies for Minimizing Coverage Loss During Unwinding

• Receipt of Out-of-State Telemedicine Visits Among Medicare Beneficiaries During the COVID-19 Pandemic
• Takeaways From 2 Key Studies on Interstate Telehealth Use Among Medicare Fee-for-Service Beneficiaries