Susan L. Lovejoy

Value-based purchasing (VBP) refers to a broad set of performance-based payment strategies that link financial incentives to health care providers performance on a set of defined measures in an effort to achieve better value. This report summarizes the current state of knowledge about VBP programs and offers recommendations for the design, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation of VBP programs."

To learn how hospital labor and delivery units can achieve effective and sustainable teamwork practices and how much such practices affect staff experiences and patient outcomes, RAND researchers studied five units as they implemented improvements in their teamwork practices over a one-year period. They identified some key factors required by any given strategy for teamwork improvement but no standard template for implementation.

Arkansas' Tobacco Settlement Proceeds Act invests the state's share of the tobacco Master Settlement Agreement funds in seven health-related programs. This report evaluates the activities and progress of each of the funded programs in achieving its goals and updates trends in outcome measures developed to monitor effects of the funded programs on smoking and other health-related outcome.

The Allegheny County (Pa.) Maternal Depression Initiative is a local system-change effort focused on increasing identification, referrals, and engagement in treatment as needed and appropriate for women at high risk for maternal depression. This monograph describes how and why the initiative was created, the processes through which it was implemented and evaluated, and the results and lessons learned.