Publications

The Milbank Memorial Fund has published The Milbank Quarterly, a peer-reviewed journal of population health and health policy since 1923. It has commissioned and published reports since early in the last century and, beginning in the early 1990s, published a series called Milbank Reports. From 1999 to 2013, the Fund co-published with the University of California Press a series of books titled California/Milbank Books on Health and the Public. The Fund currently publishes reports, issue briefs (shorter papers), case studies, and Milbank-supported reports, which are published with partner organizations. If you would like to suggest a publication idea within our key areas of state health leadership, primary care, or affordability, please email Communications Director Christine Haran at charan@milbank.org.

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  • Report

    States Lead Efforts to Increase Primary Care Spending

    March 2025 Vida Foubister

    More people in the US are struggling to find appointments with a primary care doctor or clinic for checkups and sick visits. In fact, 30% of adults…  More

  • Bringing Balance to the Market: A Roadmap for Improving Health Insurance Affordability Through Rate Review

    February 2025 Sabrina Corlette Karen Davenport

    Unsustainable increases in health care costs are leading to high rates of medical debt, sapping the vitality of small businesses, straining state budgets, and dampening wage growth. States have the power to help reduce health care costs, and several are pursuing policies to do so.   More

  • Report

    The Health of US Primary Care: 2025 Scorecard Report — The Cost of Neglect

    February 2025 Yalda Jabbarpour Anuradha Jetty Hoon Byun Anam Siddiqi Jeongyoung Park

    This 2025 Primary Care Scorecard spotlights the downward cycle of financing for primary care, describing how persistent challenges in primary care arise from insufficient investment (or in the case of training, misplaced investment) and a fee-for-service (FFS) payment model that rewards volume rather than continuous, whole-person care. This report highlights how these systemic financial issues not only undermine the effectiveness of primary care delivery but, more importantly, jeopardize the overall health of our communities in the following ways.  More

  • Report

    Lessons Learned from State Efforts to Slow and Shift Health Care Spending

    February 2025 Robert Seifert Emma Rourke Mary Jo Condon

    This report describes the experiences of states that have designed and implemented policies to pursue these multiple targets and gathers lessons from their experiences to inform future policy development. Interviews with state officials and a multi-state convening revealed the strategies states used to establish their targets and their experiences implementing them. Officials described challenges to implementation and efforts to overcome them.  More

  • Issue Brief

    A Menu of State Choices for Addressing Unaffordable Growth in Hospital Commercial Prices

    January 2025 Anna Rothenberg Michael Bailit

    This brief outlines seven potential strategies to address high and rapidly rising hospital prices, accompanied by examples from states that have successfully implemented these approaches.  More

  • Fact Sheet

    All About Rising Health Care Costs and What Legislators Can Do to Ease the Burden: Legislator Guides

    January 2025

    In a two-part primer for legislators, the Peterson-Milbank Program for Sustainable Health Care Costs explains health care cost trends and leading cost drivers, as well as state policies to track and slow health care spending.  More

  • Fact Sheet

    Medicaid Reimbursement Strategies for Community Health Workers with IMPaCT Care: Virtual Convening of Milbank State Leadership Network

    January 2025 Sofia Espinosa Mary Louise Gilburg

    EVENT DATE: December 23, 2024  Community health workers, promotores, and community health representatives (CHW/P/CHR) address…  More

  • Issue Brief

    Pinpointing Performance: Improving Health Care Cost Growth Target Attribution Reporting for Providers

    December 2024 Grace Flaherty

    State health care cost growth target programs aim to control health care spending by setting an annual goal for the maximum rate at which health care costs should increase that is tied to income and/or economic growth. In addition to reporting spending growth at the state, insurer market, and individual insurer levels, states with cost growth target programs report spending growth for large provider organizations, such as health systems and hospitals. Reporting on provider organization cost growth is an important strategy for keeping providers accountable for constraining spending growth. However, accurately attributing spending to these large provider entities can be challenging.  More

  • Why Policies to Improve Health Care Affordability Are Important for Employers

    December 2024

    In this Peterson-Milbank Program for Sustainable Health Care Cost-sponsored video produced by the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser…  More

  • Toolkit

    Medicaid Reimbursement for Community Health Worker Services: Model State Plan Amendment & Other Guidance

    November 2024 Annie Cloke Margarita Hart Janée Tyus Dawn Alley Shreya Kangovi

    Community health workers, promotores, and community health representatives have historically relied on a patchwork of grants for funding, but more than half of state Medicaid programs have now implemented some form of CHW/P/CHR coverage and payment policy. This toolkit provides model language for state Medicaid leaders and CHW/P/CHR advocates to use as they develop State Plan Amendments and accompanying guidance documents to establish coverage and payment for CHW/P/CHR services.  More