Publications

The Milbank Memorial Fund has published The Milbank Quarterly, a peer-reviewed journal of population health and health policy since 1923. The Fund also publishes reports, issue briefs (shorter papers), and case studies. It has commissioned and published reports since early in the last century. 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.  If you would like to suggest a publication idea within our key areas of state health leadership, primary care, or sustainable health care costs, please email Communications Director Christine Haran at charan@milbank.org.

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  • Report

    Five States Leading Efforts to Increase Primary Care Spending

    March 2025 Vida Foubister

    This series of profiles highlights five states that are in different stages of enacting and implementing primary care spending targets, including early planning and coalition building; active efforts to engage state policymakers; and implementation or revision of an enacted state policy.   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

  • Report

    Supporting Federally Qualified Health Center Participation in Value-Based Payment to Improve Quality and Achieve Savings

    September 2024 Aditya Mahalingam-Dhingra Vikki Wachino Kim Prendergast

    The authors offer guidelines on designing successful value-based payment contracts for FQHCs and recommend action steps for CMS, state Medicaid agencies, and FQHCs that will enable more of these safety-net providers to participate in value-based care — and realize savings as well as improved quality for patients.  More

  • Issue Brief

    Defining the State Role in Primary Care Reform

    May 2024 Lauryn Walker Lisa Dulsky Watkins Christopher F. Koller

    States should consider six key activities to prioritize resources and use their authority most effectively.   More

  • Issue Brief

    It Takes Two to Tango: Creating an Effective State–Federal Partnership for Primary Care Reform

    May 2024 Lauryn Walker Shannon Dowler Barbra Rabson Bob Rauner

    This brief provides seven recommendations for how the federal government can support states in their primary care reform efforts.   More

  • Report

    Considerations for Statewide Advanced Primary Care Programs

    March 2024 Howard Haft Craig Jones

    In this report, we share insights gained from our experience working with CMMI on innovative state-led primary care programs in Vermont and Maryland, presenting key elements of approaches to invest new primary care dollars.  More

  • Testimony

    Testimony: How Primary Care Improves Health Care Efficiency

    March 2024 Christopher F. Koller

    Invited testimony by Milbank Memorial Fund President Christopher Koller at the US Senate Budget Hearing on How Primary Care Improves Health Care Efficiency.  More

  • Report

    The Health of US Primary Care: 2024 Scorecard Report — No One Can See You Now

    February 2024 Yalda Jabbarpour Anuradha Jetty Hoon Byun Anam Siddiqi Stephen Petterson Jeongyoung Park

    This year’s Scorecard report assesses the health of primary care at the federal level using measures of access, financing, workforce/training, and research  More

  • Issue Brief

    Capturing Primary Care Delivery: A Versatile Approach to Identifying Primary Care in Claims Data

    December 2023 Jonathan Staloff Max Birger Lingmei Zhou Ashok Reddy Christopher Chen Judy Zerzan-Thul Joshua M. Liao

    A new versatile, three-step approach to identifying primary care services in claims data incorporates information about clinician, organization, and facility types and better reflects real-world practice.   More