Coming Soon – NASHP’s Center for State Health Care System Costs!
With support from Arnold Ventures, the National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) is expanding its capacity to help states address health care costs by establishing a Health Care Cost Hub with two divisions. One division continues the work of the Center for State Rx Drug Pricing, and the new division – the Center for State Health Care System Costs – will launch late this fall.
Over the next two years, the center will:
- Develop and disseminate hospital transparency model legislation;
- Examine earlier efforts to control costs, such as voluntary hospital budget reviews, for lessons and strategies to inform future work;
- Convene and support states engaged in health system spending growth caps/global budgets;
- Leverage public purchasing power; and
- Support reference pricing initiatives.
To guide this new work, a group of state officials will be invited to serve on an advisory council to develop ideas, strategies, and tools to advance effective cost controls. In the coming months, NASHP plans to hold summits with state officials, organize ad hoc working groups, develop model laws and regulations, publish policy briefs, best practice analyses, and how-to guides, and share findings through webinars, its weekly e-newsletter, its annual conference, and provide direct technical assistance to states.
Planning for the center began several years ago and builds on ideas shared at NASHP’s 2018 state-only preconference session, Paying the Price: How Can States Catalyze Real Cost Containment?
NASHP has launched a search for a project director to work with its Emerging Policy Issues Team and support the work of the new center.
For individuals living with complex, often chronic conditions, and their families, palliative care can provide relief from symptoms, improve satisfaction and outcomes, and help address critical mental and spiritual needs during difficult times. Now more than ever, there is growing recognition of the importance of palliative care services for individuals with serious illness, such as advance care planning, pain and symptom management, care coordination, and team-based, multi-disciplinary support. These services can help patients and families cope with the symptoms and stressors of disease, better anticipate and avoid crises, and reduce unnecessary and/or unwanted care. While this model is grounded in evidence that demonstrates improved quality of life, better outcomes, and reduced cost for patients, only a fraction of individuals who could benefit from palliative care receive it. 
