This issue of RAND Health Quarterly is focused on health care delivery, quality, and patient safety. A team led by Sarah Hunter evaluated First 5 LA's Welcome Baby home visitation program. Peter Mendel and colleagues interviewed physicians in small rural practices about the initial implementation of the Quality Payment Program in order to understand the flexibility provisions for small rural practices and to inform future federal rulemaking. Rachel Reid and others assessed recertification requirements for physician assistants, physicians, and advanced practice nurses in the United States and elsewhere. A group led by Lori Uscher-Pines interviewed representatives of seven state Medicaid programs and 19 urban and rural Federally Qualified Health Centers to address how centers in selected states are using telehealth, how the delivery of telehealth services is structured, barriers and facilitators of telehealth, and how Medicaid policy influences telehealth implementation. Sashka Dimova and others reviewed the evidence base on engaging NHS staff in healthcare research. Margaret Maglione and colleagues synthesized evidence on the effects of medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder on functional outcomes, including cognitive, physical, occupational, social/behavioral, and neurological function. A team led by Tom Ling conducted workshops with stakeholders involved in care for older people in an attempt to identify ways to improve how evaluations are commissioned, completed, and used in a changing policy landscape.
Lisa S. Meredith, Ph.D., Editor
