A post on the short-term easing of the nurse shortage and Uwe Reinhardt’s ”Modest Proposal On Payment Reform” top the Health Affairs Blog most-read list for July. The list also includes several posts addressing the ongoing health reform debate. Additional comment is always welcome.

A new study published today in Health Affairs finds that the decade-long nurse shortage is easing, or even ending, partly as a result of the continuing recession. Study author Peter Buerhaus of the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing and colleagues found that older nurses are delaying retirement or returning to the workforce and part-time nurses [...]

Join us for a discussion, moderated by Susan Dentzer of Health Affairs, examining the impact of the nursing workforce on health care delivery, access and quality. This event, on Friday June 12 from 9 a.m. to noon at the Union Station Columbus Club in Washington DC, also marks the publication of several papers in Health [...]

Wages for registered nurses (RNs) increased faster in California than elsewhere after California began implementing landmark legislation mandating minimum nurse-to-patient staffing ratios in acute care hospitals, according to a study published last week in Health Affairs (and free online through February 24).
In 1999, Gov. Gray Davis (D) signed legislation making California the first state in [...]

We are pleased to announce the “most-read” Health Affairs journal articles published in 2008. The number 1 article has topped 61,000 pageviews to date. The next two articles, which were published in September, analyzed the presidential candidates’ health plans. All articles below are open to all readers for the next 2 weeks—through January 28, 2009.

Measuring [...]

Today Health Business Blog hosts the Health Wonk Review, which sums up the best of health policy blogging–from questions about future of managed care, Medicare, and health reform to nursing staff ratios, physician planning and more.

To round out a week of “most-read” lists (top 10 Health Affairs Blog posts of 2007 and of January-February 2008), we are pleased to announce the most-read Health Affairs journal articles published in 2007. All articles below are free access for 2 weeks—through March 20, 2008.

“Health Spending Projections Through 2016: Modest Changes Obscure Part D’s [...]

For your Leap Day reading pleasure, we offer here the list of Top 10 most-read Health Affairs Blog Posts of 2007. Next up—Top 10 for January-February 2008. Additional commenting always welcome.

INSURANCE: A Closer Look At HSAs
by Uwe Reinhardt
REFORM: Musings On SiCKO, July 4th, and Visions of America
by Sarah Dine
HEALTH REFORM: Redefining Health Care
by Michael E. [...]

The most-read post of September on the Health Affairs Blog was by Linda Aiken on Pennsylvania’s new legislation which focuses on tapping nurses and other health professionals to address health reform issues. Aiken, the Claire M. Fagin Leadership Professor of Nursing and Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania, also has the most-read blog post for [...]

On July 20, 2007 Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell signed into law at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing several bills included in his comprehensive health reform plan, “Prescription for Pennsylvania.” Rendell’s plan is noteworthy among recent state health reform initiatives in focusing not just on covering the 7 percent of Pennsylvanians who are uninsured, [...]

Last Thursday, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Pete Stark, D-CA, introduced the Safe Nursing and Patient Care Act of 2007 (H.R. 2122). The bill would limit “the number of mandatory overtime hours a nurse may be required to work.” According to CQ HealthBeat, Stark said, “We limit the time that truck drivers and [...]

To celebrate the start of Health Affairs’ 25th anniversary year, we are offering 2 weeks free access to the 25 most-read papers published in 2006. Overall, Health Affairs’ Web readership jumped to 12 million pageviews in 2006.

Currently, the United States is short an estimated 150,000 nurses. Yet over the next decade, more than 650,000 new jobs in nursing will be created. At the same time, an estimated 450,000 nurses will have retired. By 2020, the nurse shortage is expected to increase to 800,000. I set out to debunk a number of [...]