%0 Book %A National Research Council %E Brown, Lawrence D. %E Cohen, Michael L. %E Cork, Daniel L. %E Citro, Constance F. %T Envisioning the 2020 Census %@ 978-0-309-15115-3 %D 2010 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12865/envisioning-the-2020-census %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12865/envisioning-the-2020-census %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Behavioral and Social Sciences %K Surveys and Statistics %P 362 %X Planning for the 2020 census is already beginning. This book from the National Research Council examines several aspects of census planning, including questionnaire design, address updating, non-response follow-up, coverage follow-up, de-duplication of housing units and residents, editing and imputation procedures, and several other census operations. This book recommends that the Census Bureau overhaul its approach to research and development. The report urges the Bureau to set cost and quality goals for the 2020 and future censuses, improving efficiency by taking advantage of new technologies. %0 Book %A National Research Council %E Wunderlich, Gooloo S. %T Improving Health Care Cost Projections for the Medicare Population: Summary of a Workshop %@ 978-0-309-15976-0 %D 2010 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12985/improving-health-care-cost-projections-for-the-medicare-population-summary %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12985/improving-health-care-cost-projections-for-the-medicare-population-summary %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Health and Medicine %K Behavioral and Social Sciences %K Surveys and Statistics %P 128 %X Developing credible short-term and long-term projections of Medicare health care costs is critical for public- and private-sector policy planning, but faces challenges and uncertainties. There is uncertainty not only in the underlying economic and demographic assumptions used in projection models, but also in what a policy modeler assumes about future changes in the health status of the population and the factors affecting health status , the extent and pace of scientific and technological breakthroughs in medical care, the preferences of the population for particular kinds of care, the likelihood that policy makers will alter current law and regulations, and how each of these factors relates to health care costs for the elderly population. Given the substantial growth in the Medicare population and the continued increases in Medicare, Medicaid, and private health insurance spending, the availability of well-specified models and analyses that can provide useful information on the likely cost implications of health care policy alternatives is essential. It is therefore timely to review the capabilities and limitations of extant health care cost models and to identify areas for research that offer the most promise to improve modeling, not only of current U.S. health care programs, but also of policy alternatives that may be considered in the coming years. The National Research Council conducted a public workshop focusing on areas of research needed to improve health care cost projections for the Medicare population, and on the strengths and weaknesses of competing frameworks for projecting health care expenditures for the elderly. The workshop considered major classes of projection and simulation models that are currently used and the underlying data sources and research inputs for these models. It also explored areas in which additional research and data are needed to inform model development and health care policy analysis more broadly. The workshop, summarized in this volume, drew people from a wide variety of disciplines and perspectives, including federal agencies, academia, and nongovernmental organizations. %0 Book %A National Research Council %T Accounting for Health and Health Care: Approaches to Measuring the Sources and Costs of Their Improvement %@ 978-0-309-15679-0 %D 2010 %U https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12938/accounting-for-health-and-health-care-approaches-to-measuring-the %> https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/12938/accounting-for-health-and-health-care-approaches-to-measuring-the %I The National Academies Press %C Washington, DC %G English %K Health and Medicine %K Behavioral and Social Sciences %K Surveys and Statistics %P 238 %X It has become trite to observe that increases in health care costs have become unsustainable. How best for policy to address these increases, however, depends in part on the degree to which they represent increases in the real quantity of medical services as opposed to increased unit prices of existing services. And an even more fundamental question is the degree to which the increased spending actually has purchased improved health. Accounting for Health and Health Care addresses both these issues. The government agencies responsible for measuring unit prices for medical services have taken steps in recent years that have greatly improved the accuracy of those measures. Nonetheless, this book has several recommendations aimed at further improving the price indices.