The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation recently awarded seven grants with broad relevance to current health reform debates. From analysis of insurer marketplace exits to the effects of Medicaid expansion on physicians’ capacity to meet rising demand, these studies will produce findings to inform a range of current and potential health policies in the U.S.

As we bear witness to all the change afoot, our challenge is to identify when – and for whom – a change is an improvement. For those of us who produce the evidence that help us determine this, there is no time to rest.

A new report finds no single approach is effective to recruit and retain health professionals in rural areas. Only when combined do interventions have a positive effect on both recruitment and retention.