WebEx training session

The Department of Medical Assistance Services (DMAS) will be conducting a special WebEx training session for the Virginia Perinatal Council members on the basics of public health insurance for pregnant women and newborns. DMAS staff will cover basics on eligibility for pregnant women and newborns, the application process and any special rules for pregnant women and newborns. DMAS staff will cover tips that the Perinatal Council members may chose to take action on to help individuals expedite their application process. There will also be time for questions and answers at the end of the session.
The WebEx is open to all Perinatal Council members. There are slots for 50 registrants (across the state), so if there are those who will be viewing together from one computer, it would be helpful for only one to register (as to only take one registration slot).
Mary Wilt, BSN, RN, CCM
Coordinator, Eastern VA Perinatal Council, EVMS
757-446-6060

WiltMK@evms.edu

www.evms.edu/evpc

Healthcare Reform Summary & Timeline Available

The Kaiser Family Foundation (www.kff.org) issued a 5 page PDF available on the Health Reform Implementation Timeline. In bullet-point form, it has sections on Insurance Reform, Medicare, Medicaid, and Tax Changes, among others. Link to http://www.kff.org/healthreform/8060.cfm

There is also a 13-page summary of the new Health Reform Law (the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, signed on March 23, 2010, available for download. This document highlights Employer Requirements, Expansion of Public Programs, Tax Changes, and Health Insurance Exchanges, and more. The publication number is 8061 and the direct link is http://www.kff.org/healthreform/8061.cfm

We Need You! Provider Action Team

Everyday you or your organization help the vulnerable in our community to access healthcare. Throughout Hampton Roads, partners like you are enrolling patients into health insurance programs; providing medical care at a local health department, doctor’s office or emergency room; arranging transportation for health-related appointments; or helping someone understand the importance of having a medical home . Yet, many children and their families are still unable to access affordable, quality healthcare and other services in our community. Working together, we can find solutions to improve access to care.

To develop and implement comprehensive policies and strategies to improve access to care for children and their families, we need your knowledge and experience as a member of the Provider Action Team! By joining this team, you can:

• Provide a better understanding of your/your organization’s programs and services


• Play an integral role in shaping and developing regional initiatives that will impact the communities of Hampton Roads


• Expand your network of resources and connect with other professionals in your field at the local, regional and state levels
  

We need people like you who can provide your unique perspective of transportation systems, social services, community outreach organizations, or public and private healthcare to join our Provider Action Team. If you personally cannot join, please consider selecting another representative from your organization to join.

WEBINAR: Communications Made Easy – Creating Social Marketing Messages That Work

May 4, 2010 at 9:00am PST/12:00pm EST

This webinar discusses how to design messages that resonate and motivate. We’ll talk about how to grab your audience’s attention and make them want to take action. Using elements of behavior change, branding and social marketing, you’ll come out with models for ways to focus and frame your program’s messages.

Pre-register at https://cc.readytalk.com/r/5o9axnt1hvjv

New Data Available in the KIDS COUNT Data Center

The KIDS COUNT Data Center has been updated with new data from the U.S. Census Bureau, including indicators of child well-being from the American Community Survey and the Current Population Survey. Topics include children under five in poverty and children in single-parent families. See Data Across States for the latest information.

Unnatural Causes

FYI – Unnatural Causes episodes are airing on WHRO next week. You may access more information on the website: http://whro.org/home/publictv/sched.htm

Sunday, October 11, 2009 11:00 PM
Monday, October 12, 2009 3:30 AM
Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick? In Sickness and In Wealth

Sunday, October 18, 2009 11:00 PM
Monday, October 19, 2009 3:30 AM
Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick? When The Bough Breaks/Becoming American

Sunday, October 25, 2009 11:00 PM
Monday, October 26, 2009 4:00 AM
Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick? Bad Sugar/Place Matters

Sunday, November 01, 2009 11:00 PM
Monday, November 02, 2009 3:30 AM
Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick? Collateral Damage/Not Just A Paycheck

Health Care Reform or No, Virginia Can Cover More Kids

A new law passed by Congress earlier this year provides an immediate opportunity for the state to improve the successful Family Access to Medical Insurance Security (FAMIS) program and cover more of the 129,000 uninsured children in Virginia. But if the General Assembly and the Governor don’t take the required action, some of the funding could disappear in less than two years. To read more:
http://www.thecommonwealthinstitute.org

Health Equity Conference

The Virginia Public Health Association and the Health Equity Conference Planning Committee cordially invite you and your members to attend the upcoming two-day Health Equity Conference, Advancing Health Equity: From Theory to Practice on September 10-11, 2009 at the Glen Allen Cultural Arts Center in Richmond, Virginia.

The conference will serve as a forum to discuss practices and policies that strengthen community health and well-being. Root, social, political and economic causes of health inequities in Virginia will be addressed. The goal of the conference is to increase the knowledge and ability of attendees to advance health equity through policies and practices that promote healthy communities.


To register and for more detailed information:

http://www.virginiahealthequityconference.com

PBS National Rebroadcast in October

PBS will rebroadcast Unnatural Causes nationally on four Fridays at 10 PM beginning October 9, 2009. However, local PBS stations are free to run it when they wish.
You can contact Program or Viewer Services at your local PBS station and ask them if they will schedule the series at the PBS national feed or another time during October.
For a station directory, visit mediaengage.org For a press release you can forward to friends and colleagues publicizing the rebroadcast, go to http://www.unnaturalcauses.org/press_area.php

Virginia Department of Health, Health Equity Conference

Please save the date for the Health Equity Conference that will take place from September 10-11 in Richmond, Virginia. We encourage you to share this information with your constituents and colleagues.
The conference planning committee is also seeking funding for sponsorship. Please direct any questions about sponsorship to Cecilia Barbosa (cecilia.barbosa@vapha.org).
Website for more information http://www.virginiahealthequityconference.com/

Minority Health Quiz

So You Think You Know Minority Health? is a new interactive game from Families USA's Minority Health Initiative. Based on the classic Jeopardy game, it is designed to test your knowledge of the health disparities facing people of color in America today. To play this game,

http://www.familiesusa.org/issues/minority-health/game-show/my_quiz_show.html

Workshops offered through the Institute of Medicine

Measures of Health Literacy, February 26, 2009 Washington, DC
The Roundtable on Health Literacy will host a workshop on February 26, 2009, to assess existing approaches for measuring health literacy, review health system-level approaches to assessing health literacy, and provide a vision for what can be done in population-based measurements of health literacy. The workshop is free and open to the public.
Register
More Information

Strengthening Benefit-Cost Methodology for the Evaluation of Early Childhood Interventions, March 4-5, 2009 Washington, DC
Federal and state agencies have demonstrated significant interest in expanding investments in early childhood education programs in order to improve the healthy development of children and youth, strengthen academic achievement, expand labor productivity in future generations, and increase U.S. global competitiveness. However, opinion differs as to how best to assess the effect of these programs. Hosted by the Board on Children, Youth and Families of the National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine, this workshop is designed to identify major challenges in benefit-cost analysis of early childhood interventions and opportunities to strengthen benefit-cost methodology.
Register
More Information

On-line Newsletter

Please click on the link below and sign up to receive this on-line newsletter, published by the Virginia Department of Health Office of Minority Health and Public Health Policy.
http://www.vdh.state.va.us/healthpolicy/access_newsletter.htm

Challenges and Successes in Reducing Health Disparities. Workshop Summary

In early 2007, the Institute of Medicine convened the Roundtable on Health Disparities to increase the visibility of racial and ethnic health disparities as a national problem, to further the development of programs and strategies to reduce disparities, to foster the emergence of leadership on this issue, and to track promising activities and developments in health care that could lead to dramatically reducing or eliminating disparities. The Roundtable's first workshop, Challenges and Successes in Reducing Health Disparities , was held in St. Louis, Missouri, on July 31, 2007, and examined the importance of differences in life expectancy within the United States, the reasons for those differences, and the implications of this information for programs and policy makers.
Read more about this workshop summary
Purchase this report, or download it as a free PDF

New Jersey Hospital-Based Language Services Lag, Study Finds

A study in the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved suggests that New Jersey hospitals are not doing enough to meet the needs of patients with limited English proficiency (LEP), Health Behavior News Service reports.
http://www.rwjf.org/programareas/features/digest.jsp?c=EMC-ND142&pid=1142&id=7804

Telemedicine May Offer Cost-Effective Alternative to ED Care, Study Says

A study presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii, suggests that telemedicine is a cost-effective alternative to more than one-fourth of all pediatric emergency department (ED) visits, HealthDay reports.
http://www.rwjf.org/programareas/features/digest.jsp?c=EMC-ND142&pid=1142&id=7789

Report Analyzes Strategies to Redirect Non-Urgent ED Patients

A report released by the Center for Studying Health System Change suggests that increasing access to outpatient clinics, community health centers and private physician practices is the most effective method of reducing the use of emergency departments (EDs) for non-urgent care, CQ HealthBeat reports.

http://www.rwjf.org/programareas/features/digest.jsp?c=EMC-ND142&pid=1142&id=7777

Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Medical and Dental Health, Access to Care, and Use of Services in US Children

This study analyzed racial and ethnic disparities in medical and oral health, access to care, and use of services in children (from birth through age 17) using a large, nationally representative database that provided the opportunity to examine child health disparities for all five of the major U.S. racial and ethnic groups.
Flores G, Tomany-Korman SC. 2008. Pediatrics 121(2):e286-e298. Abstract /Full Text available at: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/peds.2007-1243v1

Community Dialogues - Health Disparities Work Group Resources

Here are links to the Unnatural Causes Website and Dialogue website which will be adapted for CINCH's New Health Disparities Work Group project.

http://www.unnaturalcauses.org/
The Action Center has an option to download the action kit.

http://ourhealthcarefuture.org/home.php
Look for the links to download host and dialogue materials.

There are a variety of other materials also available if you peruse both the sites.

Let us know what you think! Reply with a message.

DataSpeak Series

The MCH Information Resource Center (MCHIRC), funded by the Maternal andChild Health Bureau at the Health Resources and Services Administration(HRSA), is pleased to announce the next program in the DataSpeak Series:National and State Surveillance Efforts to Monitor Oral Health Disparities in Children. Speakers will present data on the oral health status of children at the national and state levels, discuss trends in children's use of and access to dental health care, and illustrate disparities in these indicators across subpopulations.
Wednesday, April 16th, 2008, at 2:00p.m., EDT.
To register for this event, please go to DataSpeak registration at: http://www.mchb.hrsa.gov/mchirc/dataspeak/register.htm When you register, you will receive the details on how to participate inthe Web conference.