Reducing Racial Disparities In Health Care By Confronting Racism

Compared with whites, members of racial and ethnic minorities are less likely to receive preventive health services and often receive lower-quality care. They also have worse health outcomes for certain conditions. A report from the Commonwealth Fund offers examples of health systems that are making efforts to identify implicit bias and structural racism in their organizations, and developing customized approaches to engaging and supporting patients to ameliorate their effects.

The report can be obtained at https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/newsletter-article/2018/sep/focus-reducing-racial-disparities-health-care-confronting?omnicid=%25%25jobid%25%25&mid=%25%25emailaddr%25%25.

Lingering Effects of the Great Recession on Higher Education

The Great Recession of 2008 changed the course of higher education and still affect decision making today. Tuition rates that previously dropped after the recession continue to remain; however, students still have to take out loans to afford college. Students focus more on majors, such as healthcare and business, rather than humanities in hopes of better job placement after graduation. College presidents and boards shifted their focus to short-term visible goals, rather than long-term goals that may not show results immediately.

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Creating Better Systems Of Care For Patients With Disabilities

U.S. adults with disabilities often have difficulty locating accessible providers with expertise in their conditions. Compared with other Americans, adults with disabilities receive less preventive care, have a higher incidence of chronic conditions, and visit the hospital and emergency department more often — leading to much higher health care spending. A new Commonwealth Fund report highlights model health plans and clinics around the U.S. that focus on preventing and identifying complications; seek to engage patients and earn their trust; and integrate long-term services and supports to promote independence and social inclusion.

The report can be obtained at https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/case-study/2018/sep/systems-care-adults-disabilities?omnicid=EALERT1480062&mid=thomas@asahp.org.

Competency-Based Education

Approximately three years ago, Eduventures Research set out to answer two simple questions: In what ways had schools implemented competency-based education (CBE) and what might be its prospects for further growth? This week, the results of a new study, the 2018 National Survey of Postsecondary CBE, will be released. 

The study can be obtained at https://cberesearch.org/sites/default/files/2018-09/NSPCBE%20-%202018%20-%20Infographic.pdf.

Consumer Protections For Preexisting Health Conditions

A new report from the Congressional Research Service (CRS) discusses concerns of individuals with preexisting health conditions regarding practices in the private health insurance market in which insurers use medical underwriting to assess their risk of offering health insurance to applicants. 

The report can be obtained at https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/IN10969.pdf.

Addressing the Nation’s Primary Care Shortage

Access to primary care is a challenge for many individuals with health coverage as well as the uninsured. Thirteen percent of U.S. residents (44 million) live in a county with a primary care physician shortage, defined as less than one primary care physician per 2,000 individuals. The primary care access challenge has impacts on rural, urban, and suburban communities. A report from UnitedHealthGroup discusses the role of nurse practitioners and physician assistants in meeting this challenge. 

The report can be obtained at https://www.unitedhealthgroup.com/content/dam/UHG/PDF/2018/UHG-Primary-Care-Report-2018.pdf.

Share Of Immigrants With U.S. College Degrees Is Increasing

According to the Pew Research Center, U.S. immigrants are as likely as the U.S.-born population to have a college degree, although the rate depends on their country of origin. The share of immigrants ages 25 and older with bachelor's degrees rose from 7% in 1980 to 17.2% in 2016, while the share with postgraduate degrees increased from 8.7% to 12.8% during that time. 

Additional information can be obtained at http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/09/14/education-levels-of-u-s-immigrants-are-on-the-rise/.

IPEC Interprofessional Leaders Development Program

The call for applications for the February 6-8, 2019 IPEC Interprofessional Leadership Development Program (ILDP) is now open.

Applicants for the 2019 IPEC ILDP should either be a dean (and other senior academic administrators with similar institutional responsibilities) and/or administrators who are responsible for integrating IPE in school-wide learning experiences.  For this program, deans and senior administrators from multiple schools at the same institution are strongly encouraged to attend as a team, along with their campus-wide IPE administrator.

For more information, please visit the ILDP site.

Congress Agrees To Increase Funding For Health And Education

Congress reached an agreement on a bipartisan bill that was negotiated by a joint House and Senate conference committee on an appropriations package for FY 2019 that would raise the maximum Pell Grant by $100 to $6,195, increase funding for the Department of Education by $581 million to a level of $71.5 billion, and increase funding for the NIH by $2 billion for a total of $39.1 billion. The legislation, which is packaged with a defense spending bill and other short-term funding legislation, must now be approved by the full House and Senate. Congress has until September 30 to pass the bills. 

The conference report can be obtained at https://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20180910/CRPT-115hrpt952.pdf.

CMS Proposes To Lift Unnecessary Regulations And Ease Burden On Providers

Today, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a proposed rule to relieve burden on healthcare providers by removing unnecessary, obsolete or excessively burdensome Medicare compliance requirements for healthcare facilities. Collectively, these updates would save healthcare providers an estimated $1.12 billion annually. Taking into account policies across rules finalized in 2017 and 2018 as well as this and other proposed rules, savings are estimated at $5.2 billion. 

More information can be obtained at https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/medicare-and-medicaid-programs-proposed-regulatory-provisions-promote-program-efficiency-0.

Enhancing Access And Affordability For Medicare’s Low-Income Beneficiaries

Many Medicare beneficiaries face high out-of-pocket costs because of the way the program's benefits are designed. In addition to high deductibles for hospital care and 20 percent cost-sharing for physician visits and other ambulatory care services, there is no limit on out-of-pocket expenses for covered benefits. A new Commonwealth Fund report describes the cost burdens that low-income beneficiaries face, assesses current policies in place to ease them, and presents a new option for reducing cost-sharing and premiums for individuals with incomes below 150 percent of the poverty level.

The report can be obtained at https://www.commonwealthfund.org/sites/default/files/2018-09/Schoen_Medicare_low-income_policy_ib_0.pdf.

2017 American Community Survey Estimates

The U.S. Census Bureau this week released 2017 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, the most relied-on source for up-to-date social, economic, and housing information every year. It is the only source of local statistics for most of the 40+topics it covers, such as educational attainment, occupation, language spoken at home, and disability status. Estimates are available for the nation, all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, every congressional district, every metropolitan area, and all counties and places with populations of 65,000 or more. 

This resource can be obtained at https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/searchresults.xhtml?refresh=t,

Health Insurance Coverage In The United States

A new report from the U.S. Census Bureau presents statistics on health insurance coverage in the United States based on information collected in the 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplements (CPS ASEC) and the American Community Survey (ACS). 

The report can be obtained at https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2018/demo/p60-264.pdf.

Education At A Glance: OECD Indicators

Education at a Glance: OECD Indicators is the authoritative source for information on the state of education around the world. It provides data on the structure, finances, and performance of education systems in OECD and partner countries. It imparts key information on the output of educational institutions, the impact of learning across countries, and worldwide access, participation and progression in education, along with financial resources invested in education, as well as teachers, the learning environment, and the organization of schools. 

The report can be obtained at http://www.oecd.org/education/education-at-a-glance/.

Hospital Employment Increases In August

According to a new report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the hospital segment of the health workforce increased by 8,200 in August 2018 compared to the previous month. Seasonably adjusted, the number of hospital employees was 5,189,300, which is 94,600 more than one year ago.  

The report can be obtained at https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t17.htm.

Preventing Heart Attacks And Strokes

Heart attack, stroke and other cardiovascular events were responsible for more than 2.2 million hospital stays and 415,000 deaths involving adults in 2016, according to a Vital Signs report released on September 6, 2018 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Unless there is a more serious effort to address risk factors, U.S. adults could experience another 16.3 million cardiovascular events by 2022.

The report can be obtained at https://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/pdf/vs-0918-million-hearts-H.pdf.

The State Of Private Long-Term Care Insurance

Long-term care insurance (LTCI) can play a role in financing long-term services and supports (LTSS) needs, however, the high cost and complexity of these products and concerns about rising premiums have affected consumer demand. A report from AARP includes facts and figures on LTCI and information on the emerging market for short-term care products.

The report can be obtained at https://www.aarp.org/content/dam/aarp/ppi/2018/08/disrupting-the-marketplace-the-state-of-private-long-term-care-insurance.pdf.

Implementing Disruptive Change In Higher Education

Huron, a global consultancy, recommends that in assessing engagement and communication, an institution should look for communication that fosters a culture of high accountability through aligned goals, behaviors, and processes. It also should look to build a sponsorship structure that will be the driving force behind implementing the vision set by leadership.

Additional points on how to implement disruptive change can be obtained at https://www.huronconsultinggroup.com/resources/higher-education/leading-through-change.

Health Insurance Coverage: January–March 2018

A report from the National Center for Health Statistics indicates that in the first quarter of 2018, 28.3 million (8.8%) individuals of all ages were uninsured at the time of interview—not significantly different from 2017, but 20.3 million fewer than in 2010. Among adults aged 18–64, 12.5% were uninsured at the time of interview, 19.2% had public coverage, and 70.0% had private health insurance coverage.

The report can be obtained at https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhis/earlyrelease/Insur201808.pdf.