Best Practices for Improving Cultural Competency in the Health Care Workforce Webinar

Friday, May 24, 2013 
12:30 PT / 1:30 p.m. MT / 3:30 p.m. ET

Culturally appropriate health care may improve the quality and potentially reduce the cost of care for a diverse array of patients—and can contribute to the elimination of racial and ethnic health disparities. Over the last decade policymakers have explored options to increase cultural competency among health care providers. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, for example, requires federal loan repayment preference be given to individuals who have cultural competency training or experience.  This webinar will review best practices for improving cultural competency among a state’s health care workforce.

Online Registration Now Available!

Speakers

·        Robert C. Like, M.D., M.S., Professor and Director of the Center for Healthy Families and Cultural Diversity, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

·        Representative Alissa Keny-Guyer, Vice Chair, Oregon House Committee on Health Care

·        Tricia Tillman, Director, Oregon Health Authority Office of Equity and Inclusion

Questions? Contact Megan Comlossy at megan.comlossy@ncsl.org

Last Chance to Apply for Community Health Prize

Is Your Community Taking Bold Steps to Create a Culture of Health?
The deadline is fast approaching to apply for the 2013-2014 RWJF Roadmaps to Health Prize, which honors outstanding community efforts that help people live healthier lives.

Prize-winning communities will receive a $25,000 cash prize, be connected to a network of other local health leaders, and have their stories shared broadly to inspire a culture of health across the country.

Phase I applications are due May 23, 2013 at 3 p.m. ET.

• Learn more about the RWJF Roadmaps to Health Prize

The RWJF Roadmaps to Health Prize is part of the County Health Rankings & Roadmaps program, a collaboration between the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute.

National Women’s Checkup Day is Monday, May 13

The 11th annual National Women’s Checkup Day is Monday, May 13, during National Women’s Health Week. The Office on Women’s Health encourages women everywhere to participate in National Women’s Checkup Day by: 

• Contacting your current health care provider to schedule a checkup or visit to get an important screening during the month of May.
• Talking with your health care professional about which screenings and tests are right for you and when and how often you should have them.
• Reviewing the list of 22 preventive services for women that insurance companies are required to cover under the Affordable Care Act.
• Taking the Checkup Day Pledge.

To learn more about National Women’s Checkup Day, visit www.womenshealth.gov/nwhw/check-up-day/.

Participate in National Women’s Health Week by holding an event! You’ll be joining hundreds of individuals and organizations across the country in an effort to help women lead longer, healthier, happier lives. To help make planning and promoting your event as simple as possible, we’ve created resources to help you each step of the way.

You can visit the Activity Planning Resources section of the National Women’s Health Week website to find resources such as:

• An Event Planning Checklist to sort out all the details before, during, and after your event; 
• A How-To Guide for Media Outreach, which offers tips for contacting reporters and securing media coverage around your event. A prewritten media advisory and press release are also available;
• National Women’s Health Week graphics, which can be included in any print materials you create. You could also use the graphics as your Facebook or Twitter profile picture;
• A downloadable poster which you can print and hang in your office cafeteria, local grocery store, library, and other locations to encourage people to attend your event;
• Prewritten newsletter text to share with your listserv or include in your e-newsletter; and
• E-cards so you can share your event information with friends, family, and others.

Don’t forget to register your event online!

If you have questions, please email womenshealth@hhs.gov.

The Cross-Federal Initiative: Expanding Oral Health Access for Older Adults

First webinar in a two-part series:

Older Adults and Oral Health: Inspiring Community-Based Partnerships for Healthy Mouths

Goal: To describe the oral health status of older adults in the U.S., provide useful resources and highlight two innovative community approaches to improving oral health access for older adults.

Date:   Wednesday, May 15, 2013        Time:  3:00 – 4:30 pm EST

Moderator:  Sabrina Matoff-Stepp, Ph.D., Director, Office of Women’s Health, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)

Speakers:

·        RADM William Bailey, USPHS Chief Dental Officer, and Acting Director, Division of Oral Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

·        CAPT Angel Rodriguez-Espada, Chief Dental Officer, Bureau of Primary Health Care, HRSA

·        Laura Lawrence, Director, Office of Nutrition and Health Promotion Programs, Administration on Aging, Administration for Community Living

·        Omar L.Ghoneim, DDS, Corporate Dental Director, Harbor Health Services Inc.

·        Donna Bileto, MA, CIRS-A, Community Service Specialist, Northwestern Illinois Area Agency on Aging; Betty Hillier, LNHA, RCAL, CCNC-C, Assistant Administrator, Presence Saint Anne Center; Cate Osterholz, Assistant Administrator, Presence Cor Mariae Center; andBecky Cook Kendall, Executive Director, Rockford Health Council

To register for the online event:

1. Go to https://aoa-events.webex.com/aoa-events/onstage/g.php?d=667862269&t=a

2. Click "Register".

3. On the registration form, enter your information and then click "Submit".

CDC Reports Suicide Rates Climb for Middle-Aged Americans

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-Suicide is an increasing public health concern. In 2009, the number of deaths from suicide surpassed the number of deaths from motor vehicle crashes in the United States.  Traditionally, suicide prevention efforts have been focused mostly on youths and older adults, but recent evidence suggests that there have been substantial increases in suicide rates among middle-aged adults in the United States. To investigate trends in suicide rates among adults aged 35–64 years over the last decade, CDC analyzed National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) mortality data from 1999–2010.

Trends in suicide rates were examined by sex, age group, race/ethnicity, state and region of residence, and mechanism of suicide. The results of this analysis indicated that the annual, age-adjusted suicide rate among persons aged 35–64 years increased 28.4%, from 13.7 per 100,000 population in 1999 to 17.6 in 2010.

Among racial/ethnic populations, the greatest increases were observed among American Indian/Alaska Natives (AI/ANs) (65.2%, from 11.2 to 18.5) and whites (40.4%, from 15.9 to 22.3). By mechanism, the greatest increase was observed for use of suffocation (81.3%, from 2.3 to 4.1), followed by poisoning (24.4%, from 3.0 to 3.8) and firearms (14.4%, from 7.2 to 8.3). The findings underscore the need for suicide preventive measures directed toward middle-aged populations.

To read the entire report visit CDC at:  http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6217a1.htm?s_cid=mm6217a1_w

A Simpler Way to Apply for Health Care

By Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services

Posted April 30, 2013

Today, we take one more step toward meeting the promise of helping millions of Americans access quality, affordable health coverage.

We have finalized the application you can complete later this year to learn what health insurance programs you are eligible for and the discounts to help pay for it.  Starting in October, it will be the one application you can use to apply for the new Health Insurance Marketplace, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and tax credits that will help pay for premiums.

I’m also pleased to say the application has been simplified and significantly shortened.  The application for individuals is three pages, and the application for families is reduced by two-thirds, to seven pages. This is much shorter than industry standards for health insurance applications today.

Whether you choose to use this application to apply for coverage online, by phone, or on paper, the Health Insurance Marketplace will give you better options than they have today – with one destination to apply and many resources to get help.  In-person counselors and a toll free phone line will be available to help you through every step of the process. 

The online application that will go live on Healthcare.gov when the Health Insurance Marketplace opens for enrollment on October 1, can be found here: http://cciio.cms.gov/resources/other/index.html#hie

You can sign up to learn more and get ready to enroll at signup.healthcare.gov.

Office of Civil Rights to Strengthen Language Access at Critical Access Hospitals

OCR launches nationwide compliance review initiative to strengthen language access programs at critical access hospitals

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) today announced its national compliance review initiative, “Advancing Effective Communication in Critical Access Hospitals,” to support language access programs in these hospitals. In concert with the HHS Action Plan to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, this initiative will ensure that language access is provided so that individuals who do not speak English as their primary language and who have a limited ability to read, speak, write, or understand English or are limited English proficient (LEP) can effectively participate in, and benefit from, quality health care services.

To lay the groundwork, in 2012, OCR piloted a ten-state, on-site examination of critical access hospitals (CAHs) located in each of the ten HHS regions to make certain that their programs comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  Title VI prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin in programs that receive federal funds.  Further, Title VI requires recipients of federal funds, like critical access hospitals, to take reasonable steps to ensure meaningful access to their programs and services by LEP persons.

For each CAH in this compliance review initiative, OCR examined demographic data from the hospital’s service area; conducted onsite visits; evaluated language access services policies and procedures; interviewed hospital staff and community stakeholders; and secured corrective action when compliance issues were discovered in the hospital’s language access program.

OCR provided significant technical assistance to help CAHs audit and enhance their language access services. OCR is available to help all critical hospitals nationwide develop and implement a comprehensive language access program.  Building on the success of the compliance reviews, OCR will continue the compliance review initiative by casting a wider net, conducting additional language access compliance reviews, and providing technical assistance to CAHs nationwide.

Critical access hospitals seeking technical assistance should consult OCR’s report,  “Advancing Effective Communication in Critical Access Hospitals", the HHS “Guidance to Federal Financial Assistance Recipients Regarding Title VI Prohibition Against National Origin Discrimination Affecting Limited English Proficient Persons,” or call OCR at 1-800-368-1019 (voice) or 1-800-537-7697 (TDD).

To access OCR settlement agreements, learn more about non-discrimination laws in health care and human service settings and stay informed on civil rights matters visit us athttp://www.hhs.gov/ocr.