From Page 1

June 15, 2006

FLORIDA

Medicaid Reform
KidCare

NATIONAL

Citizenship Proof for Medicaid

Citizens' Health Care Working Group

Medicare Part D

Doughnut Hole Gap

Late Enrollment Penalty

FLORIDA

Medicaid Reform Notices Begin July 1 for First Beneficiaries

In the next two weeks, thousands of Medicaid recipients in Broward and Duval counties will receive official word from Tallahassee that they must select a new health care plan under Medicaid reform.

On July 1, the Agency for Health Care Administration plans to mail letters and informational brochures that explain the coming changes to Florida’s Medicaid program.

“In this envelope is a brochure which will tell you more about the changes being made to Medicaid and the choices you will have,’’ writes Secretary Alan Levine in a letter that will be mailed to select beneficiaries on July 1. “When it is time for you to choose a health care plan, the Florida Medicaid Program will send you a packet in the mail.”

Click here to access a copy of Secretary Levine’s letter and the informational brochure posted this week.

What are these changes?

The state plans to do away with the traditional way that it provides Medicaid coverage. Instead of directly paying physicians, specialists and other providers for treating Medicaid patients, the state will pay insurance premiums for these individuals.

Insurance coverage will be offered by several different health maintenance organizations (HMOs) and provider service networks (PSNs). AHCA is currently reviewing the insurance plans from organizations such as WellCare.

Consumer concerns

Despite this mass mailing effort, AHCA officials have acknowledged that this will be a tough audience to reach – many of them relocate often, leaving behind inaccurate addresses. Many of them lack computers – or the skills to access information on the Internet. Many of them have poor reading skills or rely on English as a second language.

AHCA officials state that the brochures will be available in English, Spanish and Creole. Will this be enough?

As consumer advocates, we must encourage the state to make sure every effort is made to contact beneficiaries, and that Medicaid consumers fully understand the choices that are available to them.

AHCA has hired Affiliated Computer Systems (ACS) to follow up the mailings with phone calls and home visits, among other efforts.

Who will enroll first?

The vast majority of the 200,000 or so Medicaid consumers won’t have to sign up for a new health care plan anytime soon.

Only those individuals who are newly eligible for Medicaid coverage – as well as those enrolled in MediPass whose primary care physicians have not yet joined a health care network -- will be required to do so during the enrollment period of July 24 and Aug. 18.

AHCA estimates this group to be about 22,240 people. Their benefits will begin Sept. 1, according to AHCA’s website. Those individuals in this first enrollment period who don’t sign up to a plan will be assigned to one. Their benefits will take effect Oct. 1.

Although AHCA will offer them a grace period to disenroll from a state-assigned plan and enroll in a new one, those who don’t take advantage of this option will be locked into their assigned health care plan for one year.

The second enrollment period will take place in late August, and benefits for this group will begin Oct. 1.

Meanwhile, AHCA plans to continue sending the brochures to some 38,000 beneficiaries in the two counties each month and enroll them over a seven-month period.

Full Premium KidCare Awaits Governor's Signature to Close Coverage Gaps

Good news for families who earn too much money to qualify for Medicaid coverage for their children – legislation that would make it easier to qualify for government-sponsored health insurance is a step closer to becoming law.

The bill (HB 241) was presented to the governor’s office on Monday, and Gov. Jeb Bush has until June 27 to take action on it.

The legislation would allow families who earn more than 200 percent of the poverty level ($40,000 for a family of four) to enroll their children in certain Florida KidCare programs -- as long as the families pay the full premiums.

Children ages 1 to 4 who fall in this income bracket could enroll in the MediKids program, while those ages 5 and above would qualify for another program called Florida Healthy Kids.

The state and federal governments subsidize premiums for lower-income families to enroll their children into KidCare programs.

Since the new measure won’t cost the state any money – parents will foot the bill for the premiums -- Gov. Bush will most likely sign it into law. Eligible families would be able to enroll their children beginning July 1.

The Legislature unanimously passed the bill sponsored in the House by Rep. Shelley Vana and in the Senate by Sen. Nan Rich. Several Republicans joined Democrats in signing on as co-sponsors for a successful bipartisan effort.

While this legislation is a positive step, children’s advocates remain disappointed that lawmakers failed to include children of state employees and of legal immigrants in KidCare coverage. Florida CHAIN and our advocates will continue to push for expanded coverage of this population during the 2007 legislative session.

NATIONAL

Citizenship Proof Required for Medicaid Starting July 1; Conference Call June 19

As a result of the Deficit Reduction Act, as of July 1 individuals declaring to citizens or nationals of the U.S will be required to provide documentation of their citizenship status and their identity to be eligible for Medicaid. Furthermore, new applicants will no longer be able to enroll in Medicaid until they have successfully proven their citizenship status and identity.

The requirement was intended to keep illegal immigrants from fraudulently enrolling in Medicaid. However, its main impact will likely be to impede or delay coverage for significant numbers of eligible U.S. citizens. At least California among states will delay implementation to avoid undue hardship, although the federal government will not match the state costs of Medicaid services anyone declaring to be a citizen who does not meet this documentation requirement. No such messages have been heard from Tallahassee.

Families USA expresses the concern heard throughout Florida and all other states,"With so little time before the law goes into effect, there is widespread concern that states will not have enough time to implement the requirement, get the word out to enrollees, or train caseworkers about the new rules. Undoubtedly, many people on Medicaid will not be able to find or obtain the documents they need to prove U.S. citizenship. As a result, thousands of eligible Americans could lose access to vital health coverage."

This requirement is expected to pose great hardship for elderly African Americans and others who were not born in hospitals, for the physically or mentally impaired, for those who have experienced house fires or natural disasters including hurricanes in the past few years, and for many others who also do not have birth certificates or passports.

To provide information and analysis about the new requirement and the CMS guidance explaining its implementation, and to give some recommendations for state advocates on how to help their states and people on Medicaid prepare for the new requirements, Families USA will be holding a conference call:

Conference Call on DRA Citizenship Documentation Guidance

June 19 3:00 pm (EDT)

Click here to RSVP for the call

Dont' miss this important briefing, as there is little time to prepare before July 1! Until then, check out the CMS Guidance and Fact Sheet:
CMS Guidance on Citizenship Verification
CMS Fact Sheet on Citizenship Verification

Citizens' Health Care Working Group Interim Recommendations Released; Public Comment Period Begins

The Citizen's Health Care Working Group, established by Congress in 2003 to solicit input from the U.S. public about health care reform, released its interim recommendations on June 2, 2006. The recommendations are based on results from community meetings held across the country, Web polls, written submissions, and public hearings. The group received input from about 23,000 U.S. residents. Florida CHAIN is proud of the dedicated participation of so many Florida health care consumers and advocates.

These recommendations outline a vision and a plan for achieving broad-based change in health care in America. They are available online. The public has until August 31, 2006 to comment on the interim recommendations; options include a form online, or email to citizenshealth@ahrq.gov.

In addition, the Making Health Care Work for All campaign is organizing public forums with members of Congress and other public comment opportunities during the public comment period. If you are interested in helping organize public comments or attending a public forum in your area, please contact martin@uhcan.org.

Final recommendations will be released at the end of September, 2006. At that point, the law requires the President to respond and Congress to hold hearings on the recommendations.

The group recommends that the U.S. develop a public policy that guarantees access to affordable health care for all U.S. residents by 2012, including:

Public policy that enables all to have affordable health care, with financial help when needed.
A defined "core" benefits package for all;
Guaranteed protection against very high costs, including immediate protection for the most vulnerable;
Integrated community health networks;
Increased efforts to improve quality of care and efficiency; and
New methods to provide and fund hospice, palliative care and other end-of-life care, so that U.S. residents with advanced and incurable conditions have increased options and access.

To carry out its critical agenda of affordable, quality, health care for all by 2012, the Working Group must show that many Americans believe in this goal. Please take a few minutes to review and respond to the Working Group’s recommendations.

First Medicare Part D Enrollment Period Ends with Key Unresolved Issues

May 15 marked the end of the first Medicare Part D enrollment period. Yet, the problems continue. Their resolution will help determine the success of the program. Florida CHAIN and other advocacy organizations will be monitoring these concerns closely; look for updates and action steps as they develop.

Medicare Part D: Many Now Falling in “Doughnut Hole” Gap

The most criticized part of Medicare’s prescription drug benefit is beginning to be felt, shocking even those who were satisfied with their coverage earlier in the year. Some beneficiaries are already beginning to feel the hard pinch of the most criticized part of the new drug benefit.

Although Part D does not include a cap on drug benefits, many enrollees fall into a “doughnut hole” after $2,250 is spent on medications. This means that they must bear the full cost of their drugs (plus their ongoing monthly premiums) until $5,100 has been spent in the plan year, at which point enrollees receive Medicare Part D coverage again. The doughnut hole, intended to hold back costs of the new Part D program, is a growing disaster for many who initially experienced relief. For many it is a virtual low cap on their benefits. Read more in the June 2006 AARP Bulletin.

Florida's U.S. Senators Support Late Enrollment Penalty Waiver

President Bush, HHS Secretary Leavitt, and Congress have so far let stand the onerous late enrollment lifetime penalty on those who did not sign up for Medicare Part D by the May 15 deadline. The president and Secretary Leavitt have failed to exercise their authority to alleviate the situation, except for very low income beneficiaries with minimal assets; and the Secretary has made statements in opposition to a waiver.

Legislation to waive this penalty (S. 2810), introduced immediately after it went into effect, now has 44 bipartisan senate co-sponsors, including Florida’s U.S. Senators Nelson (who helped spearhead the effort) and Martinez. However, it does not now look as though a waiver will be quickly forthcoming. Without relief, Senator Nelson estimates that 7.5 million seniors will be required to pay an additional one percent of their Part D premiums for each month they delayed signing up. Because all but very low income seniors can only join during open enrollment periods, those who did not sign up by May 15 must wait until 2007, with a seven percent lifetime penalty on their premiums.

An extension of the enrollment period would be optimal; it would alleviate the late penalties while also preventing seniors who were tardy in negotiating the very complex choices from being locked out of the plan until next year. As many as half of seniors who had no drug coverage before Medicare Part D are still without drug benefits. Florida CHAIN will keep you up to date, and let you know of any timely advocacy action to be taken.

Florida CHAIN thanks the many advocates who have taken the time to respond to our recent Get Active alerts. Your messages do make difference. Look for increased reporting on state legislation and weekly calls to action during the Florida session.

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North Florida Educational Development Corporation

May 31, 2006

L-R NFEDC's Shinita Jenkins, Exec. Dir. Carolyn Ford and Sylvia Martin

North Florida Educational Development Corporation (NFEDC) is a grassroots community-based organization established in 1986. Led by Executive Director Carolyn Ford, NFEDC’s mission is to empower individuals and families in Gadsden County, in the rural panhandle of North Florida bordering the Florida-Georgia line, to become more self-determined, self-sufficient and self-sustaining. To achieve its mission NFEDC coordinates education programs, job training and job development, hunger relief, affordable housing and community development initiatives.

Among its recent accomplishments, NFEDC established a Wellness Center in Quincy that averages about 350 clients a month, who visit with a nurse and a Health Educator for advice on issues from health care to best practices in nutrition.

A long-time partner and LINC (Local Initiatives Networking Communities) of Florida CHAIN, NFEDC serves an area of over 41,000 people and a poverty rate of 28%. Florida CHAIN and NFEDC are working together to establish a series of workshops and educational forums on issues ranging from Medicare Part D to KidCare and Tobacco Tax legislation.

Historically, the residents of Gadsden County depended on a strong agricultural base to sustain their economic wellbeing. In 1965, the tobacco industry provided work for approximately 18,000 people. The number of people employed on farms in the county decreased by one-half from 1978 to 1985. No other industry has replaced tobacco as the backbone of Gadsden County’s economy.

NFEDC began as Project HOPE, a literacy program organized by a community task force in an attempt to alleviate the high illiteracy rate in Gadsden County. NFEDC has evolved to include many programs in community and youth development, as well as housing and economic development. The Florida Housing Finance Agency has designated NFEDC as a CHDO (Community Housing Development Organization). NFEDC requires by law that fifty percent of its board are low-income residents.

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REAL STORIES
Medicaid Reform Unknowns Stressful for Recipients, Providers

June 15, 2006

Eva Washington, Hallandale, FL

Over 2.2 million Florida residents rely on Medicaid for their health care coverage. More than 220,000 of them live in Broward and Duval counties, the pilot regions for the soon-to-be-implemented Medicaid Reform Plan. This Plan seeks to privatize many of the services currently offered by Medicaid by moving recipients into managed care plans such as HMO’s and PSN’s. To date, none of the thousands of Medicaid recipients who may be affected know if and when they will have to enroll in these plans, nor even what these plans are and what they actually offer.

With implementation of Reform looming, this is a stressful situation for many low-income Floridians as well as independent providers. The stresses became obvious at a recent press conference convened by the Medicaid Reform Advocates Coalition, a group of organizations concerned about the effects Medicaid Reform will have on recipients.

At the press conference, Medicaid recipient and ACORN member Eva Washington from Hallandale (near Fort Lauderdale) discussed her greatest fears about Reform. Ms. Washington, and the grandson for whom she is caregiver, are Medicaid recipients.

“Will I be able to continue seeing the same doctors that I and my mentally ill grandson have been seeing? When will I know if these doctors we trust will be included in the Reform plan? And what happens if they are not?” she asked. “How will reform affect me and my family? So far I don’t even know whether we will be included in this Reform plan. Not knowing is really causing me a lot of stress.”

This is surely a common scenario for thousands of vulnerable Floridians. As of June 8th, just days before the July 1st Medicaid Reform start date, AHCA (Agency for Health Care Administration) had not yet announced its chosen plans for Broward and Duval counties, and none of the services to be included or the directories of participating physicians had been made public. In addition, American Computer Services (ACS), hired to manage the Choice Counseling component, had yet to hire the specialized customer care personnel to help beneficiaries navigate through almost 20 different healthcare plans. A total of 10 “in-person” choice counselors are slated to be hired in Broward, with 6 more slated for Duval.

Lynnette Granger-Boyden, Speech & Therapy

Medicaid recipients may also be negatively affected by Reform in other ways. Independent caregivers who have a long established relationship with patients are particularly vulnerable to being elbowed out of the new system, according to Lynnette Granger-Boyden, President of Eastside Speech & Therapy. “For months I have been attempting to reach the HMO’s that have submitted proposals under Reform to be included in their plans with no response. I have spoken to AHCA (Agency for Health Care Administration) and policy makers and received no indication that independent providers like myself will be able to continue seeing our patients under Medicaid Reform. I know I provide a valuable service, but I also have to eat and have a mortgage to pay. At this point I have no choice but to consider closing my practice and moving out of Broward,” she said.

Although the concerns raised by recipients and advocates has caused AHCA to delay its original enrollment date from July to September 1st, many questions still remain to be answered before Medicaid Reform moves forward in both the pilot counties and the rest of the State, as planned by 2011.

To share your own story, click here.

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RECENT HEALTH ARTICLES

June 15, 2006

Florida Health Issues, News & Opinions

Medicare and Medicaid

Medicare Drug Coverage, Drug Costs

Other Medicare, Medicaid

Health Insurance and Costs

Other National Health Issues

Florida Health Issues, News Coverage & Opinions

OPINION: EMSA's healthy, so what's next?

The rescue operation initiated in 2003 to save Marion County’s financially troubled ambulance service is, by all accounts, a quantifiable success, thanks to a community partnership that has provided it fresh funding and thinking. However, it is time to begin thinking about what happens when the current agreement ends in two years. (6/11/06, Ocala Star-Banner)

Cancer patients push for life in last days

Critics say doctors should focus on comfort, not chemo

A new study has found that doctors and cancer patients continue to engage in aggressive treatment in terminal cases, creating false hope and more physical stress for the patient.

(6/3/06, Miami Herald)

OPINION: Tougher for the poor, disabled

Policymakers Should Seek To Guarantee Medicaid Coverage

It's not a good time to be poor or disabled in America. President Bush, Congress and state governments are reneging on the promise of Medicaid. "The rising costs of Medicaid have led both the federal government and the states to cut back." He adds, "Rather than offer more funding to the states for Medicaid, the Bush administration has proposed cutting $35 billion from the program in the coming decade and turning the program into a block grant. States would then get one lump-sum payment every year, and they would have an even greater incentive to deny health care." Wright concludes, "These incentives are backward. We should look for ways to guarantee coverage for the poor and the disabled, not for ways to deprive the most needy of what should be a basic right" (5/31/06, Miami Herald)

NATIONAL ISSUES

Medicare and Medicaid

Medicare Drug Coverage, Drug Costs

New Drug Plan Baffles Patient and Provider Alike
In Washington, Bush administration officials say Medicare's new prescription drug program is humming along smoothly, filling more than three million prescriptions a day and cutting costs by an average of 50 percent for each beneficiary. But here in the Rio Grande Valley, the picture is different. "All I do all day is talk to angry patients," Vanessa M. Recio said. Many patients say they have difficulty getting the drugs they need. Pharmacists, swamped with questions and complaints from beneficiaries, have run into many practical problems as they try to navigate a complex program administered by dozens of prescription drug plans, each with its own policies and procedures. Doctors and pharmacists are struggling to figure out which drugs are covered by which plans. (6/11/06, New York Times)

OPINION: The Drug Benefit: A Report Card
The new Medicare drug program has scored some real successes after a staggeringly bad start, but it seems to have left some beneficiaries worse off. (6/5/06, New York Times)

Quick Passage Of Legislation To Waive Late-Enrollment Penalty For Medicare Rx Benefit Unlikely
Senate Finance Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and ranking member Max Baucus (D-Mont.) are "encountering obstacles to quick passage" of a bill (S 2810) that would eliminate the financial penalty for Medicare beneficiaries who sign up for the prescription drug benefit in November, CongressDaily reports (Heil, CongressDaily, 6/5). HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt has said that Congress should wait to act on legislation that would waive the late-enrollment penalty for Medicare beneficiaries who missed the May 15 deadline to sign up for the drug benefit. (5/19/06, Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report)

Other Medicare, Medicaid News

Medicaid Experiments in Some States Get Attention in Others
Freed from some Medicaid restrictions by congressional action last year, states are "moving aggressively to transform" the health insurance program for the poor by "adding fees, restricting benefits and creating incentives for patients to take responsibility for their health." (6/12/06, Washington Post)

California To Delay Enforcement of Federal Proof Of Citizenship Rule For Medicaid Eligibility
California health officials on Tuesday said they are postponing the enforcement of a new federal law that will require Medicaid enrollees and applicants to show proof of U.S. citizenship. (6/7/06, Los Angeles Times)

Former CMS Administrator Scully Says Medicaid 'Managerially A Mess'
Medicaid is "managerially a mess," and reform "is just not going to happen" because of the size and complexity of the program, former CMS Administrator Tom Scully said. "[T]here's not a human being in the world who knows what Medicaid is spending" because of "financing scams" that states use to obtain additional federal matching funds. He added, "[T]here is no federal-state partnership." According to Scully, state Medicaid programs require reform individually. (6/05/06, CQ Healthbeat,)

Medicaid Rules Toughened on Proof of Citizenship
Recipients will be required to show passports or birth certificates and a limited number of other documents. (6/5/06, New York Times)

ID law could hurt rightful Medicaid clients, states fear

State officials and advocates for the poor are asking the federal government for more flexibility in enforcing a new law that requires Medicaid enrollees and applicants to verify their citizenship and identities beginning July 1. Those who can't produce a U.S. birth certificate, passport, naturalization certificate or other acceptable documentation could lose or be barred from coverage under Medicaid, the joint state and federal health plan that serves more than 50 million low-income adults and children. . . . The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is responsible for raising public awareness about the new law and for drafting guidelines on what alternative documents, if any, can be used to validate citizenship and to prove identity. But with less than a month before the law takes effect, the agency has done neither. (6/4/06, Knight Ridder Newspapers)

Low Payments by U.S. Raise Medical Bills Billions a Year
Employers and consumers are paying billions of dollars more a year for medical care to compensate for imbalances in the nation's health care system resulting from tight Medicare and Medicaid budgets, according to Blue Cross officials and independent actuaries. (6/1/06, New York Times)

Health Insurance and Costs

AMA Adds Individual Responsibility to Proposal for Covering Uninsured

At its annual meeting, the American Medical Association endorsed requiring individuals and families to obtain basic health care coverage as part of a legislative approach to covering the nation's more than 46 million uninsured residents... The AMA said it will advocate for legislation that includes tax credits for the purchase of insurance, individually selected and owned health insurance, the expansion and formation of new health insurance options, changes in health insurance market regulations, and individual responsibility. (6/13/06, AHA News Now)

Not-So-Great Expectations for Health Costs

Health care costs continue to escalate precipitously, but the growth rate will lose a little steam this year, the HR consultancy Aon predicts, based on a survey of 70 heath insurers covering 100 million lives. POS premiums will grow 11.9% this year, while HMOs will increase 12.2% and PPOs will rise 12.4%. As daunting as those spikes are, they fall short of last year's readings, when HMO, PPO and POS premiums rose 13%. (6/8/06, BenefitNews Connect)

OPINION: The Market Can Create Affordable Coverage for the 20-Something Uninsured
Government should "get...out of the way" when it comes to covering the young uninsured--those aged 21 to 34 who disproportionately lack coverage. (6/6/06, USA Today)

Needs of Patients Outpace Doctors

An aging America and a shortage of physicians will severely tax the healthcare system, experts say. The effects are already being felt. A looming doctor shortage threatens to create a national healthcare crisis by further limiting access to physicians, jeopardizing quality and accelerating cost increases. (6/4/06, Los Angeles Times)

OPINION: The Health Care Lottery

What is most ridiculous about the American health care system is that we have no idea, very often, whether even the most expensive treatments do any good. That America has 45 million uninsured is the most embarrassing thing about our health care system. Universal coverage will require rationing. (6/4/06, Washington Post)

Studies Find that Employers and Consumers Pay the Bill for the Uninsured
Private payers cover billions of dollars a year of the costs of medical care that should be paid by Medicare and Medicaid, or is unpaid by the uninsured. (6/1/06, New York Times)

More Uninsured, and Others, Opt for Health Savings Accounts
High-deductible health savings accounts are becoming more popular, according to a GAO report. The number of U.S. residents who enrolled in consumer-directed health plans increased from roughly three to six million in 2005. Nearly 30% of people enrolling in such plans were previously uninsured. (5/30/06, AP)

High-Deductible Health Plans Growing In Popularity Among Large Companies
3.2 million U.S. employees have enrolled in high-deductible health plans, up from one million last year, the Free Press reports. The Treasury Department estimates that between seven million and 21 million U.S. residents will have HSAs in four years. Some critics are concerned that many low- and middle-income individuals are enrolling in the plans to benefit from the lower premiums and will not be able to afford the high deductibles. (5/30/06, Detroit Free Press)

States Take a New Look at Health Care Reform

Many states are following Massachusetts' recently passed health mandate and taking steps to reduce the number of uninsured. (5/27/06, Wall Street Journal)

Vermont Signs Ambitious Health-Insurance Law
Vermont's governor signed a bill on Thursday that would make the state the second in the nation with near-universal health-care insurance by extending coverage to as much as 96 percent of its residents by 2010. The law comes a month after neighboring Massachusetts passed the nation's first near-universal health-care reform plan, which aims to provide insurance to about 95 percent of the state's half-million uninsured residents by 2009. (5/25/06, Reuters)

The Health-Insurance Crunch

Many microbusinesses can't afford coverage, but that hurts their growth. While the policy debate continues, one nonprofit offers help. There are 18 million microbusinesses (companies with 10 or fewer employees) in the U.S., employing more than 12 million people and generating $309 billion in annual payroll. The numbers are impressive. But it's discouraging to learn that 51% of these companies do not offer any form of health insurance, either for employees or owners. (5/22/06, Business Week)

Other Health Issues

In Diabetes, One More Burden for the Mentally Ill

Dr. John Newcomer is a psychiatrist who generally treats people with severe ailments of the mind and spirit. But before his patients sit down, before he hears about their clammy paranoia or renegade voices, Dr. Newcomer wants to know about their waist size. He steers them to a scale to learn their weight. He orders a blood sugar test. If big numbers come up, he begins a conversation about Type 2 diabetes, a disease associated with obesity that is appearing with alarming frequency among the mentally ill. "Uncontrolled diabetes can ruin a person's life as much as uncontrolled schizophrenia," said Dr. Newcomer, a professor of psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. (6/12/06, New York Times)

TV Screen, Not Couch, Is Required for This Session
A growing number of psychiatrists are using telemedicine technology to reach patients in rural swaths of the nation. (6/8/06, New York Times)

FDA Acts to Improve Drug Safety and Quality
FDA Strengthens its Efforts on Unapproved Prescription Drug Products Containing Carbinoxamine
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the strengthening of its efforts against unapproved drug products. The activity will begin with prescription products containing the antihistamine carbinoxamine because of safety concerns regarding their use in children under 2 years of age. (6/8/06, FDA)

Leading Health And Technology Companies Form Alliance To Improve Personal Health Through Connected Devices
Given the rise of chronic conditions and the rapid aging of the population, the methods of managing health will need to shift from traditional institutional settings to peoples' everyday environments, including the home. To enable this shift, a group of technology, healthcare and fitness companies have formed the Continua Health Alliance, an open industry group that will establish an ecosystem of connected personal health and fitness products and services, making it possible for patients, caregivers and healthcare providers to more proactively address ongoing healthcare needs. (6/7/06, Medical News Today)

FDA Decides To Track Pharmaceuticals
The FDA has decided to track pharmaceuticals from the factory, to wholesaler to pharmacy. In fact, there is an 18-year-old law that requires wholesalers to track drugs from the factory to the retail outlet - the pharmacy. The FDA will now enforce this law. This move is aimed at stamping out the traffic of counterfeit drugs. (6/6/06, FDA)

Young Black Women Prone to Deadly Cancer
A study was the first to sort different genetic subtypes of breast tumors in American women. (6/6/06, New York Times)

Use of Antipsychotics by the Young Rose Fivefold
The finding is likely to inflame a continuing debate about the risks of using psychiatric medication in children. (6/6/06, New York Times)

New Technologies Can Benefit Health
Modern devices are helping us change unhealthy habits
Most of us have probably heard the concerns about the dangers of interactive technology on our health: Web surfing, e-mail and video games keep us tied to computer monitors for hours at a time, lowering activity levels and straining eyes; talking on cell phones distracts us from tasks at hand. No doubt there are downsides, but a high-tech approach to health also can confer benefits such as helping us change unhealthy behaviors and improving how we feel. (5/30/06, Chicago Tribune) e

Blowing Smoke About Tobacco
"Tobacco: deadly in any form or disguise" is the slogan of the World Health Organization's World No Tobacco Day tomorrow. The claim is false: Tobacco is not deadly; the harm is in the smoke. A policy that confuses innocuous tobacco with harmful smoke is responsible for millions of avoidable deaths each year worldwide. Cigarette smoke is a deadly delivery device for a benign but habit-forming product: nicotine. Nicotine isn't especially dangerous -- about like caffeine. Good policy toward tobacco use would reduce the grave harm of smoking by replacing cigarettes with non-smoked forms of nicotine for the addicts. (5/30/06, Washington Post)

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HEALTH ADVOCACY RESOURCES

June 15, 2006

Florida CHAIN Website Resources

Grants and Fellowships

Organizations and Services

Manuals, Guides and Toolkits

Technology and Audio Visual Materials

Audioconferences and Webcasts

Media Programming

Web Sites, Web Features

Videos

Periodicals and Books

Reports and Studies

New Listings

New: Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIPS

New: Health Insurance, Health Costs, Health Care Reform

New: Health Equity Issues

New: Other Health Issues

Florida Reports

Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIPS

Federal Budget/Health Care

Health Insurance, Health Costs, Health Care Reform

Health Equity Issues

Other Health Issues

FLORIDA CHAIN WEB SITE RESOURCE UPDATE

Medicare Part D Consumer Fact Sheet on Getting Drugs After the Transition Period

Provided by US Dept. of Health and Human Services.

Provider’s Guide to Immigration Issues Regarding Florida KidCare

Florida CHAIN has posted The Refugee and Entrant Project's one page guide that answers many frequently asked questions about Florida KidCare that are specific to refugee families. For additional support, it also provides a list of Florida KidCare hotline numbers.

The Florida CHAIN web site now includes resource information in Spanish. To access, click here.

GRANTS AND FELLOWSHIPS

New grant listings

Aligning Forces for Quality: Support for Health Care Coalitions
Registration Deadline: July 14

Application Deadline: Sept. 7

The Regional Market Project is a $10 million national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation designed to help communities dramatically improve the quality of the health care they provide for chronic diseases in ambulatory settings. Aligning Forces for Quality will help up to six communities align three key drivers of quality improvement: performance measurement and public reporting; capacity to help physicians in the community improve the quality of ambulatory, chronic illness care; and consumer engagement. Selected communities will each receive grants of up to $600,000 to use over three years for planning, convening, coordination, and infrastructure development. The program will accept only one proposal per community. To help ensure that only one organization per community applies, all applicant organizations must register with the program on or before July 14.

Tobacco Policy Change: Tobacco Policy Change: A Collaborative for Healthier

Deadline: Aug. 1

This program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, is a national initiative that provides resources and technical assistance for local, regional, and nationally-based organizations and tribal groups interested in implementing effective tobacco prevention and cessation policy initiatives. Applicants must have demonstrated success in policy advocacy and grassroots organizing. Particular attention will be given to applicants working in communities or states most affected by tobacco-related disease and exposure. Grants will range from $75,000 to $150,000, depending on the strength of the proposal and matching funds.

Ronald McDonald House Charities -- Children’s Health Grant

Letter of Inquiry Deadline: Aug. 15

Ronald McDonald House Charities is accepting applications for its Children’s Health Grant programs. These grants are intended to support programs that directly improve the health and wellbeing of children, that address a significant funding gap or critical opportunity, have a potential long-term impact and produce measurable results. Eligible applicants include non-profit organizations.

Nominations Invited for RWJ Community Health Leadership Awards

Letters of Intent Deadline: Sept. 22

The Robert Wood Johnson Community Health Leadership Program annually honors with $120,000 each, ten outstanding individuals who overcome daunting odds to expand access to health care and social services to underserved and isolated populations in communities across the United States. The program's goal is to elevate the work of its leaders through financial support, opportunities for growth and networking, and assistance raising awareness of their contributions. Candidates should be working at the grassroots level, have received no significant national recognition, and be in "mid-career," with no less than five and no more than fifteen years of community health experience. CHLP welcomes nominations from consumers, community leaders, health professionals, government officials, and others who have been personally inspired by people providing essential community health services. Nominations from development and public relations departments or professional grant writers cannot be accepted.

Applied Epidemiology Fellowship at CDC for Medical Students

Deadline: Dec. 4

Funded by Pfizer Inc. and administered by the CDC Foundation, this fellowship provides medical students with applied hands-on training experience in epidemiology and public health. Up to ten 3^rd-4^th year medical students from around the US will spend up to a year at the CDC, carrying out epidemiologic analyses in areas such as birth defects, injury, chronic disease, infectious disease, environmental health, reproductive health, and minority health. The program provides a stipend for living expenses.

Continuing grant listings, in order of submission deadlines

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality -- Large and Small Conference Support

Deadline: June 20 (Small Conference Programs)

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is accepting applications for Conference Grant Funding Opportunity. The purpose of this program is to support conferences on the subjects of improving the quality, safety, efficiency and effectiveness of health care. Conferences eligible for support include: 1) research development; 2) design and methodology; 3) dissemination conferences; and/or 4) research training, infrastructure and career development conferences. Emphasis is placed on conferences that include plans for disseminating information and materials to audiences beyond participants in the meeting. Eligible applicants include domestic (U.S.) public organizations, such as governmental units and nonprofit and for-profit organizations. Small conferences are eligible for up to $50,000.

American Heart Association, Clinton Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to Help Schools Create a Healthier Environment for Nation's Students

Applications available July 1

The Alliance for a Healthier Generation has announced a new collaboration with schools to create environments that foster healthy lifestyles and prevent overweight and obesity among students. The Alliance works to address the issues that contribute to childhood obesity and to inspire all young Americans to develop lifelong healthy habits. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation awarded the Alliance $8 million to support the Healthy Schools Program.

Historically Black Colleges and Universities Grant Program
Application deadline: July 6
The purpose of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) Health Services Research Grant Program is to support HBCU researchers in carrying out health services research activities to meet the needs of diverse CMS beneficiary populations. This is the 10th year for the grant program.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation -- Local Initiative Funding Partners
Deadline: July 6 (Stage I)
Local Initiative Funding Partners (LIFP) is a partnership program between the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and local grantmakers to fund projects to improve the health and health care of vulnerable people in their communities. Projects must be new, innovative, collaborative and community based, and must be nominated by a local grantmaker interested in participating as a funding partner. Up to $6 million in funding is available for 14 matching grants of $200,000 to $500,000. Eligible applicants are local funding partners, including independent and private foundations, family and community foundations, and corporate and other philanthropies.

Alzheimer’s or Related Dementia Group Respite Program Seed Grants

Deadline: July 6

The Brookdale Foundation's National Group Respite Program awards seed grants to organizations to develop and implement social model group respite programs. These day programs serve elders with Alzheimer's disease or related dementia and their family caregivers.

American Dental Association Samuel Harris Fund for Children's Dental Health Dentistry Grant Program

Deadline: July 10

The Harris Fund will award competitive grants of up to $5,000 to applicants whose oral health promotion programs are designed to improve and maintain children’s oral health through community education programs. In 2007, a total of $210,000 will be available for the program. The grant program’s main objective is to help children whose socio-economic status impacts on their access to professional oral care and adversely affects their oral health habits at home. The program philosophy seeks to increase access to, and education on, oral health care by encouraging volunteerism in the health professions community. Proposals of up to $5,000.00 by community-based, not-for-profit, oral health promotion programs in the United States and its territories will be considered.

Allegany Franciscan Ministries Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie Counties
Tau Grants Deadline: July 14
Ten Tau 2006 Palm Beach Region grants are anticipated, with amounts up to $5,000.
Lorraine Gallagher Freimann Healthcare Initiative Grants
Allegany Franciscan Ministries and Palm Healthcare Foundation make these funds available on an annual competitive basis to organizations providing services to underserved populations in Palm Beach County. They seek programs that remove barriers to healthcare access for underserved and indigent populations, focusing on language access and medical translation services and healthcare navigation for diverse communities. Look for a request for proposals in May.

AcademyHealth Health Services Research (HSR) Impact Award
Deadline: July 28
AcademyHealth requests nominations of health services researcher that has made a positive impact on health policy and/or practice. The lead researcher of the winning impact will receive $2,000, and the research will be disseminated widely as part of AcademyHealth's ongoing efforts to promote the field of health services research and communicate its value for health care decision-making. The award will be announced at the 2007 National Health Policy Conference on February 12-13, and the winner will receive complimentary registration, travel and lodging to the conference.

Packer Policy Fellowships
Application deadline: August 15
On behalf of the Australian Department of Health and Ageing, The Commonwealth Fund announces this Australian-American health policy fellowship program. The Packer Policy Fellowships offer a unique opportunity for outstanding, mid-career U.S. professionals--academics, physicians, decision-makers in managed care and other private health care organizations, federal and state health officials, and journalists--to spend up to 10 months in Australia conducting original research and working with leading health policy experts on issues relevant to both countries.

American Psychiatric Foundation Offers Grants for Mental Illness Public Education and Outreach
Deadline: September 1

The American Psychiatric Foundation, a charitable and educational subsidiary of the American Psychiatric Association, is making up to $750,000 in total grant funds available over the course of three years (2005-07) to fund public education, information, and outreach initiatives that promote the early recognition and treatment of mental illness. The foundation seeks to fund new and innovative ideas and programs that promote public awareness of mental illness, the effectiveness of treatment, and the importance of early intervention.

Blue Foundation for a Healthy Florida Winter 2006 Grant Cycle
Deadline: September 15
The Blue Foundation for a Healthy Florida supports philanthropic, community-based solutions that address many different health care challenges facing Florida both today and in the future. Grants will be awarded to improve program capacity and reduce barriers to access, with a particular focus on the uninsured and underserved. The Foundation will focus a significant portion of its resources to maximize impact in the area of community-based health clinics and outreach services. The Foundation awards up to $1 million annually. Grants range in size from $10,000 to $100,000. Eligible applicants include nonprofit organizations with 501 (c)(3) status and located in Florida.

Nominations Sought for Robert Wood Johnson Community Health Leadership Award

Letter of Intent Deadline: Sept. 22

The Robert Wood Johnson Community Health Leadership Program (CHLP) honors 10 outstanding individuals each year for their work in creating or enhancing health care programs serving communities whose needs have been ignored and unmet. Each leader receives $120,000 to be used for personal and program enhancement over a period of up to three years. CHLP seeks individuals who have the leadership skills to overcome complex obstacles and find creative ways to bring health care services to their communities. Candidates should be working at the grassroots level, have received no significant national recognition and be in "mid-career," with no less than five and no more than fifteen years of community health experience. Nominations can be made by consumers, community leaders, health professionals and government officials who have been personally inspired by the nominee. Interested nominators need to complete a Letter of Intent (LOI) form. Completed nominations will be due in November. Click here for details and forms or call 617/426-9772.

CVS/pharmacy Accepting Applications for Community Grants Program
Deadline: October 31
CVS/pharmacy supports the communities it serves by offering nonprofit organizations the CVS/pharmacy Community Grant. The Community Grants program is currently accepting proposals for the following: 1) Programs targeting children under the age of 18 with disabilities that address any of the following: health and rehabilitation services; public schools promoting a greater level of inclusion in student activities and extracurricular programs; and creating opportunities or facilities that give greater access to physical movement and play. 2) Healthcare services for uninsured people. All CVS/pharmacy Community Grant applications must be submitted online between January and October of each calendar year.

Research Proposals on Disparities Issues

Proposals will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation seeks to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in the care of patients with cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus type 2 and/or depression. To that end, RWJF invites research proposals that offer solutions towards reducing health care disparities. RWJF encourages researchers to include data and analyses in their proposals to help us better understand these disparities related to: sub-ethnic and other marginalized groups (e.g., Mexican, Puerto Rican, Vietnamese and American Indian); and acculturation factors (e.g., generation, years in US, age of migration and language proficiency). RWJF will consider projects of up to $75,000 with a one-year time frame.

State Coverage Initiatives
Through funding from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, State Coverage Initiatives offers both policy planning and demonstration grants. SCI grants are designed to support states in the early stages of planning coverage expansions and those states that have decided on a new coverage expansion mechanism and seek assistance designing and implementing the program. Specific new grant opportunities are announced on the Web site and through the e-newsletter, St@teside; however, states may submit project ideas at any time. For specific info, contact isabel.friedenzohn@academyhealth.org or 202/292-6726

Allegany Franciscan Ministries Capacity Building Scholarship

Allegany Franciscan Ministries will award, in Miami-Dade, Tampa Bay, and Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie areas, Capacity Building Scholarships throughout 2006 as long as funds are available. Scholarships of up to $300 may be requested to pay registration fees for conferences, seminars and other training opportunities for the staff and volunteers of nonprofit organizations in order to increase their capacity to deliver efficient and effective services to those in need. Organizations may submit scholarship applications at any time, preferably at least six weeks prior to the registration deadline of the conference or training program.

Directory Of Health Policy Fellowships

This Kaiser directory contains new listings for undergraduates, graduate students and professionals searching for summer, school-year, or post-doctoral positions.

ORGANZATIONS AND SERVICES

Newly posted resources are at the top of the list.

Medicare Rights Center (MRC) is a comprehensive independent source of health care information and assistance for older adults and people with disabilities. Multiple services include: a telephone hotline; a database of case advice; education and training; public policy work; electronic newsletters; and communications with local and national media outlets. Publications include:

Questions to Ask when Considering a Medicare Health Plan; What do I need to know about the new drug benefit if I am in a Medicare HMO or other private health plan?; Medicare: A National Treasure for 40 Years.

Access to Benefits Coalition

The nonprofit ABC is dedicated to ensuring that Medicare beneficiaries with limited incomes know about and make the best use of all available resources for accessing prescription drugs and reducing their costs. ABC is working through local community coalitions to inform beneficiaries and their families, as well as the professionals who serve them, about Medicare Part-D. Extra Help is provided online or in person; find out if you or someone qualifies by going to BenefitsCheckUpRx?. Publications include: Applying for the Low-Income Subsidy: A Tool Kit for Advocates; and Pathways to Success: Meeting the Challenge of Enrolling Medicare Beneficiaries with Limited Incomes

The National Hispanic Resource Help-Line 1/800-473-3003 provides support for Latinos throughout the nation who need information about educational, health and human service providers. To become part of their database, click here.

Movement For Medical Privacy Grows In The USA

As Congress moves rapidly to build a national electronic health system, a coalition of 26 organizations representing constituencies across the political and ideological spectrum will urge the U.S. House of Representatives to build a patient-centered system with patient privacy rights at the core of any national HIT legislation. (Patient Privacy Rights Foundation)

MANUALS, GUIDES, TOOLKITS

Newly posted resources are at the top of the list.

Navigating the Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Coverage Program: A Guide for People With Disabilities, Benefits Counselors, Disability Organizations and Others on Ensuring Adequate and Appropriate Access to Prescription Drugs

Written by a senior research scholar at Georgetown University's Health Policy Institute, and a disability policy consultant, this guide provides information for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries about how to best use the Medicare drug benefit. The guide offers an overview of the drug plan in a question-and-answer format, as well as a discussion about possible denials of coverage, exceptions, grievances and appeals. (6/6/06, United Cerebral Palsy)

Making Consumerism Work: A Practical Guide for Transforming Healthcare
This new guide from SHPS, Inc. helps employers navigate their way through health care consumerism by offering a context for the rise of health care consumerism, acknowledging that there's no cookie-cutter approach and establishing a framework for how employers can think about various components such as individual ownership, behavioral change, transparency and advocacy. The ultimate aim is for readers to learn practical steps for applying these lessons to employee benefit strategies, which may include anything from improving health and productivity or reducing health care expense to retaining top talent.

Consumer-Directed Health Care Resources

KaiserEDU.org recently posted new resources on consumer-directed health care, including a narrated slide tutorial, an issue module and a public poll analysis. The slide tutorial discusses the principles and models of CDHC, including health savings accounts. He also discusses CDHC financing, CDHC's impact on health care spending and related policy issues. The companion issue module summarizes the latest research and policy analysis on CDHC and covers CDHC's impact in the marketplace and on low-income populations, health insurance coverage, risk selection, and consumers' access to health information. The Public Opinions on HSAs examines how many Americans have heard of and understand what health savings accounts are (6/5/06, Kaiser Family Foundation)

Meeting-in-a-Box: ABCs of Asthma
The Public Health Foundation's online bookstore, the Learning Resource Center has a variety of materials related to allergies and asthma. Produced by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (updated 2005), this CD-ROM is a tool that provides healthcare professionals with everything needed to give a one hour presentation on asthma basics, including a presenters guide and script; a meeting coordinators guide; handouts; meeting sign-in sheet and evaluation form; and over 50 PowerPoint slides. Click here for details.

Fact Sheets and Primer on the Uninsured
The Kaiser Family Foundation has collected links to some resources on the topics of health coverage and the nation’s uninsured population to assist you in your work related to these issues:

The Uninsured and Their Access to Care

Covering the Uninsured: Growing Need, Strained Resources

Massachusetts’ New Law to Cover the Uninsured

Women's Health Insurance Coverage

The Uninsured: A Primer

Medicare Part D Consumer Fact Sheet on Getting Drugs After the Transition Period

Provided by US Dept. of Health and Human Services.

Fact Sheet Summarizes Medicaid and SCHIP Eligibility Rules for Immigrants

A new fact sheet from the Foundation's KCMU provides an overview of the current rules on immigrants' eligibility for Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program.

Medicare Rights Center Resources to Fix Part-D

MRC promotes fixing Part-D by making it available under Original Medicare and negotiating drug prices. Here are four resources to help educate others:

Presentation (Powerpoint) on Why We Need a Drug Benefit Under Original Medicare

"Part D - No Guarantee" Confusion Chart Flier

Why is the Privatized Part D Drug Benefit a Disaster?

The New Part D Prescription Drug Program: A Gamble for All Americans

Guide for Communicating with African-American Men about Prostate Cancer

Florida A&M University Center for Minority Prostate Cancer Training and Research has released a resource guide for health care providers, educators and researchers to assist in communicating with African-American men about prostate cancer screening, clinical trials and treatment. African-American men are 2.4 times more likely to die of prostate cancer when compared to White men. They also have the highest incidence of the disease compared to other racial/ethnic groups in the United States. The Center has received over $1M from the U.S. Army Department of Defense to study prostate cancer disparities experienced by African-American men.

Applying for the Low-Income Subsidy: A Tool Kit for Advocates
Access to Benefits Coalition provides these Tools You Can Use to help people apply for the extra help available through the new Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage.

Families USA is offering a new resource, Making Public Programs Work for Communities of Color: An Action Kit for Community Leaders, from its Minority Health Initiatives Department. The kit provides community leaders with information, tools, and resources to engage in health advocacy and improve the health and well being of their communities. Emphasizing the importance of public programs in reducing racial and ethnic health disparities, the kit contains: a summary and statistics of racial and ethnic health disparities and the role public programs can play in reducing them; an overview of Medicaid (and SCHIP) and Medicare, including their relationships to communities of color; fact sheets on improving health coverage for racial and ethnic minority groups; state and local case studies on health advocacy; advocacy tools including a powerpoint presentation, and lists of organizations and publications. Contact: 202/628-3030 or rpanares@familiesusa.org.

2005-2006 Healthy Kids Marketing and Public Relations Tool Kit now available

Healthy Kids asks users to please forward updates on items used, including how they were used, numbers distributed and feedback on effectiveness. Call center staff need to be aware of any efforts so they know which items are out in each community and are prepared to address questions. To make changes or additions to any design or use the trademarked logos or phone numbers, prior approval is required to ensure that accurate information is distributed. Send requests to floyda@healthykids.org or fax to 850/224-0615.

Health Literacy Fact Sheets

This series of nine fact sheets was created for those who are designing patient education materials for consumers with low health literacy skills. The sheets define health literacy, describe its impact on health outcomes, provide strategies to prepare appropriate educational materials to assist low-literate consumers, and provide resources for additional health literacy information and publications.

The Medicaid Matters web site is a resource for people working across the country to protect Medicaid, the health insurance that 50 million rely on. It stores a ready-to-use toolkit of messages, materials and dissemination ideas. Users are able to download, at no cost, tested messages emphasizing the importance of Medicaid and the threat now facing the program. Messages are enhanced by high quality, full color photography. One set of materials is designed to be ready to print. Once downloaded, they can be forwarded to any print house or copy shop without any further formatting. The second set of materials is designed so that components of the product can be adapted to suit the needs of that organization or constituency that wishes to use them.

Turning the Tide: Why Acting on Inequity Can Help Reduce Chronic Diseases, a tool kit now available from the Public Health Agency of Canada's Atlantic Regional Office, is designed to support the use of the document, The Tides of Change: Addressing Inequity and Chronic Disease in Atlantic Canada; A Discussion Paper. The package was produced for use by community organizations in examining their work and policies and contains a variety of hands-on resources for use in presentations and group discussions.

TECHNOLOGY AND AUDIO/VIDEO RESOURCES

Audio Conferences and Webcasts

Dated events listed chronologically; standing webcasts listed last

Conference Call on DRA Citizenship Documentation Guidance

June 19 3:00 pm EDT

This Families USA conference call will address the new law that, starting on July 1, requires the 50 million U.S. citizens currently enrolled in Medicaid provide documentation of their Medicaid until they have successfully prove their citizenship status and identity. The call will give analysis on CMS guidance and some recommendations for state advocates on how to help their states and people on Medicaid prepare for the new requirements. Click here to RSVP for the call.

Maximizing Results of Disease Management Programs through Community-Based Resources
June 21

This audio conference, will examine how disease management programs can improve their effectiveness through partnerships with community-based organizations. Community-based partnerships are a critical element in the Chronic Care Model developed by Dr. Ed Wagner, the director of Improving Chronic Illness Care. Partnerships can be formed with state programs, local agencies, schools, faith organizations, businesses and clubs. Click here for details.

YMCAs and Hospitals: Successful Collaborations for Healthier Communities
July 20 11:00 am PT (12:00 MT, 1:00 pm CT, 2:00 pm ET)

ACHI Audio Conference.

Trust Counts Now: Hospitals and Their Communities
August 17. 11:00 am PT (12:00 MT, 1:00 pm CT, 2:00 pm ET)

ACHI Audio Conference.

Policies and Procedures to Strengthen Community Benefit Accountability

Sept. 21 ACHI audio conference

Examining the Science Behind Race-Based Medicine: Minority Health Videoconference
June 26 2:00-4:00 pm EDT
The 12th Annual Summer Public Health Research Institute and Videoconference on Minority Health opens with this two-hour discussion moderated by Stephanie Crayton. The session will be broadcast from the Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Click here for details.

Tobacco Use Prevention Initiatives at Historically Black Colleges and Universities: Minority Health Videoconference
June 28 2:00-4:00pm EDT
This session will be broadcast from the Carl J. Murphy Fine Arts Center at Morgan State University in Baltimore. Click here for details.

Video/Forum to Assess Medicare Drug Benefit Implementation for Low-Income and Dual Eligible Beneficiaries

Explores key challenges in reaching low-income people on Medicare and reviews potential strategies for improving participation in the low-income subsidy program. Panelists discuss the early experiences of these beneficiaries and consider how to address ongoing challenges. A new video, produced by the Kaiser Family Foundation, Transitions 2006, which explores some of the issues and challenges experienced by dual eligibles, is also presented. (5/18/06, Kaiser Network)

The State of Latinos and HIV/AIDS in the United States

This Bienestar and AIDS Institute briefing allows members of Congress to learn more about the issues related to HIV/AIDS in the Latino community. Web page includes several power point presentations. (5/3/06, Kaiser Network)

Medicare Advantage: Early Views and Trendspotting Webcast
Alliance for Health Reform and Commonwealth Fund hosted this May 19 briefing on the Medicare managed care program, Medicare Advantage. These questions and others are discussed: Is the Medicare Advantage program now growing again after a period of declining enrollment? How do beneficiary costs in Medicare Advantage compare to costs for beneficiaries in the traditional fee-for-service program? Are the payments provided under the 2003 law being used to offer more comprehensive coverage for prescription drugs and other health benefits? For more information, please visit the Alliance's briefing Web site.

Families USA Conference Call Audio Playbacks

Throughout 2006, Families USA is holding a series of conference calls on a range of health care topics for state and local advocates. Interested, but can't make it? Don't worry. You can catch up on what you missed by listening to the audio playback. To listen to these conference calls, you will need RealPlayer or Windows Media Player. Click here for listening instructions.

ACHI Spring Training for Health Champions Conference Sessions
(March 14-16, 2006) Download and view more than 30 presentation files from the meeting.

Media Programming

Let's Just Play Go Healthy Challenge on Nickelodeon
The Alliance for a Healthier Generation believes that the best way to make kids healthier is to help THEM take charge of their own health. In partnership with Nickelodeon, the Alliance spreads the word about good health and motivates kids to join the Healthier Generation movement. The Let's Just Play Go Healthy Challenge was launched April 30th, with the introduction of four real children on their quest to eat better, play harder, and feel better.

How Hospitals Heal Themselves

A one-hour documentary airing on public television Spring and Summer 2006

Call your local PBS station for time of broadcast

This rare good news documentary reports on a surprising solution to escalating costs, unnecessary deaths and waste in America's hospitals. Doctors and nurses tell how they did their best, working overtime, while hospital conditions worsened. They were delighted to learn a new way to improve patient care dramatically and reduce unnecessary deaths, suffering, errors, infections and costs without additional resources or government regulations.

Remaking American Medicine?...Health Care for the 21st Century
Crosskeys Media® and Devillier Communications, Inc. announce a four-part series to be broadcast on PBS nationally every Thursday at 10 p.m. in October. Line-up and date for each show:

Silent Killer - October 5

Every year at least 98,000 Americans die - and countless more are injured - as a result of medical errors. This program begins by profiling the efforts of Sorrel King, whose 18-month-old daughter Josie was killed at one of the most respected hospitals in the world, Johns Hopkins.

First Do No Harm - October 12

This program focuses on the impact of medical errors in two hospitals and follows the efforts of physicians who are challenging their colleagues to live up to their oath to First Do No Harm. Confronts one epidemic of hospital-acquired infections that are shattering the lives of their victims.

The Stealth Epidemic - October 19

Chronic diseases like diabetes and congestive heart failure affect nearly 100 million Americans, and treatment of these illnesses consumes nearly 70 percent of all health care resources. Yet doctors are often unable to prevent needless suffering or even death, and these failures are threatening the viability of our entire health care system.

Hand in Hand - October 26

As medicine continues to become more and more technologically sophisticated and the systems that deliver medical care become more complex, the relationship between providers, patients and families is more important than ever.

"60 Minutes" Targets Hospitals' Billing of the Uninsured

"60 Minutes" segment transcript
"60 Minutes" responses to segment transcript

Web Sites, Web Features & Databases

Newest postings are listed at the top of State and National Web Resources sections below

State Web Resources

Florida Voter Registration Application Online
To apply to register to vote, fill in the PDF application online and print it out, or print the application and write in the information. Please use a black ballpoint pen. THE FLORIDA VOTER REGISTRATION APPLICATION REQUIRES AN ORIGINAL SIGNATURE. If the PDF application is filled in online, it must be printed out and signed prior to mailing.

State Level Data on Health Coverage & the Uninsured

Kaiser Family Foundation's interactive web tool includes the health insurance status of the state’s population (those with various types of health coverage or who are uninsured), and demographic information (such as income, race/ethnicity, age, gender) for those who are uninsured, have employer-based insurance, or Medicaid. Information about Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries can be found in those respective categories. Find data from other categories on the website that relate to Health Coverage & Uninsured.

Medicaid Applications Online 24/7 and in Neighborhoods

Local partners can direct families to their area sites or online to apply for Medicaid and other benefits. The Web Application is generally preferable as the data makes it into the Florida system more quickly and there is a reduced chance of data entry errors.

DCF Offers Medicare Part D Powerpoints Re: Persons with Mental Illness
Florida Department of Children and Families has made available powerpoint presentations used on a December 2nd Video Teleconference sponsored by the Florida Department of Children and Families, Florida Agency for Health Care Administration and Florida National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. The first is an overview of the new Medicare Part D (pharmacy benefit), the second about Medicare pharmacy plans and the third about steps for low income Medicare beneficiaries to get extra help from Social Security in paying for pharmacy benefits. Other portals link to CMS for information about the Medicare Part D pharmacy plans, benefits and enrollment; and a Social Security website for low income persons who have Medicare ONLY and need to apply for extra help in paying for Part D pharmacy benefits. The Florida SHINE (Serving Health Insurance Needs of Elderly) program is a statewide, volunteer based program that provides free information, counseling and assistance on Medicare (including Part D), Medicaid and Medicare supplemental insurance. SHINE can be accessed at 1/800-963-5337.

Florida Kids insurance application can be completed online

Families wanting to apply for the state's health insurance program for children can now apply online. Florida Healthy Kids has redesigned its Web site at www.healthykids.org to allow people to apply electronically for the KidCare programs, which include Healthy Kids, Children's Medical Services and MediKids. (2/16/06, Daytona News-Journal) More

Website Offers Free 24 Hour Health Information to Floridians to address concerns and inquiries

The Florida Department of Health (DOH) Secretary encourages health care consumers to visit www.FLHealthSource.com whenever they need information about a licensed health care professional. DOH’s Division of Medical Quality Assurance (MQA) maintains FLHealthSource.com. The site provides health care consumers with a host of information, including license status, office address, and disciplinary information for all health care professionals licensed in Florida. The site also provides additional information for the five profiled professions –medical doctors, osteopathic physicians, chiropractic physicians, podiatric physicians and advanced registered nurse practitioners (ARNPs).

Statehealthfacts.org provides free, up-to-date, and easy-to-use health data on all 50 states, covering more than 500 health topics.

Florida Progressive Information Network (FLPIN)

offers a nonpartisan communication system designed to link progressive organizers with progressive activists. Individuals may sign up free of charge to receive alerts on a variety of progressive issues from other organizations participating in the Network. In order to make FLPIN work, it must be used on a regular basis. The more information put in, the more valuable it is as a tool. Link FLPIN to organization websites. A training manual is at www.flpin.net/alert.pdf. For more information or assistance, contact jen@floridahumanist.org

National Web Resources

DRA Citizenship Documentation Guidance

On July 9, CMS issued guidance to states on implementing the new citizenship documentation requirement for Medicaid. This new law requires that, starting on July 1st, the 50 million U.S. citizens currently enrolled in Medicaid provide documentation of their citizenship status and their identity. Furthermore, after July 1st, new applicants will no longer be able to enroll in Medicaid until they have successfully prove their citizenship status and identity.

CMS Guidance on Citizenship Verification
CMS Fact Sheet on Citizenship Verification

Community Benefit Site Features Interactive Map by States

The Association for Community Health Improvement launched an updated Community Benefit Resources web page featuring an interactive map of statutory and voluntary community benefit programs by state. The public web page also includes links to: planning and reporting tools, financial and IRS guidance, sample hospital community benefit reports and a selection of articles.

The Johns Hopkins INFO Project's New OneSource Database

This provides one-stop access to over 360,000 resources and six separate databases with a single mouse click or search term. OneSource users can quickly search for reports, articles, documents, posters and pamphlets, photos, web sites, Q&As and news articles through a single interface. An enhanced search and browse capability makes finding global family planning, reproductive health and population information faster and more simple than ever. Enter your terms in the search box. Select the resource type you want to look for, or search all six databases at once, and click Search.

Uninsured Tutorial, Module, and Reference Library

This KaiserEDU.org page contains comprehensive resources including links to key research, policy analysis, and the latest data and statistics on the uninsured.

Access to Care for People with Disabilities

New KaiserEDU.org Tutorial provides an overview of policy issues related to accessing health care for people with disabilities, as well as information on the types and prevalence of disabilities in the U.S., the major health care financing mechanisms, and the interaction of the Medicaid program with the ADA.

Health Care Coverage in America: Understanding the Issues and Proposed Solutions includes a corresponding PowerPoint presentation. (Cover the Uninsured)

Guide to Health Insurance Options for Small Businesses includes a Small Business PowerPoint presentation. (Cover the Uninsured)

Immigrant Health Policy Reference Library
This new compendium summarizes data and research on immigrants’ health coverage and access to care. The library also includes a list of organizations that conduct analysis on the impact of major health policies on immigrants and presents research on specific populations, including Latino, African and Asian immigrants.

Health Coverage and the Uninsured - Updated Tutorial

Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, this tutorial has been updated and expanded to include the latest national and state-level data on insurance coverage. It also now includes current policy proposals for expanding coverage to the uninsured and criteria for evaluating the different proposals.

Updated Fact Sheet on Medicaid's Role for Dual Eligibles

Kaiser Family Foundation's Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured has updated a fact sheet on Medicaid's role in providing care to dual eligibles, low-income Medicare beneficiaries, and the transitioning of their prescription drug coverage from Medicaid to the new Medicare drug benefit.

Medicare/Medicaid Dual Eligibles Tutorial
This new narrated slide tutorial provides an overview of dual eligibles -- beneficiaries covered by both Medicare and Medicaid. The tutorial presents a profile of dual eligibles, reviews eligibility, benefits and financing for duals, and discusses their transition into the new Medicare prescription drug coverage program.

Medicaid Fact Sheets Tool

Compare your state's Medicaid program and the population it serves to other states and the nation by visiting Kaiser's new interactive online State Medicaid Fact Sheets tool.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Medicare Part-D Resources
CMS fact sheet that addresses Medicare Part D and homeless clients
Recently revised Medicare Basics: A Guide for Families and Friends of People with Medicare

New Fact Sheet for Physicians on Part-D Transition Policy and Exceptions and Appeals Processes

Interactive Tools on Medicaid

The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured presents the State Medicaid Fact Sheets and the Medicaid Benefits Online Database, two interactive tools featuring the latest key data, information and services provided for each state’s Medicaid program. Both tools allow for easy access to the data which can then be printed, saved and emailed.

2006 Federal Poverty Guidelines

The Southern Institute on Children and Families, National Program Office for Covering Kids & Families has made available the 2006 Federal Poverty Guidelines. Compiled from the 2006 HHS Poverty Guidelines, these guidelines provide income levels for families at 50%, 100%, 125%, 133%, 150%, 185% and 200% of the Federal Poverty Level.

Primer on Low-Income Working Families

Many low-income working families live one health crisis or job setback away from catastrophe. Some barely make ends meet despite "playing by the rules," and more than 9 million working families with children lead this precarious existence. Yet, we know little about their dynamics. This Urban Institute web feature provides a foundation for better understanding this at-risk population.

Healthcare Coverage Options Database: Assistance for Obtaining Health Coverage

This Web site provides information on health insurance options for low-income U.S. residents. The site includes comprehensive information on large-scale programs like Medicaid, the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), and the federal Health Care Tax Credit Program, as well as hundreds of smaller state, federal, and private programs.

Videos

Problems with the Medicare Drug Program and How to Fix Them: Video

This new 14-minute video produced by Families USA features trusted newsman Walter Cronkite discussing the problems within the new Medicare prescription drug benefit and offering solutions for the Part D program. The video offers an authoritative look at Medicare’s prescription coverage. First-hand experiences come from retirees from across the country, who offer an up-close look at the troubles the new drug benefit has generated, from the headaches of sorting through dozens of plans to the financial tolls the program will take on so-called beneficiaries. A dedicated community pharmacist shares his insights on the roll-out of Part D and knowledgeable consumer advocates analyze the politics at the core of the creation of the Medicare drug program. Watch the Video Online or Request a Copy

Public Health Foundation Media Resources

Several publications and videos related to minority health are now available through the Public Health Foundation's (PHF) online bookstore. Topics include: breastfeeding promotion in minority communities, epidemiology of diabetes, social determinants of health, neighborhoods and health disparities, as well as introductory Spanish for the healthcare worker. For a full list of resources on minority health, go to PHF's Learning Resource Center, click here.

PERIODICALS AND BOOKS

Wellness Program Management Yearbook, Third Edition
The key ingredients for successful programs, comparative statistics, best practices in workplace wellness programs, how to motivate employees, "real-world" management methods, new and emerging trends in health promotion and disease prevention and what other companies are doing, all organized and compiled in this desk reference.

Health Benefits Newsletter
Titles include: Variety of Strategies Needed to Curb Health Costs; Lower Medical Bills Through Health Coaching; Unveiling the True Cost of Health Care - For a Price; Obesity and Diabetes Rates Soar Among Hispanics, and Employers More Aware of Behavioral Risks.

Kaiser Family Foundation offers a weekly Medicare Q&A column that is being distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune News. The column answers questions from readers related to the new Medicare drug benefit.

REPORTS AND STUDIES

New Listings

New Listings: Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIPS

Latest Trends in Medicaid Spending and Enrollment

Medicaid spending and enrollment growth rates fell in 2003 and 2004, following trends in the U.S. economy. Enrollment in Medicaid decreased from an average of 9% between 2000 and 2002 to an average of 4.1% between 2003 and 2004, reflecting both an improved economy and Medicaid cost-containment policies approved by some states during the period. Meanwhile, per-beneficiary Medicaid spending for acute care services increased at a slower rate in 2003-2004 than private insurance spending, rising by 4.7% during the period, compared with 8.2% for private insurance premiums (6/1/06, Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured)

Trends in Medicaid Spending and Enrollment

A new fact sheet and report analyze Medicaid spending and enrollment trends for 2000-2004. Medicaid trends are related to the state of the nation's economy, and as the economy has strengthened, increases in enrollment and spending have slowed. Rising enrollment and health care inflation produced most of Medicaid's spending increases. Even with a stronger economy, however, Medicaid's enrollment pressures remain due to demographic trends and continued declines in employer-sponsored insurance. (5/30/06, Kaiser Family Foundation)

Medicare Drug Premiums Are Highest For Stand-Alone Plans

The average monthly premium charged by Medicare Part D stand-alone prescription drug plans (PDPs), the only drug coverage plans available to all Medicare beneficiaries in large numbers, is $37, according to an analysis by Austin Frakt and Steven Pizer published May 23 on the Health Affairs Web site. That's well above the $19 average monthly drug premium charged by local Medicare Advantage (MA) HMOs and the $22 monthly drug premium charged by Medicare's regional preferred provider organizations. About half of the PDPs have no drug deductibles, as compared with three-quarters of HMO plans. (5/23/06, Health Affairs)

Mental Health in the Medicare Part D Drug Benefit: A New Regulatory Model?

The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act (MMA) of 2003 represents the most significant expansion of Medicare benefits since the program's inception and has important implications for mental health. Medicare will become a major payer for psychotropic medications through the new prescription drug benefit. The structure of the drug benefit's delivery system creates incentives for plans to under-provide medications, like psychotropic drugs, that are used persistently and are associated with high expected costs. (5/06, Health Affairs)

New Listings: Health Insurance, Health Costs, Health Care Reform

Medco: Drug Cost Trend Decelerates

The increase in spending on prescription drugs fell from 8.5% in 2004 to 5.4% last year, mostly due to slower growth in drug utilization and more reliance on generic medicines, according to a recent trend report from Medco Health Solutions, a pharmacy benefit manager. The growth rate has declined for four consecutive years. (6/6/06, Benefit News)

Generosity and Adjusted Premiums in Job-Based Insurance
The basis for calculations is simulated bill paying for a large standardized population. After adjusting for quality of benefits, authors found adjusted premiums are 18 percent higher in the nation's smallest firms than in firms with 1,000 or more workers. They are 25 percent higher in indemnity plans and 18 percent higher in preferred provider organizations than in health maintenance organizations. The generosity of coverage increased from 1997 to 2002. (May/June 2006, Health Affairs)

One In 20 Hospital Stays Is Uninsured
One out of five uninsured hospital stays in 2003 was for the treatment of conditions related to pregnancy, childbirth, and newborn infants. Half of all uninsured hospital patients were between 18 and 44 years of age. Mood disorders, alcohol abuse, and drug abuse accounted for 3 of the top 10 most common reasons for hospitalization among the uninsured. Hospitalizations for diabetes and asthma—chronic illnesses that can be controlled on an outpatient basis with adequate primary care—were also common among the uninsured. Although only 4.5 percent of all hospital stays were uninsured in 2003, uninsured stays accounted for 22.3 percent of all stays for alcohol abuse, 20.8 percent of stays for drug abuse. Hospital stays for appendicitis, alcohol abuse, and substance abuse were nearly 10 to 30 percent more expensive for the uninsured compared to stays for privately insured patients. (5/06, Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project)

Health Care Expenses in the U.S. Civilian Non-institutionalized Population, 2003
Insurers, government agencies and patients spent a total of $896 billion for health care for the U.S. civilian noninstitutionalized population in 2003, according to HHS' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Following are estimates of total expenditures for selected types of office-based services, the percentage of people with such expenses, and average annual expenditures (for those with expenses), respectively.

New Listings: Health Equity Issues

Mental Health Parity Does Not Increase Overall Spending

A recent report in the health policy journal Health Affairs claims that total spending on mental health services will not grow if private insurance plans and Medicare put coverage on par with other medical services, although patients’ out-of-pocket spending will decrease.The paper’s authors reviewed past research that justified Medicare’s and private insurer’s discrimination against mental health services, and current research that supports parity. They found that a second-generation of studies looking at mental health parity in the context of managed care “did not find that large health spending increases attributable to parity, and all studies that address risk-protection identified sizable decreases in consumers’ out-of-pocket mental health care spending.” (6/06, Health Affairs)

U.S. Residents More Likely Than Canadians To Have Diabetes, Other Health Conditions
U.S. residents are 42% more likely than Canadian residents to have diabetes, 32% more likely to have hypertension and 12% more likely to have arthritis. US respondents (compared with Canadians) were lesslikely to have a regular doctor, more likely to have unmet healthneeds, and more likely to forgo needed medicines. Disparitieson the basis of race, income, and immigrant status were presentin both countries but were more extreme in the United States. Conclusions^:United States residents are less able to access care than areCanadians; Universal coverage appears to reduce most disparitiesin access to care. (6/06, American Journal of Public Health)

Advantage: The Brits

"The U.S. population in late middle age is less healthy than the equivalent British population for diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, myocardial infarction, stroke, lung disease and cancer," conclude the researchers in a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association...Previous research has shown that people are more trusting of each other in more economically equal states. Participation in community life is greater, social supports are stronger and levels of violence are lower...Could it be that our more unequal and fractured society is making us sick? (6/6/06, Washington Post)

African-American Men Survey

The Washington Post, the Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard University have released a new, comprehensive survey looking at how African-American men view their lives in the United States and their outlook for the future. The survey gauges the views and experiences of African-American men on marriage and family, education, careers and health, among other issues. (6-5-06, Kaiser Family Foundation)

Study: Obesity Rises Faster In Poor Teens
Older American teenagers living in poverty have grown fatter at a higher rate than their peers, according to research that seems to underscore the unequal burden of obesity on the nation's poor. "Today the percentage of adolescents age 15-17 who are overweight is about 50 percent higher in poor as compared to non-poor families, a difference that has emerged recently," said Johns Hopkins' sociologist Richard Miech, the study's lead author. (5/23/06, AP)

New Listings: Other Health Issues

Florida Reports

Uninsured children hospitalized for injury die at a higher rate than children with coverage

This USF Health newsletter article describes Childhood Injury in Florida, 2002: A Report on Hospitalized Care & Prevention Information.

Florida KidCare’s web site has these reports for download: Florida KidCare Statewide Enrollment Trend, Title XXI Enrollment and Major Program Changes.

Grading State Systems for Adults with Serious Mental Illness
A National Alliance on Mental Illness report grades each state's public mental health system for adults with serious mental illness, and assigns the nation an overall grade of D. The report grades states on 39 criteria in the areas of infrastructure, information access, services and recovery based on a survey of state mental health agencies last October and November.

Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIPS

Study Shows Need for Overhaul in How U.S. Manages Chronic Illness
Report Adds to Evidence that More Care is Not Better Care

A new report by researchers at Dartmouth Medical School finds striking variation in spending and resources used to manage care of chronically-ill elderly patients. Medicare could have saved $40 billion—or nearly one-third of what the government spent for patient care during a four-year period—if all U.S. hospitals practiced according to specific standards identified in the study. The authors call for overhauling the way America cares for people with chronic illness. (5/16/06, Dartmouth Atlas Project)

Medicare Beneficiary Out-of-Pocket Costs: Are Medicare Advantage Plans a Better Deal?

A new study found that in 19 out of 88 plans examined, people with Medicare Advantage plans who are in poor health spend more—up to $2,195 more—in annual out-of-pocket costs for their care than if they had Original Medicare plus a Medigap plan. (5/06, Commonwealth Fund)

Americans Locked Into Medicare-Approved Drug Plans That Refuse Assistance
People Must Be Allowed to Change Their Drug Plan

Older and disabled Americans must be allowed to switch out of Medicare private drug plans because confusion, misinformation from the government, and deceptive drug plan marketing practices have led many people to enroll in plans that do not cover their medications, reports the Medicare Rights Center. (5/06, Medicare Rights Center)

Rejected Prescription Claims Grew 24% with Medicare Part D

The number of rejected prescription claims grew by 24 percent between the fourth quarter of 2005 and the first quarter of 2006, a time period coinciding with the introduction of the Medicare prescription drug benefit, according to the latest research. The top reason, totaling 770,998 prescriptions, why people were not dispensed medicines under Medicare between January and March was because the prescriptions were not covered by the Part D plan. (May 2006, Wolters Kluwer Health).

US Medicare Fund 12 Years From Running Out: Trustees
The U.S. Medicare trust fund will be exhausted in a dozen years, two earlier than forecast last year, because of increasing health care costs, the funds' trustees said in their report on May 1. The trustees predicted that general tax revenues would fund 45 percent of Medicare expenditures by 2012, with the remaining funding derived from payroll taxes and premiums paid by people with Medicare. The Bush administration has indicated the warning should trigger across the board cuts to Medicare reimbursement for doctors, hospitals and other providers.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities issued a statement, Regarding the Social Security and Medicare Trustees' Report stating, "The Trustees’ Report also provides further evidence that while Social Security faces a significant long-term problem, the problem is manageable — one that resembles a house with a leaking roof in need of repair rather than a boat headed for an iceberg." CBPP also published an analysis, Trustees' Report Will Focus Attention on Misguided Medicare "45-Percent Trigger"

Asclepios, a publication of the Medicare Rights Center, the largest Medicare advocacy organization, has stated in their response to the trustees’ report, "It is a phony ploy that is part of a campaign to undermine Medicare, the single most successful domestic program of the past 40 years."

Medicaid and the Deficit Reduction Act

Beginning July 1, 2006, millions of U.S. citizens enrolled in Medicaid will have to provide documentation to prove their citizenship status. This is an unprecedented change that could result in many eligible citizens being denied access to the health care services to which they are entitled. This new requirement is one of several damaging changes to the Medicaid program caused by the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. It will especially hurt African Americans, who are disproportionately less likely to have the documentation necessary to prove their citizenship, states this Families USA Policy Analysis. S. 1932, Deficit Reduction Act of 2005

New Medicare Part-D Survey Finds Many Satisfied, Difficulties for Others

A new survey of 896 seniors 65 and older commissioned by the Medicare Rx Education Network found that while some Medicare Part-D beneficiaries are encountering difficulties in signing up, most find the benefit works well and is worth the time and effort once they are enrolled. Those enrolled in stand-alone plans report more difficulties: 58% said it was not difficult to sign up for a plan; 38% said it was difficult. Among those not yet enrolled, 59% of those surveyed said that choosing a plan is difficult, and 47% of those actively looking said they did not have enough information to make up their minds. Results indicated that beneficiaries need one-on-one counseling to help them identify a plan, transportation to resources, and other assistance.

Snapshot: Health Care Costs 101, 2006 Edition
Now in its third edition, this presentation provides a concise, visual snapshot of national health care spending trends for use by journalists, policymakers, or anyone interested in health care cost issues. Based primarily on National Health Expenditures data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the slides show how spending is distributed by type of service and illustrate growth in spending categories such as hospital services and prescription drugs. For the first time, it also examines how contributions from households, business, and government are blended to finance both public and private health coverage. (March 2006, California HealthCare Foundation)

Turning Medicaid Beneficiaries into Purchasers of Health Care: Critical Success Factors for Medicaid Consumer-Directed Health Purchasing This State Coverage Initiative Issue Brief finds state policymakers interested in applying the concepts of consumer-directed care to the Medicaid program. Various models are emerging. These reforms fundamentally would alter the role of the state, the state’s expectations of Medicaid beneficiaries, and the behavior of participants. Consumer-directed health purchasing programs would create new opportunities and risks for Medicaid beneficiaries.

Families USA Report on Medicaid Part-D

This latest report found that the vast majority of new Medicare Part D beneficiaries already had prescription drug coverage before the program started earlier this year and, in an effort to downplay this situation, the Administration has significantly lowered its own enrollment projections. You can read the full report or a press release announcing the report.

New State-By-State Data on Medicaid and SCHIP's Success in Reducing the Coverage Gap for Children

Georgetown University Health Policy Institute Center for Children and Families reports the surprisingly positive trends in coverage for children, largely due to Medicaid (and to a lesser extent, its smaller companion program, SCHIP), that provide affordable health insurance coverage to children in low-income families. However, there is significant variation across the states. Tables Methodology

A special report on Medicaid, by the Pew Center on the States, seeks to analyze the real-world experiences of states, highlight examples of what works and what doesn't, and inform a crucial policy debate that will affect the lives of millions of Americans. Federal policy has encouraged enrollment of Medicare beneficiaries in health plans, the majority of which are for-profit plans.

Federal Budget/Health Care

The House Budget Committee’s New Budget Plan: A Brief Analysis

This Center on Budget and Policy Priorities analysis finds the House Budget Committee's budget plan harsher than the Senate plan in several respects. The House plan would cut funding for domestic “discretionary” (or non-entitlement) programs by $8.8 billion in fiscal year 2007 and $169 billion over five years, relative to CBO's current-services baseline. The plan also would reduce entitlement programs by $5.1 billion over five years. The savings from these program reductions would not, however, be used for deficit reduction. They would instead be used to offset a portion of the cost of the budget plan’s $228 billion in tax cuts, as well as its defense spending increases. The net result would be significant further increases in the deficit. The plan would increase the deficit over the next five years by $256 billion above what deficits would be if current policy was left unchanged.

Administration’s Fiscal Year 2007 Budget is Likely still to Leave SCHIP Coverage for Low-Income Children in Jeopardy finds that the Administration’s budget proposal will fall short of fully funding states’ needs for SCHIP funding in 2007 — and could lead more than 200,000 children to go without SCHIP coverage next year.

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities recent Budget Analysis reports:

Revived House Budget Plan Would Cut Domestic Programs Yet Increase Deficits
This Center for Budget and Policy Priorities analysis finds that: 1) The plan would cut 2007 funding for domestic discretionary programs $12 billion below the Senate-passed level; 2) The plan would allow much larger tax cuts in 2007 through 2010 than are currently allowed; and 3)Despite its proposals to reduce domestic programs, the plan would increase the deficit by $254 billion over five years, because of the effect of its tax cuts and defense spending increases.

Program Cuts in the President’s Budget: Cuts Grow Deeper Over Time and Will Hit States Hard

The President's budget proposes substantial cuts in funding for domestic discretionary programs over the next five years. The budget specifies the funding level for each program in 2007, but the levels for specific programs for years after 2007 — the years in which the overall level of reductions in domestic discretionary programs would grow substantially — are hard to discern from the budget documents the Administration released publicly. This analysis uses Administration materials not widely distributed — including a key Office of Management and Budget (OMB) computer run that apparently was released inadvertently — to show the multi-year impact of the proposed cuts on a number of important domestic discretionary programs. Summary or Full Report with program cuts by state.

The Skewed Benefits of Tax Cuts 2007-2016: If the Tax Cuts Are Extended, Millionaires Will Receive More than $600 Billion over the Next Decade

Administration Defense of Health Savings Accounts Rests on Misleading Use of Statistics

The Cost and Coverage Impact of the President’s Health Insurance Budget Proposals finds that the Administration's proposals to expand tax breaks for Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) would cause a net increase in the number of uninsured Americans.

Analysis of Medicaid Provisions in the Bush Administration 2007 Budget explains how most of the provisions in the budget, which include both legislative proposals and regulatory changes that the Administration is planning to make without legislative action, will shift Medicaid costs to the state. These funding cuts are on top of the significant federal Medicaid cuts enacted as part of the budget reconciliation bill signed into law.

The Administration’s Medicaid Proposals Would Shift Federal Costs to States finds that more than four-fifths of the Medicaid savings proposals in the Administration’s new budget would reduce federal Medicaid expenditures by shifting costs directly to the states. This likely would lead some states to scale back their Medicaid programs significantly by restricting eligibility and reducing coverage.

New Congressional Budget Office Estimates Indicate Millions of Low-Income Beneficiaries Would Be Harmed by Medicaid Provisions in Budget Bill

Health Insurance, Health Costs, Health Care Reform, Budget

Putting Healthcare Dollars Into The 'right' Prevention Services

A series of articles and commentaries address the need to channel resources into those areas of preventive care which will benefit the most people for each dollar spent. Former Surgeon General of the United States David Satcher, MD, chaired the National Commission on Prevention Priorities, which guided the approach used to rank these services. He writes, "Our intent was to identify preventive services that produce the greatest population health benefit and cost effectiveness in order to help inform decision makers at multiple levels about which preventive services are most valuable." (July 2006, American Journal of Preventive Medicine)

Millions Squandered In Unnecessary Tests Ordered In Routine Doctor Visits

More than one-third of U.S. adults undergo diagnostic tests for conditions for which they have no symptoms, which adds to health care costs and increases patient stress, according to a study in the June issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. . . . Projecting that rate of occurrence across the U.S. population, the study estimates that the annual direct medical cost from inappropriate use of the three tests is between $47 million and $194 million. (5/22/06, Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report)

Coping with the health insurance blues: Growth In Number Of Small Businesses Offering High-Deductible Health Coverage

About 60% of the 45 million uninsured U.S. residents "come from families where the primary breadwinner owns or works for a small business," as "the percentage of small businesses offering coverage is plunging." Because of increasing insurance costs, "a growing percentage of small businesses are turning to insurance plans with deductibles of $1,000 or more for individual coverage and $2,000 or more for family coverage. (5/16/06, Chicago Tribune)

U.S. Health Care Spending Highest Among Industrialized Countries

The U.S. spent the most money on health care per capita among industrialized countries in 2003, according to a report published Tuesday in the journal Health Affairs. Researchers from Johns Hopkins University and Princeton University found that the U.S. spent $5,635 per person on health care in 2003 -- two-and-a-half times the $2,280 average among industrialized countries. U.S. spending was 48% higher than Norway, which was the second-highest spender per capita at $3,807. (5/10/06, Kaiser Network)

1% Of Americans Account For 22% Of Health Care Spending

Health care spending in the United States has remained heavily concentrated in a small portion of the total population, according to HHS' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. In addition, an increasing portion of these individuals remained in the highest-cost groups from one year to the next, according to data from 2002 and 2003. (5/06, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality)

Why Do People Lack Health Insurance?

Forty-six million people--nearly one in five non-elderly adults and children--lack health insurance, an increase of 6 million since 2000. This brief looks at the reasons people report for being uninsured. The high cost of insurance is a rapidly rising concern for uninsured, whether old or young, healthy or disabled, with high incomes or well below the poverty line. (5/4/06, The Urban Institute)

Shifting Ground: Changes in Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance

The US health care system is based on employer-sponsored coverage with over 90 percent of privately insured individuals receiving coverage from their own or a family member's employer (US Census Bureau 2005). In this report we sue data from an ongoing federal survey of employers to examine trends in employer-sponsored health insurance coverage and take-up rates across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. (5/4/06, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation)

Snapshots: Health Care Costs

Series of online publications written by Kaiser staff that use charts, data and analysis to provide insight into the political and policy debates about the cost of health care in the United States. The publications are designed to encourage an informed policy discussion as leaders in Washington and across the country weigh strategies for controlling the rising cost of health care for people, businesses and government alike: Comparing Projected Growth in Health Care Expenditures and the Economy; Distribution of Out-of-Pocket Spending for Health Care Services

Study Heralding the Start of Cover the Uninsured Week
An analysis of government data by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation which sponsors Cover the Uninsured Week, found that cost prevented 41.1 percent of uninsured adults from seeing a physician, compared to 9.2 percent of those with insurance.

Uninsured Number Increases

Cover the Uninsured Week released a new report that confirms there is a significant gap in the amount of health care accessed by people who do and do not have health care coverage in every state and the District of Columbia. Nationally, uninsured adults are nearly four times more likely not to see a doctor when they need to compared to people who have health coverage.

Study Finds More Workers Are Dropping Health Coverage
A recent 42 percent jump in health premiums is forcing more American workers to turn down coverage offered by their employers. (5/5/06, AP/Reuters)

Gaps in Health Insurance: An All-American Problem

Findings from the Commonwealth Fund Biennial Health Insurance Survey show that, while lack of insurance continues to be highest among families with incomes under $20,000, uninsured rates for moderate- and middle-income earners and their families are rising, putting their health and financial security at risk. (4/06, Commonwealth Fund)

The Coverage Gap: A State-by-State Report on Access to Care
Using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 2004 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) – a national survey of preventive and health risk behaviors – the researchers analyzed health disparities between insured and uninsured adults. Using data from the US Census Bureau Current Population Survey from 1994, 1995, 1999, 2000, 2004 and 2005, they also looked at the number of Americans age 50-64 that are without health care coverage. The report is being released to launch Cover the Uninsured Week, the largest mobilization in history to promote health coverage for all Americans.

Sharp Rise in Out-of-Pocket Spending on Healthcare for American Families
New statistics from the Department of Health and Human Services' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) underscore how rapidly rising healthcare costs are eating into the budgets of America's families. Data from AHRQ's Medical Panel Expenditure Survey (MEPS) show that the percentage of Americans under age 65 whose family-level out-of-pocket spending for healthcare, including insurance, exceeds $2000 a year rose from 37.3% in 1996 to 43.1% in 2003 -- a 16% increase. (5/3/06, Medscape)

Cancer Patients Who Are Uninsured Have a Higher Risk of Dying, Study Finds
Uninsured adults with cancer face a 25 percent greater chance of dying than cancer patients with health care coverage, according to a study by the Intercultural Cancer Council. (4/26/06, Chicago Sun-Times)

Kaiser Family Foundation Reports & Chartbooks on the Uninsured

Health Coverage in America, 2004 Data Update

Employer Health Benefits 2005 Annual Survey

Sicker and Poorer: The Consequences of Being Uninsured

The Cost of Care for the Uninsured: What Do We Spend, Who Pays, and What Would Full Coverage Add to Medical Spending?

Threadbare: Holes in America’s Health Care Safety Net

Challenges and Tradeoffs in Low-Income Family Budgets: Implications for Health Coverage

Three Reports on Enrollment and Outreach for Public Health Coverage Programs

In a Time of Growing Need: State Choices Influence Health Coverage Access for Children and Families

Opening Doorways To Health Care For Children

Outreach Strategies For Medicaid And SCHIP

The Community Safety Net and Prescription Drug Access for Low-Income, Uninsured People

While the new Medicare drug benefit has helped alleviate concerns about prescription drug access for elderly and disabled Americans, many low-income, uninsured people under age 65 continue to rely on community safety nets to get needed medications. As the number of uninsured Americans increases, safety net providers are stretching limited resources to meet growing prescription drug needs. (4/06, HSC)

Health and Well-Being of Children: A Portrait of States and the Nation 2005

The National Survey of Children's Health, conducted (by the National Center for Health Statistics of the CDC) for the first time in 2003, addresses multiple state and national aspects of child health as well as aspects of the family and the neighborhood that can affect children's health.

Health Care Reform: 2006 Perspectives
The Commonwealth Fund-supported research provides perspective on approaches to addressing the issues of health care costs, quality and coverage, and details promising innovations to help the U.S. move toward a truly high-performance health care system.

State of the States: Finding Their Own Way on Health Coverage, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation program that works with states to expand health insurance coverage, today issued its latest annual "State of the States" report, summarizing strategies states are implementing or considering to expand health coverage.

Health Equity Issues

From Disparity to Difference: How Race-Specific Medicines May Undermine Policies to Address Inequalities in Health Care

On June 23, 2005, the U.S. FDA formally approved the heart failure drug BiDil to treat heart failure in "self-identified black patients." The drug itself is not actually new; it is merely a combination of two generic drugs that have been used to treat heart failure for over a decade. BiDil's newness derives primarily from its public presentation as the world's first ethnic drug. (5/16/06, Southern California Interdisciplinary Law Journal)

Medicaid's Role for Women
In recent years, there have been significant changes to Medicaid that have the potential to reshape program coverage for the nearly 19 million women who rely on the program. This policy forum focused on recent federal and state policies, including the federal Deficit Reduction Act and state waiver programs, and their impact on low-income women, who make up approximately 70% of Medicaid's adult beneficiaries. (5/11/06, Kaiser Family Foundation)

U.S. Newborn Survival Rate Ranks Low

America may be the world's superpower, but its survival rate for newborn babies ranks near the bottom among modern nations, better only than Latvia. U.S. ranking is driven partly by racial and income health care disparities. Among U.S. blacks, there are 9 deaths per 1,000 live births, closer to rates in developing nations than to those in the industrialized world. The researchers also said lack of national health insurance and short maternity leaves likely contribute to the poor U.S. rankings. Other possible factors in the U.S. include teen pregnancies and obesity rates, which both disproportionately affect African-American women and also increase risk for premature births and low birth weights. (5/9/06, CBS News)

Methods for Measuring Cancer Disparities: Using Data Relevant to Health People 2010 Cancer-Related Objectives
This report raises some conceptual issues and reviews different methodological approaches germane to measuring progress toward the goal of eliminating cancer-related health disparities.

Making Disparities Disappear: Using Nationally Tested Tools for Community-Based Action
Today, while the overall quality of healthcare delivered in America is slowly improving, large segments of our population continue to experience disparities in the quality of healthcare they receive. For example, as seen in the third annual National Healthcare Disparities Report recently published by our agency, Hispanics received poorer quality of care than whites in 53% of the most important measures; blacks received poorer quality of care in 43% of these measures; and American Indians and Alaska Natives received poorer quality of care in 38% of the key measures. (5/1/06, Medscape)

The Concentration of Negative Child Outcomes in Low-Income U.S. Neighborhoods

At the end of the 20th century, one in every five children in the United States lived in neighborhoods in which at least 20 percent of the population lived in poverty. Research has shown that children growing up in poor neighborhoods are at higher risk than children of affluent communities for health problems, teen pregnancy, dropping out of school, and other social and economic problems. And researchers often make reference to a "critical threshold" of neighborhood poverty, a percentage beyond which negative outcomes for families and individuals increase exponentially. (3/06, Population Reference Bureau)

New Cross-National Comparisons of Health Systems: U.S. Ranks Lowest in Patient Surveys, Has Greatest Inequity for Lower-Income Patients

Despite spending more than twice as much per capita as other countries do on health care, the U.S. health care system ranks lower than several other countries in patients' perspectives of the safety, efficiency, equity, and patient-centeredness of health care. The U.S. scored well on effectiveness of care, especially preventive care. However, the U.S. also stands out for having wide and pervasive health care disparities based on income. (4/4/06, Commonwealth Fund)

Racial Differences in Trust in Health Care Providers

Background Although trust in health care providers (physicians, nurses, and others) may be lower among African Americans compared with whites, limited information is available on factors that are associated with low trust in these populations. This study evaluated the association between trust in health care providers and prior health care experiences, structural characteristics of health care, and sociodemographic factors among African Americans and whites.(4/24/06, Archives of Internal Medicine)

America's 'Near Poor' Are Increasingly at Economic Risk, Experts Say
Americans on the lower rungs of the economic ladder have always been exposed to sudden ruin. But in recent years, with the soaring costs of housing and medical care and a decline in low-end wages and benefits, tens of millions are living on even shakier ground than before, according to studies of what some scholars call the "near poor." "There's strong evidence that over the past five years, record numbers of lower-income Americans find themselves in a more precarious economic position than at any time in recent memory," said Mark R. Rank, a sociologist at Washington University in St. Louis and the author of "One Nation, Underprivileged: Why American Poverty Affects Us All." (5/8/06, New York Times)

Views on Hospital Community Benefit from a Recent Survey
Perhaps a reflection of the growing public demand for public accountability from not-for-profit hospitals, community-benefit programs are expanding and partnering with more community organizations, according to a recent survey by CHA and VHA. Still, lack of financial and human resources as well as support from top leadership continues to stymie the fledgling programs, although they are getting more internal support than in past years. (5/8/06, Modern Healthcare)

Health Disparities and Health Equity: Concepts and Measurement

There is little consensus about the meaning of the terms "health disparities," "health inequalities," or "health equity." The definitions can have important practical consequences, determining the measurements that are monitored by governments and international agencies and the activities that will be supported by resources earmarked to address health disparities/inequalities or health equity. This paper aims to clarify the concepts of health disparities/inequalities (used interchangeably here) and health equity, focusing on the implications of different definitions for measurement and hence for accountability. (April 2006, Annual Review of Public Health)

Health Status of Children in Immigrant Families

Children who are born in the United States to noncitizen parents, foreign-born children with noncitizen parents, and foreign-born children who are naturalized citizens are all likely to have limited access to health insurance and health care. (April 2006, American Journal of Public Health)

Burden of Disease Associated with Being African-American in the United States and the Contribution of Socio-Economic Status

The burden of disease associated with being African-American in the US, and the contribution of socio-economic status (SES) to that burden have not been quantified. The study found SES differences between African-Americans and whites appeared to explain all the Health Related Quality of Life disparity but only half the mortality disparity. Better understanding of the disparate effects of SES may inform interventions to address health disparities adversely affecting African-Americans. (May 2006, Social Science & Medicine)

Stretching the Safety Net to Serve Undocumented Immigrants
A small but increasing proportion of immigrants to the United States is undocumented. This Health System Change Issue Brief found that because most undocumented immigrants lack health insurance, they primarily rely on safety net providers for care. Communities with more developed safety nets and historically large numbers of immigrants appear more adept at caring for both legal and undocumented immigrants.

The 2005 National Healthcare Quality Report (NHQR) and 2005 National Healthcare Disparities Report (NHDR) are now available on AHRQ's Web Site. The 2005 NHQR is a comprehensive national overview of quality of health care in the United States. The 2005 NHDR tracks disparities in both quality of and access to health care in the United States for both the general population and for congressionally designated priority populations.

Few Hospitals Use Patients' Race, Ethnicity and Language Data to Improve Quality of Care
Health care stakeholders urge all U.S. hospitals to use patient data to improve the quality and consistency of care their patients receive. The study was conducted by the National Public Health and Hospital Institute with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Other Health Issues

Many Adults Question Ability To Ensure Rx Drug Safety, Survey Indicates
Fifty-eight percent of U.S. adults rate the FDA’s ability to ensure the safety of new prescription drugs as fair or poor, compared with 37% in a 2004, according to a recently released May 12 and May 16 Wall Street Journal Online/Harris Interactive poll. 36% of respondents rated the ability of FDA to ensure the safety of new prescription drugs as good or excellent, compared with 56% in 2004. (5/24/06, Wall Street Journal)

Many Off-Label Uses For Rx Drugs Are Not Based On Solid Evidence

More than one of seven prescriptions for common drugs are for off-label uses lacking scientific support, a study out Tuesday suggests. According to a recent Archives of Internal Medicine study, medications prescribed for off-label uses account for about 20% of all prescriptions, and about three-fourths of those uses are not supported by scientific evidence. (5/23/06, USA Today)

Very Few Combat Stress Vets Referred For Treatment Or Evaluation
According to a new study by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO), only about 22% of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are ever referred for treatment or evaluation. Of 9,145 interviewed veterans who were considered at risk of suffering from PTSD, only 2,029 were referred for treatment or further evaluation. The report says approximately 5% of all veterans interviewed seem to have some kind of post-traumatic stress disorder. Who is referred for treatment is determined differently and depends which military service the veteran comes from. The report states that the US Defence Department does not guarantee treatment for all veterans who need it, for PTSD. (5/11/06, Medical News Today)

The Oral Health of Children A Portrait of States and the Nation 2005

The Health Resources and Services Administration presents this chartbook highlighting the major findings of the National Survey of Children's Health on children's oral health. This survey, the first of its kind, presents national- and State-level information on the health and well-being of children and their use of health services, including oral health and dental care. The survey includes many positive findings about children's oral health.

A Tree in the Storm: Philanthropy and the Health of the Public

"We believe now more than ever that the key lies in how all sectors of a community rally to overturn an unacceptable status quo and work together in protecting the safety of their own residents and improving the overall health of the entire community. It's called "connectedness" and it is at the heart of how public health must transform itself in the 21st century." (Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, M.D., M.B.A., RWJF president/CEO)

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STATE HEALTH EVENTS AND NOTICES

June 15, 2006

NORTH FLORIDA

Division of Elections National Voter Registration Act Workshop: Tallahassee

June 16 9:00 – 11:00 am

R.A. Gray Bldg. Heritage Hall Auditorium, 500 S. Bronough St., Tallahassee

Click here for the workshop registration form (on page2) or call 850/245-6290.

Duval County Medicaid Reform Information Meetings

June 27 Wyndham Jacksonville Riverwalk, 1515 Prudential Drive

For Potential Health Plans: 9 am to 12 pm

For Medicaid Beneficiaries: 1 to 3 pm

For Pharmacy Services Providers: 6 to 9 pm

For more information or to submit questions, contact flanigaa@ahca.myflorida.com.

CENTRAL FLORIDA

Central Florida Notice

AHA NOVA Community Health Award
Congratulations to the 2006 winners of the American Hospital Association's NOVA Award. This award honors hospital-led programs to improve community health. Maureen Kersmarki of Florida Hospital in Winter Park, FL was one of three to receive special recognition as senior staff of award-winning award-winning hospitals.

WEST CENTRAL FLORIDA

Medicare Part D Town Hall Meeting

16^th Annual Social Marketing in Public Health Conference

June 21-24 Clearwater Beach

University of South Florida College of Public Health and Academy for Educational Development are co-sponsoring this event. The Social Marketing in Public Health field school will offer three courses - Health Message Design, Focus Groups and Public Sector and Non-profit Marketing – immediately before and after the conference. For more info click here.

SOUTHWEST FLORIDA

Division of Elections National Voter Registration Act Workshop: Naples

June 22 10:00 am – Noon

350 7^th St. North, Naples

Click here for the workshop registration form (on page2) or call 239/774-8450.

SOUTHEAST FLORIDA

Events

Haitian American Nurses Association of Florida, Inc. (HANA) Networking Dinner Meeting
June 17 6:30 pm Miami Dade College, No. Campus, MJ Taylor Lounge, Rm 4207

Please RSVP by June 15 or call 305/609-7498

American Society of Clinical Oncology Conference Update

June 22 6:30 - 8:30 pm Gilda's Club South Florida, 119 Rose Dr., Ft. Lauderdale

This annual free "open to the community" event will feature Dr. Atif Hussein, Dr. Sandra Franco, and Dr. Alejandra Perez. Space is limited. Call 954/763-6776 for additional information and to reserve
your seat for dinner.

Cancer Survivors Day Celebration

June 22 5:30 - 7:30 pm Mt. Sinai Comprehensive Care Ctr, 4306 Alton Rd, Miami

Complimentary parking and light meal provided. Registration required: 305/535-3347

Promising Practices and National Trends in Eliminating Health Disparities: Health Council of South Florida 38th Annual Meeting

June 23 11:00 am Meet the Speaker;

noon Luncheon and Presentation Biltmore Hotel, Coral Gables

Presented by sponsor Baptist Health South Florida, the event will feature a keynote by Dr. Claude Earl Fox, MD, MPH, addressing efforts being made to identify, measure, reduce and eliminate health disparities at the national, regional and local levels. Click here for more information.

Health Matters: Get the Facts About Prostate Cancer

June 25 11:30 am - 1:00 pm Aventura Comprehensive Cancer Care Ctr, 21110 Biscayne Blvd

Free forum and screening followed by Man-to-Man Prostate Cancer Educational and Support Group hosting Olympic Medalist Bob Beamon. Free parking and refreshments. Appointment required for screening: 305/792-5838

FREE HIV Testing

June 27 Planned Parenthood Boca Raton & Broward Health Centers

In honor of National HIV Testing Day, Planned Parenthood of South Palm Beach & Broward Counties will be providing FREE anonymous and confidential rapid HIV tests at their health centers in Boca Raton-561/368-1023, Ft. Lauderdale-954/561-1905, Pembroke Pines-954/963-9889, and Tamarac-954/721-5580.

Broward County Medicaid Reform Information Meetings

June 28

Wyndham Hotel, Ft. Lauderdale Airport, 1870 Griffin Road

For Potential Health Plans: 9 am to 12 pm

For Medicaid Beneficiaries: 1 to 3 pm

For Pharmacy Services Providers: 6 to 9 pm

For more information or to submit questions, contact flanigaa@ahca.myflorida.com.

Southeast Florida Cancer Control Collaborative Meeting

August 3 10:00 am-3:00 pm

Miami-Dade County Health Dept, 9334 NW 17 St., Miami
Most of the meeting will be devoted to strategic planning. Click here to request more info.

Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Kickoff Breakfast

Aug. 3 7:30-9:00 am Biltmore Hotel, Coral Gables

This is a free event for people interested in learning more about forming a team for the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer 5K walk which will be held at Bayfront Park on October 7, 2006.

Conference on Intervention

October 2-4 The Breakers Palm Beach Hotel

Click here for more information on this and four other events scheduled for 2006.

The Alliance for Human Services 4th Annual Institute hosts its 4th Annual Institute
October 27 Miami Beach Convention Center

Over 400 individuals (business leaders, social service providers, not-for-profit agencies, faith-based organizations, human service consumers) will gather to discuss and receive valuable information and innovative solutions on social service issues. The Alliance is dedicated to improving quality of life for Miami-Dade County residents through partnerships, coordination of resources, and community involvement. For more information, call 305/646-7274 or write ggrey@alliance4hs.org.

Southeast Florida Notices

Association of Fundraising Professionals National Philanthropy Day 2006: Annual Call for Nominations

Deadline: July 17

Organizations have this opportunity to honor individuals, corporations, volunteers, foundations, organizations, and leaders whose remarkable vision, generosity, commitment, dedication and talent have enhanced the strength and effectiveness of philanthropic endeavors in Broward County. Nominations are now being accepted for Outstanding Philanthropist, Outstanding Foundation, Outstanding Volunteer Fundraiser, Outstanding Corporation, Outstanding Fundraising Executive and Outstanding Youth in Philanthropy. Recipients will be honored at the 18^th Annual National Philanthropy Day Luncheon on Wednesday, November 15, 2006. Click here for full nomination procedures.

New Healthy Start Coalition Of Miami-Dade Website LAUNCHED! The website at www.hscmd.org will increase community awareness about the Healthy Start Coalition’s activities and accomplishments, and serve the women, infants and families of Miami-Dade County.

A Partnership to Reduce Cancer Mortality Among African Americans

100 Black Men of South Florida, Inc. and Aventura Hospital and Medical Center has announced their partnership to address the health disparities among the African American community as it relates to cancer, heart disease and diabetes. For more information on this and other community outreach programs, please contact 305/682-7135 or Debra.Eddington@hcahealthcare.com

STATEWIDE

Events

2006 National Conference on Latinos and AIDS
July 24-25 Wyndham Miami Beach Resort
Sponsored by Minority Healthcare Communications, Inc., this event will update the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of health providers who care for patients with HIV/AIDS. It is also designed for healthcare media, federal and state legislators, AIDS service organization officers, social workers, pharmacists, nurses, peer counselors, church leadership and corrections healthcare personnel. It will cover the epidemiology of HIV in the US, current guidelines and new clinical modalities for HIV management, current research encompassing drug abuse and its connection to the HIV epidemic, social and psychiatric concerns of the HIV-infected patient, policy initiatives, trends and political issues. CME credits available. Click here for more information.

Florida Conference on Aging 2006

August 14-17 Tampa Marriott Waterside Hotel and Marina

For more information, click here.

2006 United States Conference on AIDS
Sept. 21-25 Hollywood Westin Diplomat
National Minority AIDS Council presents the largest AIDS-related gathering in the US, for over 4,000 case managers, physicians, public health workers and advocates to build national support networks, exchange the latest information and learn cutting-edge tools to address the challenges of HIV/AIDS. Click here for registration and more information including scholarships access.

10th Annual Joint Cancer Conference of the Florida Universities
Sept. 28-Oct. 1 The Breakers Hotel, Palm Beach
Click here for details.

Statewide Notices

Florida Cancer Clinical Trials Cooperative, Inc. (FCCTC) is a public resource that provides information about cancer clinical trials to Florida residents. They have a web-based and a phone-based Clinical Trial Matching Service that provides users with an opportunity to search for cancer clinical trials for which they might be eligible. The program allows people to print (or be mailed) information about potential trials to discuss with their physicians. The Florida Dialogue on Cancer established the FCCTC in 2004 and received a federal grant to create a clinical trials information system in Florida. Their data base includes current information about clinical trials at hospitals and research facilities throughout the state, including pediatric cancer trials. Information is available in English and

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NATIONAL EVENTS AND NOTICES

June 15, 2006

CONFERENCES AND EVENTS

Building our Practice through Collaboration, and Research: Latino Social Workers Organization Conference 2006
June 21-23 St. Augustine College, Chicago, IL
The current political climate and environment, it calls for social workers to make time to learn from experts in the field and network. These presentations will benefit all human service and child welfare professionals, school social workers, behavioral health professionals, educators, and religious and community organizers. On June 21, there will be a Professional and Student Social Work Summit at 5:30pm. This is a time to learn about new paths for human service professionals to consider, as well as salary, benefits, and workplace issues. Websites for downloading information including keynote speakers, workshops and reasonable conference fees, click here.

National Prevention Summit: Prevention, Preparedness, and Promotion

Abstract submission deadline: June 23

October 26-27 Washington, DC

The 2006 National Prevention Summit will focus on disease prevention, health preparedness, and health promotion and will feature innovative programs that are making a difference in communities across the country to build a HealthierUS. These programs are focused on healthy lifestyle choices. One special emphasis this year will be the prevention of childhood overweight and obesity. Another emphasis will be on preparing for public health emergencies, such as avian influenza. Click here for details.

Disparities in Health in America: Working Toward Social Justice
June 24-30 Houston

This workshop is intended to provide a comprehensive approach to the issue of health disparities, so attendees will gain a broad base of knowledge to address disparities with a biopsychosocial approach. It will be of value to physicians, nurses, social workers, health educators, and other healthcare professionals, and students, as well as active members of the community and community organizations. Lectures, Panel Discussions, and Question-and-Answer Sessions. Continuing ed credits in many fields. Click here for more info.

Health Literacy: The Foundation for Patient Safety, Empowerment, and Quality Health Care

June 26-27 Hotel Sofitel Chicago O’Hare

Low health literacy is so pervasive in America that it presents a significant threat to patient safety. Factor in the growing number of people who must manage one or more chronic health conditions, such as asthma or diabetes, and the impact of this issue is potentially profound. Low health literacy is especially a problem for the elderly and for minority Americans. This conference seeks solutions. Click here for details.

National Leadership and Education Conference: For your patients ... For your community

June 28-29 Chicago

Cultural competency, mentoring, recruitment and retention, diversity among leadership and hospital trustees ... hospital and health system leaders grapple with these issues every day and ask how they can ensure that their health care workforce – particularly their health care managers – reflect the demographics of the communities they serve. The theme exemplifies the mission of hospitals throughout the country to provide culturally competent care for every patient who walks through their doors. Click here for more information.

Many Communities, One World: Promoting Health at Home and Abroad

July 28-30 Salt Lake City

The 11th Annual Doctors for Global Health General Assembly is an opportunity to come together and meet others working to advance health and human rights. The program includes keynote speakers; panel discussions and workshops about current issues facing the United States (such as the struggle for health care for all and the plight of immigrants), an overview of Doctors for Global Health's current activities and social/networking time. Topics to be covered include accompaniment and volunteerism, and how communities can foster healing in the wake of violence. Click here for more information.

Health as a Human Right: Health Education, Equality and Social Justice for All

November 2-4 Boston

Society for Public Health Education’s 57th Annual Meeting will examine the impact of reciprocal influences of health and human rights, including the impact public health programs and policies have on human rights and health disparities, the consequences human rights violations have on health, the importance of health in realizing human rights, and the ways in which health educators can ensure that human rights are integrated into public health strategies to eliminate disparities. Click here for more information.

Making Methods and Practice Matter for Women, Children and Families

December 6–8 Atlanta

Maternal and Child Health Epidemiology (MCH EPI) conference organizers invite you to join MCH professionals in sharing experiences, enhancing knowledge, and generating new ideas for improved MCH data use and informed policymaking. Click here for details.

Association for Community Health Improvement's Spring Training for Health Champions

March 7-9, 2007 New Orleans

Click here for ACHI's conference timeline.

AUDIO CONFERENCES AND WEBCASTS

Conference Call on DRA Citizenship Documentation Guidance

June 19 3:00 pm EDT

Maximizing Results of Disease Management Programs through Community-Based Resources
June 21, 2006

Examining the Science Behind Race-Based Medicine: Minority Health Videoconference
June 26 2:00-4:00 pm EDT
The 12th Annual Summer Public Health Research Institute and Videoconference on Minority Health opens with this two-hour discussion moderated by Stephanie Crayton. The session will be broadcast from the Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Click here for details.