Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Post

We're thrilled to stand alongside the Health Equity Compact at the critical hearing for "An Act to Advance Health Equity" (H.1250/S.799), hosted by the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing on Wednesday, September 20th. Join us in our commitment to forging a healthier and more equitable future! In the 2023-2024 legislative session, the Compact introduced the bill, "An Act to Advance Health Equity" (H.1250/S.799). This groundbreaking legislation is designed to propel health equity within the Commonwealth. It focuses on prioritizing health equity in state government, standardizing and reporting on health equity data, improving access to and quality of care, and more. The disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on Black, Latinx, and other marginalized communities underscores the glaring inequalities in healthcare access within the Commonwealth. While Massachusetts has a history of leadership in healthcare reform, addressing racial justice and health equity necessitates structural solutions. Just as we led the way with universal coverage, it's time to make equity the next chapter in Commonwealth health reform. Event Details 📍 Gardner Auditorium, State House 🕙 10 AM on September 20, 2023 #HealthEquity #AdvocateForChange #HealthEquityCompact

Text messaging can play a significant role in improving health equity by overcoming barriers to access, promoting education and awareness, and facilitating communication between healthcare providers and underserved populations. 1. Increased Access: Text messaging reaches individuals who may have limited access to traditional healthcare services due to factors such as geographic location, transportation barriers, or socioeconomic status. By delivering health-related information directly to their mobile phones, text messaging ensures that underserved populations have access to essential resources and support. 2. Health Education and Awareness: Text messaging can be used to deliver targeted health education messages, reminders, and preventive care tips to individuals, empowering them to make informed decisions about their health. By promoting awareness of preventive screenings, healthy behaviors, and available healthcare services, text messaging helps bridge knowledge gaps and promote health equity. 3. Appointment Reminders and Follow-ups: Text messaging can help reduce missed appointments and improve continuity of care by sending automated appointment reminders and follow-up messages. This is particularly beneficial for individuals with limited access to transportation or flexible schedules, ensuring that they receive timely and appropriate healthcare services. By leveraging text messaging as a powerful tool, healthcare providers and organizations can work toward a more equitable healthcare system that prioritizes the needs of all individuals. #TextMessaging #HealthEquity #Healthcare #Education #Awareness

Be sure to check out an important presentation from Governor Phil Murphy's Office of Health Care Affordability and Transparency - 'Using Data to Advance Health Care Affordability for Consumers in New Jersey.' 🗓️Tuesday, December 19, 2023 🕰️Noon-1:00pm 🌐Click here to register for this online presentation ➡️ https://bit.ly/3Ne9R3P This event will feature Heather Howard, Professor of the Practice and Director, State Health and Value Strategies and Co-Director of the Center for Health and Wellbeing’s Global Health Program. Heather Howard is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Cooperative's subsidiary, Family Health Initiatives. While New Jersey has made significant progress in improving health care affordability and accessibility for our residents, there remains critical work to be done. Health care cost growth has resulted in declining health care access and impact on health outcomes. There are implications for health, health equity, and social drivers of health. This webinar will discuss the steps New Jersey is taking to improve affordability and accessibility, address cost, and most particularly highlight this program to measure cost growth trends and produce data on health care cost drivers. Consumer groups can play a key role in using this data, engaging with the program and ensuring a more data driven approach to advancing health care affordability across the landscape.

When it comes to navigating the new CMS health equity index (#HEI), MA plans can improve key measure performance by helping members overcome social determinants of health (#SDOH) barriers to adherence. Check out our newest article with AJMC - The American Journal of Managed Care from AdhereHealth Chief Strategy Officer, Kempton Presley, as he describes how an SDOH-first Star Ratings strategy helps #MAHealthPlans achieve higher performance on the HEI. Click below to read more! https://ow.ly/xXBx50QAHve #CMS #adherenceresolved #AdhereHealth

What's the impact of New York's recent healthcare reform waiver on local health centers? In our latest article, Loren Anthes, Head of External Affairs, breaks down the key takeaways: 1. Health-Related Social Needs (HRSN) Initiative: ➡ $3.173 billion is allocated to address HRSN challenges that community health centers and organizations are already tackling. 💡 Health centers should collaborate with partners and social care networks to establish effective relationships, integrating these practices into the contracting process — especially in value-based care arrangements. 2. Health Equity and Racial Opportunity (HERO) Initiative: ➡ Up to $125 million is authorized for data analytics, regional needs assessment, stakeholder engagement, and program analysis ➡ Establishes statewide health equity plans and baseline data. The statewide nature of the entity is unique and challenging given the economically and geographically diverse nature of New York State. 💡CHCs will need to enable the HERO to recognize the unique needs of their local population. Read Loren's full insights, including details on other major initiatives in the waiver, here: https://lnkd.in/e448gchY

Employers can be a powerful force for change in health care. Next week, PCC's Ann C. Greiner joins Premise Health for an important discussion about how employers can promote enhanced primary care -- leading to lower costs and happier, healthier employees. https://lnkd.in/e9FCr7i8

📘 Phase 3 of the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care’s Unleashing the Potential of our Health Workforce (Scope of Practice) Review started on 16 April with the release of Issues Paper 2. Phase 3 of the Review consultations will run until June 2024 and is an opportunity for people with insights on Issues Paper 2 to share their view. These insights will inform the draft Final Report to Government due August/September 2024.     📫 You’re invited to make a written submission via CitizenSpace. ⏰ Submissions close 26 May 2024.      The reform options in Issues Paper 2 will also shape stakeholder consultations scheduled for June 2024, including virtual and in-person workshops. The review team will schedule dates and venues soon and provide updates.     Phase 3 will also see continued engagement with a wide array of health policy groups, and review and advisory panels, reinforcing the integrated approach of the review within the context of other health workforce reviews and the broader health reform landscape. 🔎 You can read Issues Paper 2 and make a submission at: https://lnkd.in/gQ5VQw2P #AusWomensHealth #HealthWorkforce #WomensHealth 

I am so pleased and proud to participate in a webinar today on Action Steps to Disrupt Inequitable Health Outcomes: The Role of Policy in Advancing Health Equity, with our partners from the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) and Anna Bernstein, Fellow and Deputy Director of Health Equity and Reform at the Century Foundation. The webinar is an opportunity to review and present information from the inaugural Health Equity in Action Summit last year where NACCHO was a co-convener, along with The National Minority Quality Forum, Morehouse School of Medicine, The Century Foundation, and Pfizer’s Multicultural Health Equity Collective (The Collective). As a continuation of learnings shared at the 2022 Health Equity in Action Summit, An Action Guide to Disrupt Inequitable Health Outcomes is a new community-developed tool providing informative cases, actionable steps and practical resources for those seeking to drive health equity. Developed together with dozens of partners, the Action Guide is a new community-developed tool providing cases and practical resources to help drive greater health equity outcomes. The Action Guide focuses on four key areas, including healthcare facilities and delivery, workforce pathways, research and data, and policy. This webinar will focus on the area of policy. Please join us at the webinar happening on Thursday, December 7 at 2:00 PM by registering through this link: https://lnkd.in/gTRCZrHn You can also read the Action Guide and share with your networks here https://lnkd.in/gq7RyFV8 #PfizerProud #HealthEquity #EquityinAction

The Health Services Research (HSR) Special Issue brings together evidence and recommendations across five key research and action domains necessary to foster equitable care. The executive overview outlines the Agency's efforts in constructing a Research and Action Health Equity Framework. This framework offers a roadmap for both AHRQ and the broader health services research community to advance health and healthcare equity. #HealthEquity https://lnkd.in/gv6Sc3Pu