Health Equity
Reducing maternal mortality: Addressing health-related social needs during prenatal visits
Work must be done to reverse maternal mortality trends in Michigan and other states. In Michigan, maternal mortality rates surpass the national average and recent estimates suggest that 80 percent of maternal deaths in the United States are preventable. Further, there are stark racial disparities in maternal health, with Black individuals experiencing a 2.6 times higher likelihood of dying from …
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Primary care and public health integration: Innovative strategies from a state-level review
In a recent Journal of Public Health Management & Practice report, Strengthening Public Health Through Primary Care and Public Health Collaboration: Innovative State Approaches, CHRT’s Nancy M. Baum and Samantha Iovan, along with Marianne Udow-Phillips, explore the dynamic initiatives undertaken by four states to forge stronger connections between public health and primary care. Seventeen state leaders from North Carolina, Oregon, …
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Pathways to reform in Michigan: Diversion, deflection, and reentry programs
A recent report from the U.S. Department of Justice revealed alarming rates of mental health disorders among jail inmates–on average, 44 percent of inmates had a mental health diagnosis. Despite this prevalence, jails lack adequate resources to meet inmates’ mental health needs, potentially worsened by discriminatory practices, implicit bias, overcrowding, and hostile environments. And these challenges disproportionately affect racial and …
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Funding community paramedicine is an ongoing challenge, in spite of value and savings
Community paramedicine (CP) programs fill significant treatment gaps between primary care providers and emergency care providers. First, CP programs treat clients in the most appropriate settings. Second, CP programs divert patients from emergency departments when appropriate. Finally, CP programs connect clients with needed social services. But funding community paramedicine is an ongoing challenge. For patients, CP programs offer convenient treatment. …
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Telehealth for people with disabilities: here are the challenges and opportunities policymakers should consider
Telehealth was a lifeline for people with disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Federal and state policy changes allowed clinics, health systems, and providers to expand telehealth services, which benefitted people with disabilities. People with disabilities, approximately one in every four Americans, are six times more likely to have ten or more physician visits and five times more likely to be admitted …
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Physicians screen patients for social needs: what happens next? Survey, analysis, and policy recommendations
Increasingly, physicians are screening patients for social needs then connecting patients to local organizations that can provide the required services. In Michigan, the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services provided funding to policymakers to launch new projects and partnerships to encourage physicians to screen for social needs like food and housing insecurity. The state also supported pilots that connected …
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Michiganders continue to report difficulty accessing mental health care, forgoing needed care.
The 2020 Cover Michigan Survey, an online survey fielded in early 2020 (before the COVID-19 pandemic began impacting Michigan), asked Michiganders about their ability to access mental health care. Across Michigan, 47 percent of survey respondents reporting needing mental health care before the COVID-19 pandemic, and the COVID-19 pandemic is thought to be exacerbating mental healthcare needs. Among these Michiganders, …
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Access to health care in Michigan: Results from CHRT’s latest Cover Michigan Survey
The Center for Health and Research Transformation’s (CHRT) 2018 Cover Michigan Survey asked Michigan residents about their experiences in accessing health care, specifically how easy or difficult it was to get appointments with different providers. The Cover Michigan Survey found that two factors—the presence of primary care providers (PCP), and whether or not people had a medical home—figured prominently in …
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