Protect Medicaid
National Council of La Raza with Families USA , the National Urban League, and the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum are continuing to keep the pressure on the super committee to protect the Medicaid lifeline.
1) Follow this link for an easy way to use Twitter to ask the Super Committee to keep Medicaid safe: http://bit.ly/oJpodx
2) Call your members of Congress and Senate using their toll free number 1-888-876-6242  http://bit.ly/vvD6Nm


ARTICLES, REPORTS, AND THINGS TO READ

HHS announces refined survey standards to examine and help eliminate differences in care based on race, ethnicity, sex, primary language, or disability
http://1.usa.gov/rxgkG7

Why Protecting Medicaid Matters for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders
From Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum http://bit.ly/rL3u2q

Reducing Disparities in Health Coverage with Mobile Technology
How mobile enrollment could help reduce disparities in access to care and health coverage.
From the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network http://bit.ly/mTTHYK

Ethnic Health Assessment for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders in California
A statewide health assessment of California’s four major ethnic-racial communities
From Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum http://www.apiahf.org/EHAP_Update

Why Not the Best? Results from the National Scorecard on U.S. Health System Performance, 2011
The US health care system achieves a score of 64 out of 100.
From the Commonwealth Fund  http://bit.ly/qp787f

Segregated Spaces, Risky Places: The Effects of Racial Segregation on Health Inequities
How de facto segregation in metropolitan areas has an affect on the health status of those communities
From The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies   http://bit.ly/olXy47

Specialty Tiers: Unequal Treatment
How assigning drugs to a specialty reimbursement tier compromises access to quality health care for minority and low-income populations.
From National Minority Quality Forum http://bit.ly/sxaLhh

How Chinese Seniors Navigate the U.S. Health Care System Epoch Times/New America Media, News Feature, Mei Zhou.
Elders from China may find themselves struggling to get needed health care, and some get caught between Chinese and U.S. systems.
From New America Media  http://bit.ly/vLNa5W

Join the Summit Health Institute for Research and Education, Inc. (SHIRE) on November 17 – 18, 2011 for a conference on  “Building Community Engagement in Underserved Neighborhoods: The Path to Health Empowerment”.

Kellogg Conference Hotel at Gallaudet University, Washington DC 

Thurs 11/17/11 5:30 – 7:00 PM             Reception
Friday 11/18/11 8:30AM – 4:30 PM      Conference

For complete conference info: http://bit.ly/rs1noc

To register, click here: http://bit.ly/nJ4S9p OR call 202-371-0277 (ext 6094)

Summit Health Institute for Research and Education, Inc. (SHIRE) has demonstrated the critical importance of community engagement in its policy and programmatic efforts to advance health and wellness in the District of Columbia and the nation. 

This conference provides a forum for SHIRE, partners and advocates for community engagement to share lessons learned and strategies that work to help impact communities and motivate individuals to take charge of their health.  This one-day interactive conference will offer tools that individuals, organizations, corporations, foundations and government agencies can use to engage residents in neighborhoods to create meaningful and sustainable partnerships in their communities to address obesity, hunger and health and wellness.

There are several events taking place this month that you should be aware of. For more information, please visit the linked websites.

APHA 139th Annual Meeting and Exposition
Oct 29 – Nov 2, 2011.
Don’t miss the following panels taking place on Nov 1st.
2:30 PM   Minority Communities and Preconception Health. Link: http://bit.ly/viF7JJ
4:30 PM A Model for Generating Evidence of Intervention Effectiveness and Best Practices in Programs Addressing Minority Health and Health Disparities. Link: http://bit.ly/tF8NdA

Overview of Previous Debt Proposals (fourth public hearing for the Super Committee)
November  1, 2011. 1:00 PM. 1100 Longworth House Office Building (House Ways and Means Committee)
You can watch via live web cast here: http://www.deficitreduction.gov/public/

National Health Equity Coalition- National Call to Action
November 1, 2011, 3:00 – 4:30 PM EDT
Join NHEC for a Webinar to learn more about the impact on states  and low-income families as well as what you can do to help ensure congress does not take a step backwards in the growing movement for health equity and the elimination of health disparities.
Register for the Webinar here: http://bit.ly/uxMaoK

Health, the Economy, and American Business
November 1st at 9:00 a.m., B338 Rayburn House Office Building
Sponsored by Trust for America’s Health

**Seizing the Opportunity: Achieving Equity in Health Reform **
November 7, 9, 15, 17, 2011
Los Angeles, Oakland, Fresno, and San Diego, California
Sponsored by California Pan-Ethnic Health Network
For more information and to register, click here http://bit.ly/w39vbL .

Webinar: Transforming Health Care Delivery Systems: Evolving Challenges for State Policymakers and Health Centers
November 15, 1:00-3:00 pm (EST)
“this webinar will profile Colorado’s Accountable Care Collaborative Program; highlight key variables about health center participation in state delivery system reform; and examine key issues for state policymakers, primary care associations, health centers, and vulnerable populations”
Register here: http://bit.ly/urMww5

**Building Community Engagement in Underserved Neighborhoods: The Path to Health Empowerment**
November 17 – 18, 2011. Kellogg Conference Hotel at Gallaudet University, Washington DC
For more information or to register, visit www.shireinc.org OR call 202-371-0277 (ext 6094)
Sponsored by the Summit Health Institute for Research and Education, Inc. (SHIRE)

2011 Disparities Forum: What Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Would Want Us to Know About Health Care Disparities
November 30, 2011. O’Keefe Auditorium, Massachusetts General Hospital, 55 Fruit Street, Boston, MA 02114
Sponsored by The Disparities Solutions Center
For more information and to register, click here http://bit.ly/7x9Nwy.

Save the Date: Health Action 2012
January 19 – 21, 2012. Washington DC
For more info, please click here: http://www.healthaction2012.org/

September 12, 2011
SACRAMENTO – Assembly member Warren T. Furutani (D – South Los Angeles County), announced that Assembly Concurrent Resolution (ACR) 67 was chaptered by the Secretary of State.  Sponsored by the community based organization Empowering Pacific Islander Communities, ACR 67 recognizes the contributions of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) communities to California, and also recognizes the importance of preserving NHPI communities and their traditions.

An influx of NHPIs arrived in California in the 1950s after World War II.  Post-World War II, military service brought Pacific Islanders from the United States territories of American Samoa and Guam to California. Native Hawaiians and Tongans came to California seeking economic opportunities, with many Tongans migrating to California via American Samoa.  Many NHPIs initially settled in southern California cities such as Carson, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oceanside, and San Diego, while others settled in San Francisco.

Making up more than 284,000 community members in 2010, the NHPI community in California is one of the largest NHPI populations in the United States.  The NHPI community,  a diverse group of ethnicities including, but not limited to, Guamanian/Chamorro, Native Hawaiian, Marshallese, Fijian, Samoan, and Tongan, continue to thrive as American citizens and American nationals in California and the greater United States.

“ACR 67 sends a strong message to our NHPI Californians that we acknowledge their sacrifices and contributions to the success of California,” stated Assembly member Furutani, “The preservation of our NHPI communities is critical to our state history, culture, and traditions.”

The 2010 Census Bureau data shows that NHPIs are continuing to become a growing part of our nation’s economy.  Between 2002 and 2007, NHPI-owned businesses saw a 31 percent growth in number, while United States businesses overall increased in number only 18 percent.  From 2000 to 2010, the NHPI community increased in population in California by 23.4 percent.

Assembly member Warren T. Furutani (D-South Los Angeles County) represents the 55th Assembly District, which includes the cities of Carson, Harbor City and the Harbor Gateway, Lakewood, parts of Long Beach, and Wilmington. He serves as chair of the Asian & Pacific Islander (API) Legislative Caucus.  Established in 2001, API Legislative Caucus aims to represent and advocate for the interests of the diverse API communities throughout California. Additionally, the Caucus seeks to increase API participation and representation in all levels of government.

Contact: Andrew Medina
(916) 319-3686

2011 Health Equity Summit: The Affordable Care Act and Beyond: Achieving Health Equity

September 17, 2011 8:30 – 4:30pm.

Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 389 9th Street #290, Oakland, CA 94607

On September 17th, members of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and Congressional Black Caucus will be in Oakland to identify policy solutions to address health disparities. Please join AAPCHO, APIAHF, SHIRE, CPEHN and many of our partners at the 2011 Health Equity Summit, “The Affordable Care Act and Beyond: Opportunities for Achieving Health Equity.” Register today!

To register, click here: healthequitysummit2011.eventbrite.com

More details soon!

As part of a series on mixed-race Americans, the New York Times looks at changes to how racial and ethnicity data is collected for these individuals and how changes in measurement can make assessing racial & ethnic disparities in health, education, housing, etc.  more difficult.

“Despite the federal government’s setting standards more than a decade ago, data on race and ethnicity are being collected and aggregated in an assortment of ways. The lack of uniformity is making comparison and analysis extremely difficult across fields and across time.”

.

‘“They’re all lumped together — blacks, Asians and Latinos — and they all look the same from the data perspective,” said Daniel J. Losen, a policy expert for the Civil Rights Projectat the University of California, Los Angeles, referring to the Department of Education aggregation. “But the reality is much different. There are different kinds of discrimination experienced by these subgroups.”’

Read the full article here

Project scope is below. For more information, visit their website here: http://www8.nationalacademies.org/cp/projectview.aspx?key=49244

Project Scope:

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) face enormous challenges related to their information systems.  They must meet challenging day-to-day operational requirements and make frequent adjustments to their business processes, code, databases, and systems in response to changing statutory, regulatory, and policy requirements.  Increasingly, their core mission is expanding from one focused on prompt claims payment to one that is more broadly involved in improving health care quality and efficiency.  And all of this is being done with old, and arguably antiquated, information technology even as CMS is increasingly engaged in efforts to modernize the nation’s healthcare information technology.

An ad hoc committee will conduct a study that would, in the foregoing context, lay out a forward-looking vision for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), taking account of CMS’s mission, business processes, and information technology requirements.  It would review the current state of CMS’ technical infrastructure and systems architecture and current plans for its evolution, and make recommendations to CMS on modernizing its business processes, practices, and information systems to meet today’s and tomorrow’s demands, including how to build in the flexibility to cope with changing requirements. The study would anticipate ever-broadening mandates for CMS to deal with data on outcomes, performance, and clinical procedures — perhaps even extending to electronic health records themselves — and requirements for interacting directly with beneficiaries, both to manage claims and to manage health.   It would also consider the financial and human resources necessary to implement this modernization.

The study would take place in 2 phases.  The first phase, drawing largely on a workshop (centered on the current CMS landscape and emerging strategy to match its information technology to changing mission requirements), would result in an interim report to be issued 6-9 months after the project start.  The second phase, drawing on the workshop and additional briefings, site visits, and committee deliberations, would result in a final report to be issued by the end of the project.

The Project is sponsored by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services
The approximate start date for the project is April 15, 2010.
An interim report will be issued by late 2010 and a final report the end of the project in approximately 24 months.

• Mr. Daniel Dawes, Premiere Inc.
• Ms. Millicent Gorham, National Black Nurses Association
• Dr. Brian Smedley, the Health Policy Institute at the Joint Center
• Ms. Fredette West, Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities Coalition
• Ms. Mara Youdelman, National Health Law Program

(Washington, DC – August 16) — Congresswoman Donna Christensen convened  the inaugural meeting of the Health Equity Leadership Commission this morning – a new Commission assembled by the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Health Braintrust, with members that have substantive expertise in one or more areas of public health, health policy and health equity.  “Our purpose is to ensure that the provisions that serve to eliminate health disparities and foster health equity are implemented to the fullest extent,” said Congresswoman Christensen. “We were also pleased to have the participation of Majority Whip James Clyburn at our inaugural meeting,” she said.

The Health Equity Leadership Commission was established not only to ensure that pertinent health care reform information is communicated to those in and serving racial and ethnic minority communities, but also to monitor and serve as an expert resource on health equity and health disparity elimination to the Obama Administration and to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as the various provisions in PPACA are planned, announced, implemented and evaluated.

To read the rest of the press release, click here.

Event Details
Thursday, July 22nd
4 – 6 pm (Includes briefing and reception)
Hors d’oeuvre and drinks will be served.

Rayburn House Building Room 2168

The National Hispanic Medical Association- NHMA- is hosting a Congressional briefing about Health Care Reform Implementation for Hispanic Communities. The goal of the briefing is to discuss key aspects for health care reform implementation and next steps to follow that will impact the Hispanic community.

Welcoming Remarks: Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard
Chair, Congressional Hispanic Caucus Health Task Force

Speakers:
Garth Graham, MD, MPH
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Minority Health, Office of Minority Health, Department of Health and Human Services
Janet Heinrich, DrPH, RN, FAAN
Associate Administrator of the Bureau of Health Professionals, Health Resources and Services Administration, HRSA
Nora SuperDirector, Federal Government Relations- Health/Long-term Care, AARP
Ciro Sumaya, MD, MPHTM
Dean of School of Rural Public Health, Texas A & M
Elena Rios, MD, MSPH
President & CEO, National Hispanic Medical Association