...#1 Access to Health Care: Improving overall health status Equality in Access to health services is one of the forty two topic areas in Healthy People 2020 that caught my view as one of the objectives to have the highest importance in achieving a national goal of healthy Americans in the future. But what does access to health care actually means? According Gulliford et al (2002), facilitating access to health is concerned with helping people to command appropriate health care resources in order to preserve or improve their health status but unfortunately gaining access to healthcare depends on some factors such as financial, organizational and social or cultural barriers that permits or limit the said utilization of services. Therefore having much available health services is not a factor in itself to improve the quality of healthcare but the utilization of such services by all of the people which will depend on affordability and general accessibility of the service. According to Healthy People 2020 (US Department of Health and Human Services, 2012), it is important to have access to quality health care service in order to achieve equity in health and eventually improve the general health status of all Americans. This I think is one of the most important move that the state should make in order to make the vision of having healthy Americans, including all migrants, ethnic and minority groups, by the year 2020. Though free service is not always the key to have access...
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...Childhood Obesity Epidemic How the Health Care Reform Law Will Help Prevent and Reduce Obesity Ellen-Marie Whelan, Lesley Russell, and Sonia Sekhar May 2010 w w w.americanprogress.org Confronting America’s Childhood Obesity Epidemic How the Health Care Reform Law Will Help Prevent and Reduce Obesity Ellen-Marie Whelan, Lesley Russell, and Sonia Sekhar May 2010 Contents 1 Fast Facts on Childhood Obesity 3 Introduction and summary 6 Provisions included in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that address childhood obesity 6 Childhood Obesity Demonstration Project 7 Nutrition labeling 7 Community Transformation Grants 9 Broader measures in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to tackle childhood obesity 9 Prevention and public health 15 Primary care and coordination 18 Community-based Care 20 Maternal and child health 22 Research: Doing what works in obesity prevention 23 Data provisions that will help with tracking and providing improved outcomes to measure obesity prevention 25 What else is needed? 27 Beyond health care 29 Conclusion 30 Appendix: The White House Childhood Obesity Initiative 32 Endnotes 34 About the authors Fast Facts on Childhood Obesity Our nation’s children today are on track to have a lower life expectancy than their parents The obesity epidemic poses serious health problems for children including cardiovascular disease, mental health problems, bone and joint disorders...
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...Community Health Paper C228/VWT Task 1 By: Ericka Barrera November 20, 2015 A.) Identification of Community Depending on how you drive around, LA County can look very different in various parts of the community. As California’s largest county, with 10,116,705 people in the county, it is not hard to imagine that there are vast differences in even a localized area (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000-2013). With Hispanics making up almost half the population, the remaining Whites, Asians and African Americans, as well as other cultures, lend to a very diverse community. You can be in a very affluent area and drive only a few short miles and be now surrounded by run-down buildings, homeless people on the streets and poverty-stricken neighborhoods. Because of this, our community has many different health concerns that will be addressed in this paper. B.) Assessment of Needs and Risks B1. Population Economic Status In Los Angeles County, of the 10 million residents, 18.9% of households are at or below the poverty level (Los Angeles County, 2015). With the national average being 14.8%, LA County is a community that has to take care of a greater amount of people that are in need (U.S. Census Bureau, 2015). The average household income sits at $54,529 with African Americans being at the lowest median, around $36,609. Concurrently, they are also the population who has the highest percentage of poor, 38.1% (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000-2013). LA County also has a high rate of...
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...HR 599 | WELLNESS BENEFITS | They’re a lifesaver in more ways than one… | Og512 2/24/2010 | Employees are faced with obstacles and stressors on a daily basis both professionally and personally. Ideally, one would like to keep the two separated. Unfortunately, that rarely happens. Personal problems lead to undue to stress in the workplace and vice versa. This conflict causes a significant problem for employees and employers. Employees tend to develops mental and/or physical illnesses and as a result, employers are paying employees who cannot operate at full capacity. In an attempt to help combat this dilemma, employers began to offer Wellness Programs . Wellness Programs are organized and coordinated programs that have the goal of enhancing the physical, mental, and emotional status of individuals. Depending on the setting, a wellness health plan may also address spiritual and vocational well-being. Wellness plans are created for use by an individual at home, for employees in a work situation, or for members of a club, organization, or faith-based institution. Typically these programs are not self administered are usually done and provided in conjunction with the health care/medical benefits. These programs attempt to provide each employee with access to competent medical care, hopefully molding a lifestyle that includes proper exercise and diet, and cultivate a positive mental outlook. The plan is to help to minimize tensions in the workplace, create more of...
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...Paper: Healthcare Services and The Affordable Care Act (ACA). Table of Contents: Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………...3 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………….3 Background of the Affordable Care Act …………………………………………………4 The Affordable Care Act………………………………………………………………….. 5 Methodology………………………………………………………………………………...8 Collection of Data…………………………………………………………………………..9 Primary………………………………………………………………………………10 Secondary…………………………………………………………………………..11 The Environmental Working Group………………………………………………………12 Primary Survey…………………………………………………………………….13 Questions and Answers…………………………………………………………...14 Findings from the collection of information and data…………………………………..15 Conclusion and recommendations……………………………………………………….17 Appendix A: SWOT Analysis……………………………………………………………..19 Appendix B: EWG’s Business Strategy …………………………………………………26 Appendix C: EWG’s Business Analyses………………………………………………...32 Appendix D: References…………………………………………………………………..37 Abstract Healthcare has been a topic of debate since a long period of time. The recent changes in the government legislation have specified some employer-based requirements for the healthcare provision to employees. Many organizations have also been impacted by the legislative amendments. The following section will cover the introductory knowledge of the Affordable Care Act along with its objectives. Furthermore, we will discuss the impact of this act has on the American society as a whole...
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...Health Promotion is the provision of information and/or education to individuals, families, and communities that-encourage family unity, community commitment, and traditional spirituality that make positive contributions to their health status. Health Promotion is also the promotion of healthy ideas and concepts to motivate individuals to adopt healthy behaviors. According to the World Health Organization, Health promotion is the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve their health. Health promotion represents a comprehensive social and political process, it not only embraces actions directed at strengthening the skills and capabilities of individuals, but also action directed towards changing social, environmental and economic conditions so as to alleviate their impact on public and individual health. Health promotion is the process of enabling people to increase control over the determinants of health and thereby improve their health. Participation is essential to sustain health promotion action. The Ottawa Charter identifies three basic strategies for health promotion. These are advocacy for health to create the essential conditions for health indicated above; enabling all people to achieve their full health potential; and mediating between the different interests in society in the pursuit of health. These strategies are supported by five priority action areas as outlined in the Ottawa Charter for health promotion: * Build healthy public...
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...The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health http://www.nap.edu/catalog/12956.html Committee on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Initiative on the Future of Nursing, at the Institute of Medicine PREPUBLICATION COPY: UNCORRECTED PROOFS Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health http://www.nap.edu/catalog/12956.html THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS 500 Fifth Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20001 NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance. This study was supported by Contract No. 65815 between the National Academy of Sciences and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the organizations or agencies that provided support for this project. International Standard Book Number 0-309-XXXXX-X (Book) International Standard Book Number 0-309- XXXXX -X (PDF) Library of Congress Control Number: 00 XXXXXX Additional copies of this report are available from the National Academies...
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...2011/2012 GRI Report A companion to the 2011/2012 Sustainability Report This report was released on October 7, 2012 | v1 . 8 About This Report The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is “a network-based organization that produces a comprehensive sustainability reporting framework that is widely used around the world.” This year, in 2012, The Coca-Cola Company has set out to report against the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that measure economic, environmental and social performance. We have done so within the scope of our Company’s wholly owned operations. Where we have reported information on behalf of the Coca-Cola system (The Coca-Cola Company and our bottling partners), we have flagged this information within the body of the text. For 2012, and the 2011/2012 Sustainability Report specifically, our Company has self-declared a grade B against the GRI G3.1 Guidelines. This year’s Sustainability Report has also received verification by a third-party external verification agency, FIRA Sustainability BV. Their verification is evidenced by a “+” sign next to our grade B, which reflects their verification and approval of our tracking systems. Throughout this report, you will find the KPIs that we have addressed, along with additional information regarding our most critical initiatives and programs. While we strive to continuously increase our transparency, some of the information requested in response to additional KPIs could put at risk our ability to compete and therefore...
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...Health Promotion (Author’s Name) (Institutional Affiliation) Explain the effects of socioeconomic influences on health. Key factors such as the heredity, age and sex have a significant impact on health. The decision on choices that we also make count, but in most case this decisions are influenced by our surroundings, culture and other factors usually referred as determinant of health. Socioeconomic factors such as the education, income and social interconnection have a direct impact on health. These factors can strongly interact to have a significant effect on health both positively or negatively. The chances are, improvement in any of these three factors would lead to improvement in the health status as well as the behavior of the individuals or the group (Wheaton, 2000). Those with low income, for instance, often have inadequate access to housing, nutrition, food, poor working conditions and so on this may have a negative impact on their social life leading to life stress. As the time goes by this life stress may result in diseases such as high blood measure or complication in the immune and circulatory. On the other hand, those who are financially stable are in most instances likely to face those disease threats that do not rely on material needs. The only needs maybe only need maybe home or job commitments of which they have control over. Socioeconomic factors may also lead to psychological...
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...citizens employees Investing in the IBMer ibmers in service Corporate Service Corps enters its third year communities Engagement, expertise and sustainable service environment Environmental sustainability, inside and out supply chain A holistic approach Governance Managing risk, maintaining trust public engagement Collaborating for societal progress 2009 performance Data summary 1 4 6 10 14 18 24 32 36 40 44 Samuel J. Palmisano Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer It was at the height of the economic crisis in 2008 that IBM introduced the idea of a smarter planet. To some, this might not have seemed the most propitious moment to launch such an ambitious strategic initiative. However, we strongly believed there was an opportunity to address exactly the problems and challenges that were then gripping the world. Now it is nearly two years later and events have, if anything, strengthened this belief. The idea of a smarter planet is speaking powerfully to forward-thinking leaders and citizens around the world. It is opening up a growing global dialogue and generating thousands of innovative ideas. Hundreds of our clients have seized upon new capabilities to build smarter systems, and are achieving measurable benefits for their companies, communities and cities. Without question, this response is proving beneficial to IBM’s business. However, the phenomenon of a smarter planet is about much more than enhancing one company’s growth and profitability. And that is what this...
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...2006 National Institute of Standards and Technology Technology Administration • Department of Commerce Baldrige National Quality Program Arroyo Fresco Community Health Center Case Study 2006 National Institute of Standards and Technology Technology Administration • Department of Commerce Baldrige National Quality Program Arroyo Fresco Community Health Center Case Study The Arroyo Fresco Community Health Center Case Study was prepared for use in the 2006 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Examiner Preparation Course. The Arroyo Fresco Community Health Center Case Study describes a fictitious nonprofit organization in the health care sector. There is no connection between the fictitious Arroyo Fresco Community Health Center and any other organization, either named Arroyo Fresco Community Health Center or otherwise. Other organizations cited in the case study also are fictitious, except for several national and government organizations. Because the case study is developed to train Baldrige Examiners and others and to provide an example of the possible content of a Baldrige application, there are areas in the case study where Criteria requirements are not addressed. CONTENTS 2006 Eligibility Certification Form ………………………………………………………………… Organization Chart ………………………………………………………………………………… 2006 Application Form …………………………………………………………………………… Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations ……………………………………………………………… Preface: Organizational Profile P.1 P.2 Organizational Description...
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...Determinants The Social Determinants of Health: It’s Time to Consider the Causes of the Causes Paula Braveman, MD, MPHa Laura Gottlieb, MD, MPHb ABSTRACT During the past two decades, the public health community’s attention has been drawn increasingly to the social determinants of health (SDH)—the factors apart from medical care that can be influenced by social policies and shape health in powerful ways. We use “medical care” rather than “health care” to refer to clinical services, to avoid potential confusion between “health” and “health care.” The World Health Organization’s Commission on the Social Determinants of Health has defined SDH as “the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age” and “the fundamental drivers of these conditions.” The term “social determinants” often evokes factors such as health-related features of neighborhoods (e.g., walkability, recreational areas, and accessibility of healthful foods), which can influence health-related behaviors. Evidence has accumulated, however, pointing to socioeconomic factors such as income, wealth, and education as the fundamental causes of a wide range of health outcomes. This article broadly reviews some of the knowledge accumulated to date that highlights the importance of social—and particularly socioeconomic— factors in shaping health, and plausible pathways and biological mechanisms that may explain their effects. We also discuss challenges to advancing this knowledge and...
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...FINAL REPORT (FINAL version) February 2011 1 PREFACE The project on the study on “DRUG ABUSE AMONG YOUTHS AND FAMILY RELATIONSHIP” (“the Study”) is being undertaken by the Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention and the Department of Social Work and Social Administration at the University of Hong Kong (“the Consultant”). The research team comprises the principal investigator (PI), Professor Paul YIP, Director of the Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention and Professor of the Department of Social Work and Social Administration at the University of Hong Kong, and eight co-investigators (Co-Is), Dr. CHEUNG Siu Lan Karen (Demographer), Dr. Sandra Tsang (Social and Family Worker), Dr. Samson Tse (Focus group expert on mental health and drug abuse), Dr. Wong Oi Ling (Family therapist, Family Institute), Prof. Karen Laidler (Sociologist, expertise on assessing drug abuse problem), Dr. Paul Wong (Clinical psychologist), Ms. Frances Law (Social Worker), and Dr. Lilian Wong (Associate Consultant, Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Tseung Kwan O Hospital, Hospital Authority). We would like to thank Mr. Gary Ip, the research assistant of the Department of Social Work and Social Administration, Ms. Garlum Lau, the senior research officer 2 of the Department of Sociology, the participants and NGOs for focus groups and case studies for their kind and valuable support on this project without which the completion of this study would not have been possible...
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...markets in health care can offer patients greater quality, more options, and lower costs. The Federal Employees Health Benefits Program and Medicare Part D serve as two illustrative examples of competition in health care today. Proper reforms to add further competition to the health care industry would be quite significant and would further America’s position as the world’s leader in health care for years to come. KEY POINTS 1. The body of peer-reviewed academic literature suggests that health care can and should operate like a traditional market. 2. Market-oriented reforms have the potential to improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of care, as demonstrated by the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) and Medicare Part D. 3. Consumer-driven health plans are viable alternatives to traditional plans, and consumers should have the option of choosing such plans. 4. Proper risk adjustment mechanisms can prevent adverse selection. 5. Migrating toward value-based payment systems will result in greater quality of care at lower costs, in part by incentivizing the health care industry to make great strides in offering integrated care, innovative treatments, and personalized medicine. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Kevin D. Dayaratna, Ph.D.Senior Statistician and Research Programmer Center for Data Analysis Over the course of the past several decades, federal and state lawmakers have proposed a variety of initiatives to reform America’s health care system and reduce...
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...improving Quality and Value in the U.S. Health Care System August 2009 Preamble The Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) is a public policy advocacy organization founded by former U.S. Senate Majority Leaders Howard Baker, Tom Daschle, Bob Dole, and George Mitchell. Its mission is to develop and promote solutions that can attract the public support and political momentum to achieve real progress. The BPC acts as an incubator for policy efforts that engage top political figures, advocates, academics, and business leaders in the art of principled compromise. This report is part of a series commissioned by the BPC to advance the substantive work of the Leaders’ Project on the State of American Health Care. It is intended to explore policy trade-offs and analyze the major decisions involved in improving health care delivery, and discuss them in the broader context of health reform. It does not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Senators Baker, Daschle, and Dole or the BPC’s Board of Directors. The Leaders’ Project was launched in March 2008. Co-Directed by Mark B. McClellan and Chris Jennings, its mission is (1) to create a bipartisan plan for health reform that can be used to transform the U.S. health care system, and (2) to demonstrate that health reform is an achievable political reality. Over the course of the project, Senators Baker, Daschle, and Dole hosted public policy forums across the country, and orchestrated a targeted outreach campaign to...
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