Population & Public Health
Collaborative Strategies to Improve State & Local Public Health Systems: Is the Cold War Really Over?
The roles of financing and grant programs are intimately related. While grant programs like MCH and Community and Migrant Health Centers have always subsidized care, the extent of their responsibility is determined by the scope of the entitlement program. If Medicaid eligibility is low, grant funds must be used to subsidize more people. If, on […]
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Using Report Cards to Measure Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities: State Experience
State agencies identify, document, and act on data related to racial and ethnic health and health care disparities in various ways. One type of document states produce is a “report card,” or a publication that uses data from race/ethnicity-specific measures to assign letter grades that rate the state’s performance. This issue brief, prepared by NASHP […]
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Using Geographic Information to Target Health Disparities: State Experience
This brief describes how two states, Rhode Island and Virginia, have used particular data collection techniques along with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to analyze and map race and ethnicity data. Virginia uses GIS with multi-level spatial analysis, while Rhode Island uses GIS in conjunction with Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR). This brief, prepared by NASHP […]
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Reducing Racial and Ethnic Disparities Through Health Care Reform: State Experience
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) provides an opportunity for states to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in health and health care. As states roll out health care reform implementation, they can use disparities data to inform their actions. This issue brief was prepared by NASHP for the Agency for Healthcare […]
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Advancing Health Equity through State Implementation of Health Reform
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) provides opportunities for states to make lasting and comprehensive systems change in their approaches to achieving health equity for their most vulnerable populations. Through provisions in areas such as coverage and access, prevention, care coordination, population health, and quality and efficiency, the Act offers state policymakers a broad range of […]
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Assessing the Costs of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities: State Experience
Health disparities cost the United States billions of dollars in direct medical expenditures in addition to the human costs. In an effort to improve quality and contain costs states are taking steps to measure these costs and address disparities. This issue brief, which features Virginia and Rhode Island, was prepared by NASHP authors Carrie Hanlon […]
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State Documentation of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities to Inform Strategic Action
This report, prepared by NASHP for the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, summarizes how leading states analyze state and federal race/ethnicity data in strategic plans and reports aimed at reducing racial and ethnic disparities in health status and health care. It features Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island, and […]
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State Uses of Hospital Discharge Databases to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Disparities
This report summarizes how leading states that participate in the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) and their clients use hospital discharge data on patient race/ethnicity to inform state health care disparities reduction activities. The report features California, Florida, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin HCUP Partners, but also notes activity in Connecticut, Georgia, New Jersey, […]
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Evaluating Community-Based Children’s Health Promotion Programs: A Snapshot of Strategies and Methods
This report provides practical information that states and community groups can use to develop evaluation components for community-based projects that focus on children’s health promotion. Through an examination of seven representative projects, the report offers examples and lessons learned related to various aspects of evaluation, among them: design, process and partnerships, outcomes, and dissemination. Programs […]
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State Approaches to Childhood Obesity: A Snapshot of Promising Practices and Lessons Learned
Childhood obesity has become an epidemic in the U.S., with serious health and social consequences for millions of children. Medicaid alone now serves some 4 million obese children. States are growing increasingly concerned about the issue and are focusing energy and resources on addressing it. This report details state efforts to combat this complex and […]
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