August 2010

In this Issue:

• New Resources  
  • New Media
  • Funding Opportunities  
  • Publications
    
    
• Policy Updates
  
  
• Activities in the Field
  
  
• Upcoming Events

New Resources

NEW MEDIA:

• The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality designed a toolkit called Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit. This toolkit is designed to assist health care providers in making health information more understandable for all patients, and it provides health care providers with steps to promote health literacy in their facilities.  
• DiversityRx released a webinar, Your Voice Peer Learning Network on Cultural Competence Training, to illustrate the significance of cultural competency training, particularly within health care organizations. The webinar defines cultural competency and explores effective strategies to integrate cultural competency in health care organizations.
• The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation released a webinar titled A New Way to Talk about the Social Determinants of Health. The webinar focuses on developing messaging to push the issue of health disparities forward without alienating groups or individuals.

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

• The Indian Health Service (IHS) is currently accepting applications for the National Indian Health Outreach and Education grant. One non-profit organization will be awarded $340,000 for demonstrating expertise in Indian health care needs. The recipient will develop materials that will be used to educate Tribes and Tribal Organizations about the key provisions in the Affordable Care Act and the reauthorization of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (IHCIA). Additionally, the recipient will coordinate an outreach and communication plan for the Indian Health Services and national Tribal organizations. The deadline for applying for this grant is September 8, 2010. For more information, click here.
  
  

• The Health Resources and Services Administration is currently accepting applications for the New Access Points Opportunity Grant funded under the Affordable Care Act of 2010. The Health Resources and Services Administration is distributing $250,000,000 to 350 public or nonprofit private entities, including tribal, faith-based, and community-based organizations. The purpose of the New Access Points Opportunity Grant is to establish health service delivery sites to improve the health of the nation’s underserved communities and vulnerable populations by assuring access to comprehensive, culturally competent, quality primary health care services. The deadline for applying for this grant is November 17, 2010. For more information, click here.

PUBLICATIONS:

• Health Affairs released a report called Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Dental Care for Publicly Insured Children that finds that Latino and African American children in Medicaid experience higher rates of tooth decay and visit the dentist less often than other children in the program. These findings raise concerns about Medicaid’s ability to address disparities in dental health, suggesting that policy makers should develop new approaches to eliminating disparities in Medicaid.
• The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies issued the report Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010: Advancing Health Equity for Racially and Ethnically Diverse Populations, which illustrates how the recent health reform legislation is an important first step that offers an unprecedented opportunity to improve health equity in the United States.
• The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation published an issue brief called Breaking through on the Social Determinants of Health and Health Disparities: An Approach to Message Translation that explores the challenge of conveying the importance of social determinants to leaders. This publication provides ways to translate the wide-ranging, highly specific, and technical information about social determinants and health disparities into language that will resonate with a diverse group of leaders.
• The Commonwealth Fund recently released Updated Timeline for Health Care Implementation: Health Insurance Provisions, which summarizes all the health insurance provisions and effectively outlines when the provisions will go into effect.
• Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) recently published Explaining Health Reform: Benefits and Cost-Sharing for Adult Medicaid Beneficiaries.  This issue brief provides details of the benefit and cost-sharing rules that will govern the coverage available to the millions of newly eligible Medicaid beneficiaries under the Affordable Care Act. Additionally, it identifies key considerations for state policy makers who are creating Medicaid benefit design choices.
• Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) continues a report series, Optimizing Medicaid Enrollment: Perspectives on Strengthening Medicaid’s Reach under Health Reform, which examines how selected states are using technology in innovative ways to streamline and simplify Medicaid enrollment. Starting with a look at Louisiana’s Express Lane Eligibility method and moving on to other states, the report series illustrates various approaches to improving enrollment systems and to preparing for the Medicaid expansion and health reform. 
• Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) also released Explaining Health Reform: Eligibility and Enrollment Processes for Medicaid, CHIP, and Subsidies in the Exchange, which summarizes key requirements that states face under health reform. The brief provides insight on how to construct coordinated and consumer-friendly enrollment systems to help people understand coverage options.
• The Urban Institute created a series of briefs titled How Will Reform Affect Health Care Costs?, which explores the effects that the Affordable Care Act will have on consumers, state governments, the economy, and health care costs. The Urban Institute researchers examine how cost controls in the legislation, new rules for allowing the purchase of health insurance across state lines, and malpractice reform could affect the amount of money Americans spend on health care and insurance.
  

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Policy Updates

$26 Billion FMAP Extension Bill Signed into Law
President Obama signed into law a bill passed by Congress that includes a six-month extension through June 2011 of Medicaid’s temporary enhanced Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) for the states. The cost of the bill is $26 billion, with $16 billion of those funds going to help states address growing Medicaid budget deficits. Another $10 billion was aimed at providing educational assistance in states. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that the bill will reduce the deficit by $1.4 billion. To view an article that discusses the FMAP extension, click here. 

NAIC Outlines What Insurers Will Count as Medical Costs
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) approved the detailed form insurers will have to fill out to determine whether they are spending enough money on medical care and quality improvement activities under the health care overhaul law. The NAIC has been assisting the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in developing a regulation on medical loss ratios. The ratios require insurers in the small group market and the large group market to spend 80 percent and 85 percent, respectively, of their premium revenues on medical care and on efforts to improve the quality of that care. NAIC still must determine instructions for filling out the form, as well as come to a consensus on specific definitions and standards that insurers must follow when categorizing expenses. For more information, read this recent Politico article. 

Activities in the Field

Michigan Minority Health Coalition

The Michigan Minority Health Coalition (MMHC) was founded in 2006. It is composed of a diverse array of consumer advocates, community-based organization leaders, health care provider representatives, and free clinic officials who work to address health care disparities in Michigan. Through their vast outreach efforts, the Coalition educates the public about systemic inequities in today’s health care system, particularly those facing people of color. 

The Coalition seeks to provide a persistent and continuing focus on eliminating disparities in the health status of Michigan’s racial and ethnic populations.The Coalition creates community partnerships with organizations and helps them to understand the importance of eliminating health disparities in Michigan. The Coalition also collaborates with state, local, and private sectors to advance community empowerment and to engage in health promotion and disease prevention strategies. 

In 2007, the MMHC was a key player in the passage of the Health Disparities Research and Education Act, which Governor Jennifer Granholm signed into law. Furthermore, the Coalition led a successful effort to encourage state officials to adopt a strategic plan for the law and advocates for its proper implementation. Coalition members assist public health officials in developing appropriate steps to fulfilling the goals outlined in the law. Additionally, the group works to educate the public about the various provisions. With many different affiliations involved in the Coalition’s work, the organization can reach the public on the ground level.

Due to the recent Affordable Care Act’s emphasis on addressing health disparities, the Michigan Minority Health Coalition is even more proactive to ensure that there is systemic change in the health care system. Integrating the provisions of the Affordable Care Act with the Michigan Health Disparity Act is a significant priority for their annual conference.

For more information on the Michigan Minority Health Coalition, please email michiganmhc@yahoo.com.   

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Upcoming Events

• The Power of Partnerships: 2010 Community Action Partnership Annual Convention August 31 – September 3, 2010
  Boston Marriott Copley Place, 110 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02116 Sponsor: Community Action Partnership For more information and to register click here.
  
  
• 2010 National Association of Community Health Centers Community Health Institute and Expo
  September 10 – September 14, 2010
  Hilton Anatole, 2201 Stemmons Freeway, Dallas, TX 75207
  Sponsor: National Association of Community Health Centers, Inc.
  For more information and to register click here.
  
  
• CityMatCH 20th Anniversary Conference Urban MCH Leadership
  September 12 – September 14, 2010
  The Palmer House Hilton, 17 East Monroe Street, Chicago, IL 60603
  Sponsor: CityMatCH is a national membership organization of city and county
  health departments’ maternal and child health programs and leaders representing urban
  communities in the United States.
  For more information and to register click here [link to: http://www.citymatch.org/conf_ index.php.]
  
   
• Fall Congressional Black Caucus Health Braintrust—Rallying the Nation’s Health Equity Ambassadors: Working Together to Ensure Appropriate Health Care Reform Implementation
  September 17, 2010
  DC Convention Center, 801 Mount Vernon Place Northwest, Washington, DC 20001
  Sponsor: Congressional Black Caucus
  For more information and to register click here.
  
  
• 27th Annual Consumer Conference: Tribal-State Relations and American Indian/Alaska Native Health Care
  September 20 – September 24, 2010
  Best Western Ramkota Hotel, 3200 West Maple Street, Sioux Falls, SD 57107
  Sponsor: National Indian Health Board
  For more information and to register click here.
  
  
• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Annual Health Conference: Better Care, Better Health: Delivering on Quality
  September 27 – September 29, 2010
  Bethesda North Marriott Hotel and Conference Center, 5701 Marinelli Road, Bethesda, MD 20852
  Sponsor: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
  For more information and to register click here.
  
  
• National Conference Series on Quality Health Care for Culturally Diverse Populations
  October 18 – October 21, 2010
  Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace, 202 East Pratt Street, Baltimore, MD 21202
  Sponsor: DiversityRx
  For more information and to register click here.  
  Early Registration Deadline: September 3, 2010

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