November 2010

In this Issue:

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

New Resources

NEW MEDIA:

• Community Leaders representing Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Other Pacific Islanders (AA NHOPI) produced a video titled What the Affordable Care Act Means for Me and the AA NHOPI Community, to illustrate how heath reform directly benefits the AA NHOPI Community. The video includes commentary from a wide array of community leaders, including physicians, health advocates, small business owners, and entertainers, describing how various provisions of the Affordable Care Act benefit their communities.
• The Disparities Solutions Center created a presentation called Racial and Ethnic Disparities and Dysfunction in Health and Health Care: Historical and Contemporary Issues, which explores how racial and ethnic disparities originated and evolved over time. It discusses how health care financing, medical and social culture, health system operations, and root causes play a role in the existence and persistence of racial and ethnic disparities.
• The National Health Law Program hosted a webinar titled PPACA and Addressing Disparities, which describes how the Affordable Care Act lays a foundation for eliminating health disparities. The presentation begins with a discussion of the nondiscrimination provisions and goes on to discuss the Medicaid expansion, language access, data collection, and the prevention fund.
• The National Immigration Law Center hosted a webinar titled “Lawfully Residing” Immigrant Children and Pregnant Women in Medicaid and CHIP.The webinar details the “lawfully residing” option in the Affordable Care Act and explains which immigrant populations are covered under the law. Lastly, the presentation provides the audience with tips on how to advocate for the expansion of coverage for immigrants.

PUBLICATIONS:

• The National Health Law Program released the report How Can States Get Federal Funds to Help Pay for Language Services for Medicaid and CHIP Enrollees?, a resource to assist states in evaluating best practices for setting up language services reimbursement. The report details federal funding available to states to pay for language services and describes technical requirements that vary from state to state.
• The Urban Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation developed a chart book, Uninsured Children: Who Are They and Where Do They Live, which shows the number of uninsured children and the proportion of children who are uninsured across and within each state. The report also shows the uninsured rates for children with different demographic, racial, socioeconomic, and family characteristics in each state. The estimates in this chart book, along with an associated slideshow, show which groups of children have the highest rates of uninsurance and therefore need to be the focus of targeted outreach, enrollment, and retention efforts.
• The Journal of the American Geriatrics Society released the report, Health Status of Older Asian Americans in California, to highlight the wide variations in the physical and mental health of five subgroups of Asians aged 60 and over. Specific patterns were identified in chronic disease, disease morbidity, and disability rates among the Asian American subgroup populations. The findings from this study may help providers target treatment plans for older Asian Americans.
• The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation published the report, Participation in the New Mexico State Coverage Insurance (SCI) Program: Lessons from Enrollees. The report closely examines New Mexico’s State Coverage Insurance (SCI) program, a public/private partnership that provides access to subsidized health insurance for adults living below 200 percent of the federal poverty rate. SCI may serve as an example of what to expect under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which encourages small business to offer health insurance through tax cuts and exchange participation. Since New Mexico has more than 40,500 minority-owned businesses, this report would be useful to see how minority-owned businesses will benefit from the small business tax credit.
  
  

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Policy Updates

Action Alerts

Comments Solicited for CLAS Standards
The HHS Office of Minority Health is seeking public input from individuals and professional communities across the country for the CLAS Standards Enhancement Initiative—an effort to make enhancements to the current National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) in Health Care, first released in 2000. For more information or to provide comments by December 31st, visit the CLAS website.

Updates from the Department of Health and Human Services

Affordable Care Act Bolsters the Primary Care Workforce in Medically Underserved Communities

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced the launch of the new application cycle for the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) Loan Repayment Program. The NHSC offers primary care medical, dental, and mental health clinicians up to $60,000 to repay their student loans in exchange for two years of service at health care facilities in medically underserved areas. The investment in the program, which includes $290 million from the Affordable Care Act, seeks to address shortages in the primary health care workforce and translates into greater access to health care for those who might otherwise go without.

New Federal Support Available for State Exchange Enrollment Systems and Medicaid IT Systems

HHS announced two ways that they will help states create a simple enrollment experience for consumers who qualify for Medicaid or who are shopping for health insurance in the exchanges under the Affordable Care Act. First, HHS announced new federal funding available to all states to streamline and upgrade their Medicaid eligibility systems in preparation for the changes resulting from the Affordable Care Act in 2014. Secondly, HHS released guidance to help states design and implement new and improved information technology (IT) systems for Medicaid, CHIP, and the state exchanges. Using a coordinated IT system, seamless enrollment will be available for people who qualify for Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) through the Affordable Care Act.

HHS Announced New “Early Innovator” Grants for IT Development

New competitive funding opportunities are available for states to design and implement the Information Technology (IT) infrastructure needed to operate the health insurance exchanges created through the Affordable Care Act. Two-year grants will be awarded by February 15, 2011, to up to five states or coalitions of states that produce innovative IT models and best practices that will benefit all states. Funding, which will vary based on states’ proposals, will provide necessary resources to develop and establish the most innovative systems possible to meet consumer and employer needs in a cost-effective manner. For more information about applying to this grant, visit www.grants.gov and search for CFDA 93.525.

More Employers and Unions Accepted into the Early Retiree Insurance Program

HHS accepted 700 additional large and small businesses, state and local governments, educational institutions, non-profit organizations, and unions into the Early Retiree Insurance program, which was created by the Affordable Care Act. This brings the total number of participants of the Early Retiree Insurance program to 3,600. This program provides $5 billion in financial assistance to employers and unions to help them maintain coverage for early retirees who are aged 55 and older and not yet eligible for Medicare. Savings may be used to reduce employer or union health care costs and/or to provide premium or out-of-pocket relief to workers, retirees, and their families. The program ends on January 1, 2014, when the state-based health insurance exchanges will be up and running. Click here to get more information about the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program, see a full alphabetical list of participants, or check out an interactive map displaying participants by state.

Activities in the Field

Asian Services in Action, Inc. (ASIA, Inc.)

Based in the Cleveland/Akron area of Ohio, Asian Services in Action (ASIA), Inc. is the largest social services agency in Northeastern Ohio. With a “no wrong door policy,” this organization provides a number of services to the Asian American and Pacific Islander community in the Cleveland/Akron area, which constitutes 33 percent of the entire Asian American and Pacific Islander population in Ohio. Founded in 1995 by four Asian immigrant women, ASIA, Inc.’s primary mission is to provide Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in Northeastern Ohio with quality, culturally, and linguistically appropriate information and services. 

Saying that Asian Services in Action, Inc. does it all is definitely an understatement. The organization provides services in five program areas: aging and adult services; children, youth, and family; community health promotion; cultural outreach; and self-sufficiency. Within these program areas, ASIA, Inc. oversees many outreach programs, which include a health center, a senior tax preparation program, a youth community substance abuse prevention program, and citizenship classes.

The Affordable Care Act will allow them to do even more. Executive Director Michael Byun noticed that Northeastern Ohio’s Asian Americans were traveling as far as New York to obtain health care services due to a lack of culturally and linguistically appropriate services in their hometown. Right now, the health center strives to provide interpreters and translated materials while promoting preventive services, like immunization fairs, health screenings, and chronic disease management—but they want to take it a step further. ASIA, Inc. is currently applying to become a federally qualified health center (under the Affordable Care Act), and their goal is to stress culturally and linguistically appropriate services.

Yet, Michael Byun states that culturally and linguistically appropriate services must become integrated into the health care system as a whole. According to Bynum, having interpreters and translating materials is the starting point to achieve this goal. “Health systems must become aware of the systematic changes needed to become more welcoming to different cultures. These policies must be enforced at all levels, from the leadership to lay workers.” 

To learn more about Asia Services in Action, contact Michael Byun at mbyun@asiainc-ohio.org or 216-881-0330.

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Upcoming Events

• Achieving Outcomes through Best Process Program Design and Evaluation
  December 9, 2010
  Mt. St. Mary's Frederick Conference Center, 5350 Spectrum Drive, Frederick, MD 21703
  Sponsor: Mid-Atlantic Public Health Training Center
  For more information and to register click here.
• Health Action 2011
  January 27-29, 2011
  Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill, 400 New Jersey Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20001
  Sponsor: Families USA
  For more information and to register click here.
  
• Transforming Health through the Patient Experience
  January 27-28, 2011
  Beverly Garland Hotel, 4222 Vineland Ave., Hollywood, CA 91602
  Sponsor: California Healthcare Foundation  
  For more information and to register click here.

Requests for Local Publications

Here at Families USA, we believe that public education is essential to gaining support for health reform. We are asking that you help us in our efforts to educate the public about the benefits of the Affordable Care Act by informing us of local, state, and even national newspapers that serve your community. We are especially interested in outlets that reach various racial and ethnic groups and senior citizens. If you have any questions or would like to submit publications, please contact the Minority Health Initiatives Department here at Families USA at minorityhealth@familiesusa.org.

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