February is African American History Month, which sheds light on African American culture and health. Heart disease, diabetes, and stroke affect people of all ethnicities. However, certain groups—including African Americans […]
African American History Month Read More »
Check out the latest health equity news, health observances, events, and resources supporting the IPRO QIN-QIO efforts to eliminate health disparities for Medicare beneficiaries. What’s inside? Biden Takes Action to
Health Equity Updates: February Newsletter Read More »
January 28, 2:30–5PM EDT Join Mental Health America (MHA) on Thursday, January 28 for an event on loneliness and social isolation, and learn how MHA’s latest program, Peer Partners in
Webinar on Jan. 28: Beyond Loneliness & Social Isolation Read More »
This Learning Toolbox focuses on cultural and linguistic competency and their importance for helping to eliminate disparities in the delivery of quality healthcare. The Toolbox includes a quick primer, and
Cultural and Linguistic Competency Toolbox Read More »
This Learning Toolbox focuses on health literacy as an important determinant of health equity and outcomes. It includes a quick primer on health literacy, and provides links to articles, tools,
Health Literacy Toolbox Read More »
February 23, 2021, 11AM-12PM EDT This session is part of the Addressing Health Disparities to Reduce Opioid Use Harm SWEEP. Join us on February 23 to discover ways to address
Webinar on Feb. 23: Culturally Competent Approaches to Opioid Use Disorder Treatment Read More »
January 19, 2021, 11AM-12PM EDT This session is part of the Addressing Health Disparities to Reduce Opioid Use Harm SWEEP. Join us on January 19 to learn why cultural competency
Check out the latest health equity news, health observances, events, and resources supporting the IPRO QIN-QIO efforts to eliminate health disparities for Medicare beneficiaries. What’s inside? AHRQ 2019 National Healthcare
Health Equity Updates: January Newsletter Read More »
Join us for our upcoming session on March 23: Stigma Kills: Addressing Opioid Use Disorder By Changing Culture.
SWEEP: Addressing Health Disparities to Reduce Opioid Use Harm Read More »
Check out the latest health equity news, health observances, events, and resources supporting the IPRO QIN-QIO efforts to eliminate health disparities for Medicare beneficiaries. What’s inside? Mapping Racial and Ethnic
Health Equity Updates: December Newsletter Read More »
December 15, 12-1PM EDT Please join Aligning for Health (AFH), Trust for America’s Health (TFAH), and a bipartisan panel of Congressional staff for a virtual briefing that will highlight opportunities
Webinar on Dec. 15: Social Determinants of Health Congressional Briefing Read More »
Reducing Food Insecurity and Nutrition-Related Chronic Diseases During COVID-19 Among Medicaid HCBS Beneficiaries January 14, 2021 | 3-4:30PM EDT The Administration for Community Living (ACL) and the Centers for Medicare
Hispanic Stress and Resilience During the Holidays December 3, 2–3PM EDT | REGISTER Stress has a significant impact on Hispanic/Latinx populations and is related to the use and misuse of
Health Equity – December Events Read More »
According to a report from Trust for America’s Health, the U.S. obesity rate for adults reached 42.4% in 2020, the highest ever recorded, and is based on data from the
Report: The State of Obesity 2020 Read More »
A new report published November in the Lancet found that those who have had COVID-19 are likely to develop anxiety, depression, insomnia, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) within 90 days
Report: 20% of COVID Patients Develop Mental Health Issues Read More »
The American Heart Association (AHA) recently issued a policy statement in Circulation calling out structural racism as a major driver of health disparities in the U.S. The AHA acknowledged that
Policy Statement: AHA Recognizes Structural Racism as a Driver of Health Disparities Read More »
A report by the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) states that despite significant increases in funding and beds, overall homelessness has been increasing in the U.S. In just
Article: Whole-of-Government Response to Homelessness in the U.S. Read More »
Health literacy is the ability to understand and effectively use health information to make decisions about one’s health. People with low health literacy have increased mortality, worse health outcomes, are
Article: Health Literacy Should Be Valued as a Social Driver of Poor Health Outcomes Read More »
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) launched a new toolkit designed for state Medicaid agencies to strengthen infrastructure and develop robust home and community-based services (HCBS) for eligible
Resource: CMS Home and Community-Based Services Toolkit Read More »
A conference paper presented at the International Conference on Computers Helping People describes data and analysis on the use and unmet needs of mHealth mobile apps by people with disabilities
Article: Mobile Apps for mHealth and People with Disabilities Read More »
A new interactive mapping tool, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, allows users to view and compare data on a range of indicators for each state and for
New Tool: Mapping Racial and Ethnic Inequities in Health and Opportunity Read More »
About 1 in every 3 American Indian/Alaska Native older adults, age 65 or older, is at risk for dementia. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, heart health
Supporting Healthy Minds for Wisdom Keepers Read More »
November is National Family Caregivers Month, a time to honor those who provide care for their family members and to raise awareness about caregiving needs and challenges. According to the
Celebrating Family Caregivers Read More »
For more resources on supporting the behavioral health of elders and Indian Country as a whole, explore the new CMS Tribal Behavioral Health. Who is it for? This site is
Behavioral Health Resources for Indian Country Read More »
As the pandemic continues, the behavioral health of nursing home residents continues to be a concern. A new survey of nursing home residents by Altarum looked into how residents’ lives
Reducing Loneliness for Nursing Home Residents Read More »
Rural communities face their own unique challenges when it comes to accessing and receiving quality health care. Approximately 60 million Americans live in rural areas, with nearly every state having
CMS to Celebrate the Power of Rural Read More »
Serving Low-Income Seniors: Lessons and the Impact of COVID-19 November 6, 12–1PM EDT The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has had a disproportionately negative impact on both low-income communities and seniors in
Webinars: November Health Equity Events Read More »
Salud America! and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation are sharing a research review summarizing current literature on: the social and health impact of poverty the impact of racism and bias on
Report: Achieving a Cohesive Culture for Health Equity in Latino and All Communities Read More »
Community leaders can play a vital role in connecting their communities with important, accurate information about public health and clinical research. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and The Community
Resource: NIH COVID-19 Communities Responding Together Read More »
New Jersey-based RWJBarnabas Health (RWJBH) has launched a culturally tailored and fully integrated initiative to address social determinants of health (SDOH). RWJBH has partnered with NowPow, a digital community referral
Initiative: RWJBarnabas Health Launches Social Determinants of Health Initiative Read More »
Budget limitations, systemic racism and a mandate to contain costs while maintaining access to quality care have been long-standing challenges for states. According to a National Academy for State Health
Report: How States Can Advance Health Equity & Address Health System Costs Read More »
The National Quality Forum (NQF) recently released a report Improving Diagnostic Quality and Safety/ Reducing Diagnostic Error: Measurement Considerations funded by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The
Report: 2020 National Quality Forum Report Read More »
The Bipartisan Policy Center released a report in September that tracks spending to address the opioid epidemic across the federal government for fiscal year 2019. The report provides insight into
Report: Tracking FY2019 Federal Funding to Combat the Opioid Crisis Read More »
A study published in Circulation: Heart Failure concluded that women age 18-55 with Acute Myocardial Infarction – Cardiogenic Shock (AMI-CS), are treated less aggressively and experience higher in-hospital mortality compared
Article: Women Get Worse Care for Heart Attacks with Cardiogenic Shock Read More »
The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Office of Health Equity released its 2019-2020 Health Equity Report on October 14. The report has a special feature on housing and health
Resource: HRSA 2019-2020 Health Equity Report Read More »
Improve Health Equity During Hispanic Heritage Month From September 15 – October 15, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Office of Minority Health (CMS OMH), along with the IPRO
Hispanic Heritage Month: Resources for Patients, Families, & Caregivers Read More »
Improve Health Equity During Hispanic Heritage Month This year, as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Office of Minority Health (CMS OMH) honors National Hispanic Heritage Month, we hope
Honoring Hispanic Heritage Month: September 15-October 15 Read More »
The HHS Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP) released the fifth edition of the Healthy People initiative, which builds on knowledge gained over the past four decades to
Healthy People 2030 Initiative: Building a healthier future for all Read More »
A Culture of Equity blog by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation asks readers to imagine enduring the COVID-19 pandemic without running water, reliable internet, or affordable gas and electric. As
Article: Energy, Water and Broadband Read More »
The success of a barbershop hypertension intervention for Blacks continued with the addition of a telemedicine component to reduce costs and improve efficiency, according to a pilot study. Blood pressure
Article: Black Barbershop Hypertension Intervention Gets Telemedicine Update Read More »
On September 3, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released the Rural Action Plan, the first HHS-wide assessment of rural healthcare efforts in over 18 years. The
Policy: HHS Releases Rural Action Plan Read More »
North Carolina has created the nation’s first statewide infrastructure connecting healthcare and human services called NCCARE360. Through a public-private partnership, the state developed this technology platform to coordinate whole-person care,
Resource: North Carolina Creates NCCare360 Read More »
The Vermont food relief program call Everyone Eats! helps supplement meals for residents experiencing food insecurity while also supporting local restaurants and farmers. The program, being touted as a model
Vermont’s Food Relief Program: Everyone Eats! Read More »
A study published in JAMA suggests that Black people are less likely to receive hospice care and more likely to receive intensive treatment in the last six months of life,
Article: Racial Disparities Persist in Hospice Care and End-of-Life Treatment Read More »
The authors of this commentary in the NEJM Catalyst digital journal outline a four-tier model that offers a framework for interconnected measures to advance equity for patients and healthcare staff.
Article: Pragmatic Framework for Establishing Meaningful Measurements for Equity Read More »
In a research article published in PLOS Medicine (August 2020), patients with opioid use disorder (OUD) who are hospitalized for serious infections requiring prolonged intravenous antibiotics may face barriers to
The Bloomberg American Health Initiative and the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Equity are working with IBM Watson Health to develop a method to measure the impact of hospitals on
Initiative: How Can Hospitals Improve the Health of their Communities? Read More »
This published article in the Journal of General Internal Medicine (August 2020) describes a retrospective cohort study of COVID-19 positive patients who were hospitalized between February 27 and April 12,
Article: Respiratory distress the cause of most post-COVID hospital readmissions Read More »
The CMS Innovation Center recently announced the Community Health Access and Rural Transformation (CHART) Model to address disparities by providing a path for rural communities to transform health care delivery
Initiative: CMS Announces CHART Model for Improving Rural Health Read More »
COVID-19 will have an unprecedented impact on homelessness, according to analysis by Dr. Brendan O’Flaherty, a professor of economics at Columbia University. Dr. O’Flaherty projects a 40-45% increase in homelessness
Article: Housing Insecurity a Growing Problem Read More »
The COVID-19 pandemic has spurred a rapid and massive shift to telemedicine to help protect patients and providers from infection. A JAMA Internal Medicine research letter asserts that an estimated
Article: Assessing Telemedicine Unreadiness Among Older Adults in the U.S. Read More »
A research article in HealthAffairs (August 2020) states that there is untapped potential to expand home-based medical care to homebound and non-homebound seniors, which can lower cost of care and
Article: Receipt of Home-Based Care Among Older Medicare Beneficiaries Read More »
View popular resources from our partners. Federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS): Office of Minority Health Health & Human Services (HHS): Health Disparities Partners The Community Guide: Health
Resources: Where can I learn more about health equity? Read More »
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Office of Minority Health is honoring National Immunization Awareness Month. Although vaccination rates are low among all adults in the U.S., research shows
August is National Immunization Awareness Month Read More »
In honor of the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Medicare-Medicaid Coordination Office (MMCO) is sharing messages and materials on supporting equal opportunities and inclusion for
Resources: Bringing Attention to Health Equity for People with Disabilities Read More »
July 29, 2020 @ 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. ET Please join the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for another webinar focused on sharing promising public health practices to
CDC COVID-19 Webinar on July 29: Promising Practices in Health Equity Read More »
Thursday, June 18, 2020, 10:30-11:00 AM EDT Our COVID-19 Workshop Series continues on Thursdays, 10:30 – 11:00 am. Join us on June 18 at 10:30am for a COVID-19 workshop on