Improving Population Health

Pop Health Twitter Roundup (9/22/11)

The latest and greatest from @PopHealth:

Not happy with the USDA's MyPlate guidelines, Harvard professors came up with their own

Global & Local: Designing Cities with Children in Mind

Michigan's Governor Rick Snyder: "Health is the foundation for Michigan's economic transformation"

Making it in the U.S. -- More than Just Hard Work

Employment prospects for low-qualified people are much dimmer than those for their more highly qualified counterparts

Nourishing NYC: working to eliminate the correlation between obesity and poverty

Claims data from 4 major insurers to become available to researchers through new Health Care Cost Institute

2011 MacArthur Fellow Roland Fryer examines causes and consequences of economic disparity due to race and inequality

Pop Health Twitter Roundup (9/7/11)

The latest and greatest from @PopHealth:

• Families feeling sharp edge of state budget cuts

• NACCHO has released its 2010 National Profile of Local Health Departments

• Colleges increasingly inhospitable to smoking

• Announcing plans for a course on telling the stories of public and population health

• Hoping for Change: Health and Social Disparities Facing Men and Boys of Color

• Coming soon from the National Research Council -- new report on the role of Health Impact Assessment

• New report from TFAH & RWJF -- Remembering 9/11 and Anthrax: Public Health's Vital Role in Nat'l Defense

• F.D.A. to review safety of popular bone drugs

• Food for thought: revive home economics classes to fight obesity?

• Great post on struggles grocery stores find in food deserts

Pop Health Twitter Roundup (8/9/11)

The latest and greatest from @PopHealth:

• New article in British Medical Journal uses Health Impact Assessment to analyze urban bicycle sharing program

• First-Ever National Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Standards Developed for Afterschool Programs

• How does education affect your community? Check out the United Way's new Common Good Forecaster to find out

• This fall, all 34,000 Cincinnati Public School students will have daily access to a school salad bar

• NYT "Well": Friendly Workplace Linked to Longer Life

• Ample Harvest is making fresh produce available to more than 4,000 food pantries across the US

• Check out the new Health Wonk Review blog carnival hosted by Joe Paduda at Managed Care Matters

• From Washington Post: Towns change programs, enlarge street signs to adapt to an older population

• Health Leads: Slashing the Price of Health with Common Sense from NYT columnist David Bornstein

• Weight, income, public food programs: A look at how the pounds add up

Pop Health Twitter Roundup (8/2/11)

 The latest and greatest from @PopHealth:

• Separate & Unequal: The Neighborhood Gap for Black, Hispanics, and Asians in Metropolitan America (via US2010 Project)

• Linking transportation policy & health -- new report from Partnership for Prevention

• New from the Commonwealth Fund: The U.S. Health System in Perspective: A Comparison of Twelve Industrialized Nations

• New Canadian report sees key role for social media: "Communicating the Social Determinants of Health"

• SAMHSA announces new approach to Prevention and Promotion, incl. grants specifically for tribes & tribal communities

• NYT "Fixes" columnist David Bornstein writes about "Treating the Cause, Not the Illness" in his piece on Health Leads

• Environmentalists laud automakers for prioritzing fuel economy as carmakers back strict new rules for gas mileage

• How a park helped one town weather the recession

• UC Berkeley journalism students offer USDA ideas for revamping food labels

• Almost 50% of U.S. health care spending will come from government coffers by 2020 says new report from Health Affairs

Pop Health Twitter Roundup (7/27/11)

 The latest and greatest from @PopHealth:

• The wealth gap between whites and minorities is at its widest in 25 years

• Academy Health announces new initiative to generate evidence & leverage findings from Beacon Communities

• McDonald's adds choice of fruit or veggies to Happy Meals and reduces french fry portion by 50% (kcals down ~20%)

• Mark Bittman proposes a solution to the Standard American Diet (also see interesting interactive timeline)

• Who are America's poor children? New report examines health disparities by race and ethnicity

• Haven't heard of Health Leads? The Atlantic has a great conversation with CEO (and MacArthur Fellow) Rebecca Onie

• Pop Health win: new Russian law categorizes beer as alcohol (not food)

• Important new study links increased public health spending to reduced mortality

Pop Health Twitter Roundup (7/13/11)

The latest and greatest from @PopHealth

• Teaching a new generation of doctors to provide better coordinated, more patient-centered care

• Do businesses have a social responsibility to help make communities healthier?

• Gardeners in one PA community combine their growing power to create a bounty of fresh produce for local food pantries

• City vs. country: who is healthier?

• Better education = Better Health -- Q&A with Steven Woolf

• Health Leads shows that health is more than health care -- Great segment on work in Providence

• Mayo Clinic launches social media community for information and support

• First study of its kind shows that Medicaid benefits the poor

• New CA law requires all public schools to provide free, fresh drinking H2O to students at mealtimes

• RWJF, TFAH release F as in Fat 2011. Where does your state stand?

Pop Health Twitter Roundup (6/29/11)

The latest and greatest from @PopHealth

• NY Times: Concerns about costs rise with hospices’ use

• Geomedicine: Imagine providing physicians with info about social determinants of health

• Across Europe, stifling drivers in favor of mass transit & walking is urban policy

• Did you know the LA School District voted no on flavored milk in schools? This & much more in @RWJFCenter’s weekly update

• Is bicycle commuting an under-appreciated pop health metric?

• Great interview with Austin Frakt on the contribution of blogs to research translation

• MA's new system for cutting healthcare costs not working -- cost disparities not related to quality persist

• Engaging youth in urban planning through a competition on "dream streets"

Pop Health Twitter Roundup (6/22/11)

The latest and greatest from @PopHealth:

Jack in the Box will no longer offer toys in kids' meals. Great move -- will others follow suit?

Do personal health technologies contribute to health inequities? Peter Orszag weighs in

A London neighborhood creates a "Fairness Commission" to address public sector income differentials

U.S. Releases Graphic Images to Deter Smokers

A new tool for epidemiologists? Social Media.

New research on Social Security & Health: preventing poverty among seniors linked to declines in mortality

"It’s everyone’s responsibility and everyone’s opportunity" Surgeon General on the National Prevention Strategy

KaBOOM! -- Sparking leadership and unleashing energy within to help communities create places for kids to play

Pop Health Twitter Roundup (6/14/11)

The latest and greatest from @PopHealth:

New health policy in Ireland to focus on prevention

NY Times coverage on the costs of urban diets and anti-obesity campaigns (with a focus on Louisville, KY)

Hawaii: teacher hooks kids on running – they become “Mighty Milers” and test scores rise

Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI) brings nutritious food to 400,000 through small-scale, local establishments

Study of preschool children shows benefits lasting into adulthood

CDC provides updated FAQs on Community Transformation Grants

Who is HHS Chief Technology Officer Todd Park? Check out this great feature in the Atlantic

Webcasts from the 6/9/11 Health Data Initiative Forum

The Health Care Blog hosts the 6/9/11 edition of the Health Wonk Review

Minnesota Idea Open launches new crowdsourcing competition: CHALLENGE II to address water issues

On the Population Health Radar: Complete Streets

The National League of Cities has just reported the introduction of the Safe and Complete Streets Act of 2011 by U.S. Representatives Doris Matsui (D-Calif.) and Steve LaTourette (R-Ohio). The bill requires that new street and transportation projects undertaken by state departments of transportation (DOT) and metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) be designed with “pedestrians, bicyclists, public transit users, children, older individuals, individuals with disabilities, motorists, and freight vehicles” in mind. It also calls for consideration of the “safety and convenience” of all users in “all phases of project planning and development.”

This represents a major accomplishment for the National Complete Streets Coalition, which advocates for the building of road networks that are safer, more livable, and welcoming to everyone. The Coalition recently released its 2010 Complete Streets Policy Analysis: A Story of Growing Strength, which provides an analysis of the more than 200 Complete Streets policies adopted prior to January 1, 2011. The report provides a wealth of information and examples for jurisdictions considering adoption of Complete Streets policies.

Vermont is the most recent state to enact Complete Streets legislation; three other states have statewide laws: Connecticut, Hawaii, and New Jersey.

On the Population Health Radar: Healthcare and Community Development

The launch of our new Eye on Population Health series provides a great forum for showcasing noteworthy efforts to help people live longer, healthier lives. But we’re not the only ones with a mission to get the word out. With our “quick hits,” we’ll continue to link to ideas and accounts that reflect the state of population health in the U.S. and beyond.

This week’s highlights:

On the Health Affairs Blog, the Indiana Health Information Exchange’s Chris Schultz gives a promising status update on the Quality Health First (QHF) Program.

Kaiser Health News reports on the Voices of Detroit Initiative, an effort that is succeeding in moving underserved patients out of emergency rooms and into medical homes.

Some readers may recall last year’s post, “Population Health and the Federal Reserve…Are You Kidding?” Work on this front continues with Health Affairs’ recent announcement that the November 2011 issue will feature an article cluster on community development and health. Publication of this cluster is being sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (the foundation is also collaborating with the Federal Reserve on a larger, related project). Submissions are due no later than July 5, 2011.

Spring Has Sprung for the Health Wonk Review

While many of us were still wearing our winter coats this week in Wisconsin, spring sprung over at the Health Wonk Review. The new issue, hosted by the Incidental Economist, features our recent post by Daniel Fox and David Kindig on the new ACO draft rules and much more. Highlights include Leighton Ku (from the Health Affairs blog) on the history of the Medicaid program, Maggie Mahar (of Health Beat) on the market response to health care reform, and Avik Roy (of Forbes) on escalating healthcare costs in the U.S. vs. Britain.

Food Assistance: Growing Need, Shrinking Resources

Food assistance programs have had a high profile lately. Participation in the SNAP Program (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) – better known as food stamps – is at an all-time high and the House is considering cutting benefits. As the debate continues, we’d like to highlight a couple of resources that may be of interest to readers:

The Map the Meal Gap interactive feature developed by Feeding America allows communities to look at food insecurity at both state and county levels.

A recent Institute of Medicine (IOM) workshop summary examined priorities for research, policy, and practice to help understand the complicated relationship between food insecurity and obesity. This workshop was held in November, 2010 at the request of the United States Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service and the report was released last month.

Mobilizing Action Toward Community Health: Community Grants Program

A new Community Grants program from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RJWF) called Mobilizing Action Toward Community Health (MATCH) will help spark action in communities to address the many factors that influence health. As the County Health Rankings illustrate, social and economic factors such as education and employment can affect health directly and indirectly, and those negative effects may accumulate over individuals’ lifetimes and continue unbroken through generations. The first round of the Community Grants program is open to communities that are ready to take action to address the social and economic factors that affect health—factors which have a significant impact on health outcomes, yet are often ignored in community health improvement activities.

An informational web conference will be held on April 5, 2011 at 2 pm ET (registration required); brief proposals are due April 27, 2011.

Is Overconfidence an Obstacle to Population Health Improvement?

At first glance, David Brooks’ recent New York Times column, The Modesty Manifesto, may not be immediately applicable to this blog. But we think it raises an interesting point. What are the implications for population health improvement if we are indeed becoming a nation of navel gazers?

Quick Hits on the Population Health Radar (March 9, 2011)

The New York Times published an interactive map of the Gallop-Healthways 2010 Well-Being Index. The index is based on a quality of life survey that randomly sampled 1,000 adults each day for the past three years on a variety of topics, ranging from mental and physical health to adequacy of food and shelter to job and community satisfaction.

States’ Medicaid woes continue to garner a great deal of media attention and NPR’s coverage of the situation in Florida caught our attention this week. Lawmakers agree that action is necessary – 1/3 of Florida’s budget is devoted to Medicaid. What they aren’t agreeing on is the solution. In this feature, NPR explores the tension over Medicaid managed care.

And, in a continuing nod to National Nutrition Month, we’d like to applaud New York City Schools for the incredible work they’re doing to provide students with 860,000 nutritious and delicious lunches daily -- without breaking the bank.

Quick Hits on the Population Health Radar

We’re putting the spotlight this week on a new addition to our blogging repertoire. Our weekly “quick hits” will complement our usual content by linking to relevant and recent reports and opinions of interest in the field. We are also very interested in what our readers are finding and learning, and so hope you’ll share your “quick hit” ideas with us. We welcome ideas from a wide variety of sources, including news, blogs, and the scientific literature. Read on for our first installment.

A New Play for Baby Carrots and Other Population Health News

By Kirstin Q. Siemering, DrPH

In Wisconsin, late summer breezes often have a certain nip that reminds us that winter is coming—whether we like it or not. Kids are heading back to school and farmers are harvesting their bounty. In past weeks we've struggle to find #2 pencils on picked-clean store shelves and had tomatoes coming out of our ears. So in honor of the role farms and schools play in promoting population health, we're drawing your attention this week to an assortment of late summer news around the themes of school health and healthy harvests.

• The Senate passed (by “unanimous consent” of all 100 members and didn’t even require a vote) the long-awaited child nutrition reauthorization, called the “Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act.” The House version also has broad support and a passing vote is expected before the end of September. For more information, check out this fact sheet and this Culinate article.

 

• The USDA established the People’s Garden School Pilot Program to bring school gardens to low-income schools (applications are due November 8, 2010).

 

• The USDA has also awarded Massachusetts $20 million for a groundbreaking fruit and vegetable incentive pilot that will test whether providing incentives to low-income families to purchase fresh produce will influence food purchasing patterns.

   

• In San Mateo, California, where schools are facing 10% budget cuts, the Sequoia Healthcare District (which manages Sequoia Hospital) is making up some of the difference by providing $4.5 million to hire school staff, including a nurse, a counselor, a wellness coordinator, a physical education teacher, and a nurse’s aide.

 

• General Electric Foundation has granted $2 million to the Louisiana Public Health Institute to benefit school-based health centers (this is part of a $25 million, 3-year campaign to increase access to care for underserved youth throughout the United States).

 

• The September issue of the American Journal of Public Health has many articles devoted to child and school health, including a collection on the role and value of school-based healthcare.

And finally,

• 50 carrot growers have joined Bolthouse Farms to create a new $25 million marketing campaign (watch for the new tv ads). Bolthouse CEO Jeff Dunn (former President of Coca Cola North America) says the approach takes a page out of junk food’s playbook.

Kirstin Q. Siemering DrPH is a researcher with the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute.