Public Health

With patient trust low, there are few places to turn for medical info

April 18, 2024 - Patients are approaching their health information with much more skepticism now than ever before, with patient trust still trending low and patients expressing concerns with the politicization of healthcare and medical misinformation, according to new Edelman data, which PatientEngagementHIT obtained via email. The 2024 Edelman Trust Barometer,...

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Racial health disparities in premature death pervasive in all US states

by Sara Heath

Even in the best-performing states, racial health disparities have left their mark, with new reporting from the Commonwealth Fund showing serious differences in life expectancy and preventable deaths...

Paving the way to a diverse medical workforce starts with med schools

by Sara Heath

When the medical workforce is reflective of the patients it treats, everyone wins. But getting there isn’t going to be an overnight process; instead, leaders in medical education need to start focusing on creating pathways to a...

Kaiser Permanente zeroes in on food is medicine philosophy

by Sara Heath

Kaiser Permanente is continuing its charge pioneering healthcare’s food is medicine philosophy by launching its own Food Is Medicine Center of Excellence, the health system recently...

14% of women say Dobbs decision stalled access to abortion

by Sara Heath

The 2021 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization has had far-ranging effects, with new KFF polling showing that one in seven women of reproductive age (18-49) know someone who’s had a...

How a state agency built a public health database

by Sara Heath

Any good public health organization knows that when it’s designing a community intervention, it has to back it up with evidence. At Activate Allen County, a public health collaborative in Ohio, the group’s Health Atlas is...

Health equity investment slated to continue into 2024

by Sara Heath

Health equity efforts will almost certainly maintain their pace over the next year, as healthcare leaders assert that equitable care and closing of heath disparities is a social, ethical, and political...

Are rising US maternal mortality rates inflated?

by Sara Heath

A new study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology is calling into question the high US maternal mortality rate, stating that many of the maternal deaths documented in the...

White House Commits to Ending Hunger, Diet-Related Illness by 2030

by Sara Heath

The White House kicked off the White House Challenge to End Hunger and Build Healthy Communities yesterday, leading industry standouts like Missouri-based health system Ascension and health IT vendor...

VA Cuts Homelessness, SDOH by 55% with Housing First Model

by Sara Heath

The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) was able to reduce homelessness by 55 percent over a 13-year period, demonstrating the power of integrating social determinants of health interventions into the...

What Is Health Equity? Tracing Equity Origins & Progress Today

by Sara Heath

Health equity isn’t just another industry buzzword. As the medical industry works toward true health and well-being for all, health equity has emerged as a critical goal for payers, providers, and healthcare policymakers. Still, the...

YouTube Unveils Public Health & First Aid Education Videos

by Sara Heath

YouTube wants to help viewers learn first aid with a new slate of videos the social media and online video platform has posted to promote public health and first aid education. The move comes as a...

Few Providers Use Z-Codes to Document Social Determinants of Health

by Sara Heath

Z-codes were added as an element of ICD-10 to help healthcare organizations document and track social determinants of health in patients, but two new and unrelated studies in Health Affairs Scholar...

What Is a Community Health Needs Assessment?

by Sara Heath

A community health needs assessment (CHNA), sometimes called a community health assessment, is foundational for nonprofit healthcare organizations and a vital tool for hospitals and health systems working to improve population and public...

Public Health Communication Still Needed for 988 Mental Health Line

by Sara Heath

The 988 helpline’s effectiveness is seriously stymied by limited public awareness of the service, prompting researchers to call for better public health communication and messaging about the...

Abortion Access Shifts as States Without Bans Absorb Patient Needs

by Sara Heath

The impact of the Dobbs vs. Whole Women’s Health Supreme Court decision is starting to be felt nationwide, as new data from the Society for Family Planning shows that abortion access went down in...

HHS Slates $3.7B for Utility Bills, Social Determinants of Health

by Sara Heath

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is investing $3.7 billion to help with utility bills, particularly home energy costs, via the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program...

Instacart Health Partnership Focuses on Food Insecurity in Chicago

by Sara Heath

A new partnership between Instacart and Wellness West tailored for food insecurity will help forge deeper inroads into the healthcare space for the grocery store technology company. In particular, the...

Homelessness Key Social Determinant of Health Predicting Sudden Death

by Sara Heath

Homelessness remains a key social determinant of health, with researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, revealing that individuals who are homeless are 16 times more likely to...

Taking STI Screening Access to Community-Based Organizations

by Sara Heath

When Joshua O’Neal, sexual health program director at the Fulton County Board of Health (FCBOH) in Georgia, took on a project to improve patient access to STI testing, he didn’t know he’d be facing a perfect storm of...