Patient Care Access News

Racial Disparities in VA Appointment Wait Times Worsened Amid COVID-19

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Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Black and Hispanic veterans seeking medical care through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) were more likely to face longer VA appointment wait times. Recent...

Geography Affects Racial Health Disparities in Cancer Treatment Delays

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How long does it take to begin cancer treatment? It may depend on where you live, according to new data showing that geography can compound or mitigate racial disparities in cancer treatment...

Unequal Home Healthcare Agency Access Yields Racial Health Disparities

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Medicare beneficiaries of color are more likely to use unpaid, informal caregivers, like family caregivers, for their home healthcare than White beneficiaries, a trend researchers from the Commonwealth...

Full Nurse Practitioner Scope of Practice Led to Greater Workforce Diversity

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New research out of West Virginia University revealed that granting full nurse practitioner (NP) scope of practice can foster greater workforce diversity that reflects the demographic of patient...

Few Studies Assess Social Determinants of Health Intervention by Race

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Less than a third of studies investigating social determinants of health interventions include race and ethnicity in their analyses, and even fewer stratify intervention outcomes by race, according to...

How Built Environment, Neighborhood Fuel Racial Health Disparities

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A new study out of the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research is shedding light on the racial disparities in certain social determinants of health, particularly neighborhood and built...

Does Peer Pressure Affect Vaccine Acceptance, Hesitancy?

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All of the reports counting the number of individuals getting the COVID-19 vaccines and boosters may make a difference, with new data from the University of Texas at Austin showing that people are more...

Race a Key SDOH Fueling Health Disparities in Cancer Outcomes

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New research out of the University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center and the University of Michigan adds to evidence that race as a social determinant of health (SDOH) is a crucial contributor to worse...

Past Incarceration a Key SDOH Causing Chronic Disease in Older Adults

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Older patients with a history of incarceration are more likely to develop a chronic disease than those without prior incarceration, according to new research out of the University of California San...

CMS Funds 200 Medical Residency Slots with Health Equity in Mind

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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has awarded the first 200 of 1,000 medical residency slots to preserve care access in underserved communities, reflecting a commitment to advance...

GAO Advises VA to Improve Specialty Appointment Scheduling Compliance

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More than half of all veterans lack timely specialty care access within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) specialty appointment scheduling standards, according to a recent report from the...

Food Insecurity, SDOH Costs $2.5K in Family Healthcare Expenditures

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More studies are drawing a link between social determinants of health (SDOH) food insecurity and health outcomes, with the latest in Health Affairs showing that food insecurity yielded some $2,500 in...

Health Literacy, Care Access Barriers to Cervical Cancer Screening

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Nearly one in 10 women have never had a common cervical cancer screening, like a Pap test, with issues such as limited health literacy and poor access to care getting in the way, according to a Harris...

HHS to Restore Religious Nondiscrimination Rules for Patient Care Access

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The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is making moves to reverse a 2019 rule that expanded religious nondiscrimination and moral conscience protections. The agency said this latest action...

How Community Health Workers Support Hearing Loss Intervention

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Listen up: a new program out of the Johns Hopkins Cochlear Center for Hearing and Public Health shows that community health workers can effectively connect low-income seniors with hearing aids. The...

Patient Access to Mental Healthcare Lower Among Women than Men

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Patient access to mental healthcare is poorer among women, with high costs and limited provider availability stymying the process, according to new figures from the Kaiser Family Foundation. Mental...

HHS & ACL Slot $125M to Address Flu, COVID-19 Vaccine Access Barriers

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The Administration for Community Living (ACL), an agency under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has released $125 million in funding to address flu and COVID-19 vaccine access...

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Screening Effective in Primary Care

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Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are increasingly recognized as influencing pediatric health and well-being into adulthood, as new data in JAMA Network Open signals that organizations that screen...

Understanding COVID-19 Testing Options Calls for Patient Education

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Americans need more patient education to understand COVID-19 testing options, especially as higher rates of respiratory viruses like COVID-19 pose a risk to patients, according...

Vaccine Hesitancy About MMR Shots Becoming More Common

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The US is experiencing yet another negative byproduct of the COVID-19 pandemic, with new surveying from the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) showing enhanced vaccine hesitancy among parents of...