Kaiser Study Indicates Community Health Centers Meet or Exceed National Quality Benchmarks

On June 21, the National Association of Community Health Centers announced the release of a brief entitled Quality of Care in Community Health Centers and Factors Associated with Performance by the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured in collaboration with George Washington University. The brief indicates most Community Health Centers meet or exceed national benchmarks on key quality indicators. Using data from the 2010 Uniform Data System (UDS) reported by health centers and the 2008 Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) for Medicaid managed care organizations (MCOs), the study  highlights how health centers meet or exceed high-performance benchmarks set by MCOs, which also serve low-income populations, for three quality of care measures—diabetes control, blood pressure control, and receipt of a Pap test. The study also identifies factors that differ significantly between health centers with “high-performing” and “low performing” Medicaid MCO HEDIS rates.

The press release and link to the brief is available here.

Bill Introduced to Make New Markets Tax Credits Permanent

Yesterday a bill was introduced in the Senate to make New Markets Tax Credits permanent. Access the press release here:

Senators Blunt, Rockefeller Introduce Legislation To Spur Investment, Jumpstart Job Creation In Low-Income Communities - Roy Blunt, United States Senator for Missouri

America’s Health Rankings Announces New Healthy Seniors Report and Changes Ahead from BRFSS

By Rebecca Polan, Project Consultant

 

On May 29th, America’s Health Rankings announced the availability of a new report on the health of senior citizens, using the same state-by-state rankings released each year for the general population.  The web-based report draws from BRFSS data (the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System), and delivers maps that demonstrate how the senior populations are faring in each state along health indicators including diabetes, obesity, and physical activity.  While Minnesota is the 5th healthiest state for the general population, its senior population is the healthiest in the nation.  The state of Mississippi is in last place for both populations. 

In its 2012 Annual Report, America’s Health Rankings announced that it has established a new baseline from which all future changes will be compared.  This is because the CDC’s BRFSS (the world’s largest ongoing telephone health survey) has changed its methods of gathering data to better reflect the growth of cell-phone only households (which includes this blogger!), as well as the increasing diversity of households within a state.  When BRFSS data is released later this year, the reported prevalence of many of the behavioral measures such as smoking, drinking, and diabetes, may look much higher than the previous year.  However, the difference may be partly due to this change in data collection and analysis method.  According to America’s Health Rankings, “The new estimates are superior to estimates collected in prior years and set the standard going forward in the new baseline.” 

Below are some links for identifying or updating your service area’s needs:

 

•       County Health Rankings http://www.countyhealthrankings.org/

•       Community Health Status Indicators http://communityhealth.hhs.gov/HomePage.aspx

•       Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey (BRFSS) http://www.cdc.gov/BRFSS/