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JHCPU
ACU members receive online access to the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved. Click the image to learn more about JHCPU.
Virginia Brennan, Editor of the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, with ACU representative Dr. Rishi Manchanda celebrating the journal's 21st anniversary at a reception held in Denver this month in conjunction with the APHA annual meeting.
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New ACU Intern
Fariha Rana has a bachelor's degree in Biology from West Virginia University and is currently a student at George Mason University in the Masters of Public Health program. She came to ACU on an internship to develop provider education materials on safe well water.
Recently Fariha joined the Asthma Project team working on ACU's cooperative agreement on "Effective Strategies for Health Professionals to Implement Environmental Trigger Management in Underserved Populations." Fariha can be reached at frana@clinicians.org.
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ACU Comments to IOM on Health Literacy and Health Care Reform
 | | Sharon Barrett and Cheryl Bettigole, MD |
Dr. Cheryl Bettigole, Clinical Director of HC#10, Philadelphia Department of Health, presented comments on behalf of ACU to the Institute of Medicine's (IOM) Roundtable on Health Literacy in Washington, DC, on November 10. The IOM hosted a public workshop on its commissioned paper Health Literacy Implications of the Affordable Care Act. Dr. Bettigole used patient vignettes to illustrate how low health literacy limits patients' ability to secure health insurance, access care and use health information in making informed decisions. View Dr. Bettigole's presentation online. Dr. Bettigole can be reached at cbettigole@verizon.net.
Sharon Barrett is ACU's representative to the IOM Health Literacy Roundtable. She can be reached at semily1@gmail.com.
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NY Video Takes Aim at Sugary SodasThe N.Y. Health Department has created two Internet videos to educate New Yorkers about the potentially serious health effects of consuming sugary drinks as part of its Pouring on the Pounds Campaign. One 50-second spot features a young man seated at a lunch counter stuffing his mouth with packets of sugar while other diners look on in horror. The irony is that they're taking in just as much - if not more - from the sweetened sodas they're sipping. Both videos are available on You Tube.
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Patient Assistance Survey
AstraZeneca is seeking feedback on the AZ&Me™ Prescription Savings Program through an online survey. Responses will be used to identify any issues that people using the program may have and to guide program enhancements. Responses will be kept confidential. The survey takes approximately 15-20 minutes to complete. It will be available for completion through Friday, Dec. 3, 2010.
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New Tobacco Strategy
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services unveiled a new comprehensive tobacco control strategy that includes proposed new bolder health warnings on cigarette packages and advertisements. Once final, these health warnings on cigarettes and in cigarette advertisements will be the most significant change in more than 25 years. Tobacco use is the leading cause of premature and preventable death in the United States, responsible for 443,000 deaths each year. Thirty percent of all cancer deaths are due to tobacco.
Online resources include the news release, images of the proposed warning labels and an archived webcast announcing the plan.
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Fellowships And Scholarships
Families USA makes available two fellowships, the Villers Fellowship for Health Care Justice and the Wellstone Fellowship for Social Justice. Both fellowships are year-long, full-time, salaried positions at Families USA in Washington, DC. Each year, one candidate will be selected for each fellowship. Selected fellows will receive a compensatory package that includes an annual salary of $38,000 and excellent health care benefits. The application deadline for the Villers Fellowship is January 14, 2011. The application deadline for the Wellstone Fellowship is January 31, 2011. Details are available online.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs sponsor the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars program to foster the development of physicians who will lead the transformation of Americans' health and health care.
Program highlights include: leadership training; mentoring; protected research time; local, regional and national networking; health services and community-based research training; and financial support for research projects and professional travel.
The application deadline is Feb. 28, 2011. More details and how to apply are available online.
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Conferences and E-Learning
For a more complete list of upcoming conferences and webinars, visit the ACU website.Nov. 30, the IOM Roundtable on Health Literacy will co-sponsor with the UCLA School of Management a public workshop focused on pragmatic, evidence-based approaches to improve health literacy. Ellen Beck, MD, a former ACU Board member, is invited to present on health literacy in student-run free clinics. The workshop is free and open to the public. For more information visit the IOM website at http://iom.edu/Activities/PublicHealth/HealthLiteracy/2010-NOV-30.aspx
Dec. 2, 3:00 p.m. (ET), The Affordable Care Act, Medical Homes and Childhood Asthma, a webcast sponsored by the RCHN Community Health Foundation.To register, please go to the registration page www.CDNetwork.org/RCHN.
April 6 - 7, 2011, Save the Date. Overcoming Disparities: Reducing the Burden of Diabetes Complications, the Westin Alexandria in Alexandria, VA, sponsored by the American Diabetes Association.
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Preventive Services App
AHRQ has created the electronic Preventive Services Selector (ePSS) to help clinicians implement the evidence-based recommendations of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). This free electronic application includes the current recommendations of the USPSTF. It can be easily downloaded to a handheld device (e.g., iPhone, BlackBerry), installed as a widget on any Web site, or embedded into EMR and EHR systems. The ePSS allows clinicians to provide age, gender, and behavior-specific health screening, counseling, and preventive services to their patients at the point of care. Additionally, ePSS is a valuable teaching tool for students and residents. The tool can be viewed and is available for download from the AHRQ Web site at http://www.ePSS.ahrq.gov.
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Training Tools
MedEdPORTAL (www.aamc.org/mededportal) is an online repository for peer-reviewed medical and oral health teaching materials, assessment tools, and faculty development resources. Users may download and any the published resources for educational purposes without cost. The site is a program of the Association of American Medical Colleges.
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Public Comments Sought on PHRs
The Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) is seeking public comments on issues related to personal health records. Topics of interest include:
- Privacy and security and emerging technologies
- Consumer expectations about collection and use of health information
- Privacy and security requirements for non-covered entities
Visit the ONC website to submit your comment by December 10.
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Residency Training at CHCs A new report from the National Association of Community Health Centers concludes that community health center (CHC) - run residency training programs can be extremely effective tools for the recruitment and retention of family medicine physicians into community-based practice, despite challenges that include inadequate financing, insufficient facility space, and the struggle to balance the demands of residency training with patient care.
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Calls for Papers: Community Health Workers
The American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) is planning an issue dedicated to "Community Health Workers and Public Health" in late of 2011 or early 2012. Submissions related to community health workers and access to care, reduction of disparities in health, their integration into new models of comprehensive care, their role in Health Care Reform
training, certification and payment and other related topics are welcome. All manuscripts will undergo the standard peer review process as defined by AJPH policy. Manuscripts are due to the Journal on December 15, 2010, and can be submitted at http://www.editorialmanager.com/ajph. Other general inquiries regarding this issue can be made to Stewart Landers, AJPH Associate Editor, at landers@jsi.com.
The Journal of Health Communications has issued a call for papers on for a special issue on advancing health literacy research. The deadline for manuscript submission is Jan. 19, 2011. For more information, visit http://www.bumc.bu.edu/healthliteracyconference/news-and-announcements/.
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