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Happy New Year!
Provider initiative looks at creating funding pool for uninsured
In light of the increasing numbers of uninsured and underinsured people in Detroit and Wayne County - and the need to maximize the effectiveness of existing fiscal resources to cover health care for the uninsured - the Health Authority will launch an initiative to create an innovative approach to create a funding pool for the uninsured. Nancy Schlicting, President and CEO of Henry Ford Health System, has agreed to chair the initiative. Other members will include financial experts from health systems, as well as the State of Michigan. Janette Davis, Chief Financial Officer of the Health Authority, will staff the initiative.
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Health Authority provides nearly $80,000 in outreach grants to community organizations Several community-based organizations, identified for their capacity to reach disenfranchised residents of Detroit and Wayne County, have been awarded grants of up to $10,000 - in the second phase of grant awards to eventually total $300,000 - to conduct Medicaid enrollment activities on behalf of the Detroit Wayne County Health Authority, announced Chris Allen, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Health Authority. "This series of grants furthers our efforts to collaborate with community-based organizations to make connections between the uninsured and health services," said Allen. "In addition to their enrollment activities, these organizations are identifying important needs that our provider community can help meet." The organizations are funded to conduct or support several activities that include screening and assisting with the Medicaid application process, referral to local Michigan Department of Human Services offices, assisting with the collection of documents needed for eligibility determination, and facilitating online Medicaid application completion and submission. The awardees are:
- Central Detroit Christian CDC, Detroit;
- New Hope Church of Wayne, Wayne;
- Operation ABLE of Michigan, Detroit;
- Piast Institute, Hamtramck;
- Ravendale Community Inc., Detroit;
- Tri-County Dental Health Council, Southfield;
- Wayne Metro Community Action Agency, Wyandotte;
- Wholistic Living Community Development Corp., Westland.
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New free clinic for homeless and uninsured women and children opens in Highland Park
The growing number of homeless women and children in Wayne County will have a new source for health care - a free clinic in Highland Park sponsored by the Detroit Rescue Mission and Super All Year Detroit. The 24-hour, seven-day clinic - believed to be the first of its kind in the United States -- will treat women and children from shelters in Detroit and Highland Park. A physician and medical support staff will provide urgent care as needed.
The clinic is located in a former St. John Riverview facility at 211 Glendale. For more information on the clinic contact Chad Audi, CEO of Detroit Rescue Mission, at 313-993-4700.
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St. John-Moross launches emergency patient diversion program
St. John Hospital Moross has implemented an emergency patient referral system with Eastside Federally Qualified Health Centers. The hospital developed the program in response to increasing numbers of non-emergent patients treated in the emergency facility.
Beginning Jan. 1, uninsured and Medicaid patients will be referred to Advantage, Health Care Centers-Detroit, and Detroit Community Health Center sites for follow-up care in an effort to help them develop a medical home relationship and prevent further use of the St. John emergency department for primary and chronic care management. Representatives of the Health Authority have worked with a group led by St. John to design and implement this program. |
Being uninsured is that much more difficult for the chronically ill
Most of the uninsured are middle-aged - 45-60 - and many of them have chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and other debilitation conditions that are costly to treat and make it difficult to work. People with chronic diseases - "pre-existing conditions" - have difficulty getting health insurance when they can afford, much less when they can't. High co-pays for medications and medical equipment compound the problem.
There is a definite connection between those with chronic conditions and those who are uninsured, explains Charles E. Reese, Director of Healthcare Development for Metro Home Health Care Services, Inc., a new member of the Health Authority's Community Advisory Committee. "They don't get proper primary care, prevention, their chronic condition isn't diagnosed - many go untreated. Chronic illness develops when there isn't access to a medical home." There is a direct connection between the decline in health status of the chronically ill uninsured and not having access to a medical home, he adds. The uninsured develop a psychological attitude of, "I don't need to see a doctor...which allows many diseases to turn into chronic illnesses."
In addition to his professional responsibilities, Reese is the incoming chair of the Chronic Care Coalition, an advocacy organization for the chronically ill in Southeast Michigan. The coalition provides health education, resources, information on new developments, and community forums. For those with lower incomes, the coalition will find assistance for utilities and other basic needs. For more information on the Coalition contact Reese at 313-831-6355. |
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NIH convenes first summit on racial health disparities
Scientists, heath care professionals, policymakers were among those attending the first government-sponsored scientific summit on minority health and health disparities on Dec. 16. The summit, called "Science of Eliminating Health Disparities," was coordinated by the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities at the National Institutes of Health.
The summit included a presentation on research regarding church pastors role in health disparity research, why black dialysis patients are less likely than whites to be evaluated and listed for kidney transplants, barriers to colonoscopy screenings for blacks, obstacles to offering counseling to Hispanic and black teenage mothers, and ethnic and gender disparities in cyberbullying. |
Save the date...
Health Authority, WSU School of Medicine safety net conference -- May 14-15
Together with the Wayne State University School of Medicine, the Health Authority plans to bring together leaders of health authorities and safety net organizations throughout the country at a conference planned for May 14-15, 2009, called "Weaving a Seamless Fabric of Services for the Uninsured." The conference will include the follow topical areas:
- Application of the medical home concept nationwide
- A perspective on the new president's health policy
- The Michigan and local Detroit-area experience of safety net providers
- Clinical issues in chronic disease management, the role of clinical protocols.
- The use of technological innovation such as electronic medical records, e-prescribing, and telemedicine to enhance the delivery of care
For more information on this conference, call 871-3751, ext. 110. |
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Backgrounder
Kaiser Foundation launches non-profit health care news service
Kaiser Health News, an independent, non-profit news service, has been established by the Kaiser Foundation to report on the issues that impact the American health care system. Headquartered in Washington D.C., the news service will be lead by two veteran journalists, Laura McGinley, a Pulitzer Prize winner and former national health care policy correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, and Peggy Girshman, former managing editor of National Public Radio.
The Kaiser news service prepares in-depth stories on developments in the health care system and on health care initiatives and debates in Washington, as well as in state capitals. Supplementing the stories will be columns, video interviews, graphics, and multimedia features, as well as a daily synthesis of news stories from around the country.
News content will be available free on www.kaiserhealthnews.org. Kaiser Health News also plans to enter into partnerships with news organizations to jointly produce and publish articles and will provide content for syndication to news organizations in the United States and around the world. During 2009, a team of full-time journalists will be hired to cover stories for distribution through the news service, and an advisory board of prominent journalistic leaders will be announced.
The news service was established to supplement the lack of coverage provided by commercial news organizations, which have been affected by financial cutbacks by their parent companies. "The non-profit sector can play a unique role in making sure that the public has continued access to in-depth reporting on complex policy issues," according to Matt James, Senior Vice President for Media and Public Education for the Kaiser Foundation. Since 2002, Kaiser has operated kaiswernetwork.org, an online health policy information service, which provides daily online news synthesis reports, reports on developments in health policy, webcast of health events throughout the nation and around the world, and a broad range of original programming from the foundation's broadcast studio, Kaisernetwork. |
The Detroit Wayne County Health Authority's mission is to coordinate efforts to meet the health needs of the uninsured and underinsured residents in Detroit and Wayne County by assuring access and improving the health status of all people.
"It's about access...for all."
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