April 15, 2010
 
Health Authority Masthead 
Highlights in this issue
New agreement with state begins
Free sports and well child physicals benefit hundreds
Safety Summit: Reflections, projections
St. John hosts free seminar on low-cost medical insurance info
Backgrounder: Health reform, prevention investments

Department of Community Health renews Health Authority agreement

The Michigan Department of Community Health (DCH) has finalized an Interdepartmental Agreement with the Detroit Wayne County Health Authority for Medicaid Outreach support. A key element of the agreement empowers the Health Authority to provide Medicaid outreach and application assistance to residents of the City of Detroit and the counties of Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb. The Health Authority will work with the DCH and Michigan Department of Human Services to develop a process to facilitate the maximum benefit for the Health Authority's outreach and application assistance activities. The agreement will be up for renewal on Sept. 30, 2010.

Health Authority sponsors free well child and sports physicals
 

The Health Authority held its second annual Well Child and Sports Physicals in Wayne County last week.   The reception to the event was overwhelming and there are many organizations. About 500 young people received physicals at 12 different health center locations throughout the week.

 

Several health plans and other companies helped make this event possible, including the Detroit Lions who donated the time of a couple of their star players who signed autographs at Northwestern High School on Monday, during the event launch. The event also generated considerable news media coverage, including Channels 7 and 4.

 
 
Reflections of the 'Future of the Safety Net' Summit; Follow-up community meeting planned
 
The 'Future of the Safety Net' Summit, sponsored by the Health Authority, resulted in several key takeaways that will be discussed at an upcoming community meeting on May 11:
 
·         Health care leaders must act quickly to develop a plan to capitalize on new opportunities, and to put that plan into action. We must work collaboratively to improve access to services and to make sure that existing services remain in place.
 
·         Safety net organizations need to have unified messaging around key issues.
 
·         Concerns about the conversion of the Detroit Medical Center to a for-profit health system ust be address.
 
·         Greater collaboration among safety net organizations must occur around new funding opportunities to help ensure that the region gets a fair share of available funds.
 
·         The Health Authority will work with other safety net organizations to establish a process for developing more cooperative funding proposals. This will involve working to facilitate community-wide efforts among multiple stakeholders.
 
·         The safety net community needs to identify specific indicators and set specific goals.
 
·         The plan to create new primary care sites and improve existing ones must incorporate the community's ideas and concerns. Broader community involvement in planning will help safety net organizations develop a stronger plan.
 
·         Wayne County can be an innovator for creating a system that provides effective, high quality, low cost care to the medically underserved.
 
·         Care must be high-quality, coordinated, and patient-centered. It must be able to adapt to changing demographics. Quality needs to refer to specific, measurable outcomes. There has to be a renewed focus on prevention.
 
Overall, creating the best possible system depends on a shared vision and the collective will of safety net organizations.

St. John hosts free seminar on low-cost medical insurance programs

 

On Friday April 23, St. John Health System Health Connect is sponsoring a free seminar to help individuals apply for low-cost medical insurance programs.   The program will consist of counselors, social workers, provider billing clerks, insurance verifiers, teachers, nurses, and additional personnel who work in the health care field.

 

The seminar begins at 12 noon with a networking and lunch followed by Health Kids and MIChild and Medicaid Training will also be offered.  For additional information, call St. John Health System Connect at 1-866-501-3267.

Backgrounder

Comprehensive Health Reform and Harkin-led prevention investments become law

 

(Editor's note: The following article, 'National Menu labeling effort will also take effect soon,' was published by Associated Press on March 23.)

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) today issued the following statement after President Obama signed into law The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the Senate-passed comprehensive health reform measure approved by the House earlier this week.  Harkin, as Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, was on hand at the White House to witness the bill signing.

"It's been a long debate and a hard-fought battle, but today, the hundred year struggle to provide affordable, quality health care coverage is over. In signing this bill into law, President Obama today rewrote history, and in doing so, made access to health care available to millions of Americans. I've been on hand for a number of White House bill signings, but witnessing this particular event has been one of the most poignant of my career," said Harkin.

 "I am most encouraged that with this reform, we will begin to recreate America as a genuine wellness society - a society focused on healthful lifestyles and preventing the chronic diseases that take such a toll on our bodies and our budgets. And make no mistake, this bill doesn't just tinker around the edges; it changes the paradigm."

The Prevention and Public Health title of The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act creates incentives to prevent chronic disease and rein in costs across the full health care spectrum. At the federal level, creating a new inter-agency council to develop a national health strategy, creating a dedicated funding stream to support these efforts; at the clinical level with doctor training and coverage of preventive services and the elimination of co-pays and deductibles for these services; and at the grassroots level with grants for community initiatives that will support more walkable communities, healthier schools and increased access to nutritious foods in safe environments.

The legislation also includes a bipartisan compromise brokered by Harkin and others to provide mandatory disclosure of calories on menus and menu boards to help reduce rising obesity rates by enabling Americans to make healthier food choices. The compromise combines key elements of the Menu Education and Labeling (MEAL) Act, sponsored by Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) and the Labeling Education and Nutrition (LEAN) Act, sponsored by Senators Tom Carper (D-DE) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK). 

"A critical component of the just passed federal menu labeling is that the nutrition information is right on the menu or menu board next to the name of the menu item, rather than in a pamphlet or in tiny print on a poster, so that consumers can see it when they are making ordering decisions," concluded Harkin. "It's a common-sense approach that's also a step toward good public health."

Prevention and wellness provisions of the The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will:

·         Provide $15 billion in mandatory spending to support prevention and wellness activities.

·         Eliminate cost sharing on recommended preventive services delivered by Medicare and all insurance plans available in the Health Insurance Exchange.

·         Support two independent, advisory task forces - the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) and the Task Force on Community Preventive Services (TFCPS) - to strengthen and coordinate these bodies' efforts to conduct rigorous, systematic reviews of existing science and recommend the adoption of proven and effective services.

·         Support investments in the science of prevention to further expand the base of information available for evaluation by the task forces.

·         Provide coverage under Medicare, with no co-payment or deductible, for an annual wellness visit that includes a comprehensive health risk assessment and a 5-10 year personalized prevention plan.

·         Deliver clinical preventive services by  covering 100% of the cost of USPSTF-recommended preventive services for Medicare beneficiaries, providing enhanced federal Medicaid matching funds to states who offer USPSTF-recommended services, requiring coverage of tobacco cessation services for pregnant women in Medicaid and by making clinical preventive services a required benefit of insurance available in the Health Insurance Exchange.

·         Deliver community preventive services by investing in state, territorial and local public health infrastructure and by providing grants to implement recommended services.

·         Require chain restaurants to put calorie counts directly on their menus and to make other nutritional information available so that consumers can make informed choices about what they eat.