Population Health

Seeking to speed up the execution of evidence-based care practices, the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) announced the 42 health systems across the country who will join a 5-year program to build capacity and implementation to improve health care outcomes.

Joneigh Khaldun, MD, MPH, FACEP, vice president and chief health equity officer for CVS Health, speaks on the launch of her organization’s Community Equity Alliance that aims to address structural barriers to equitable care in underserved communities through partnerships with local academic and health care institutions.

Joneigh Khaldun, MD, MPH, FACEP, vice president and chief health equity officer for CVS Health, speaks on the goals of the Community Equity Alliance in improving health care disparities, particularly for cardiovascular health and mental health outcomes, within underserved communities.

Paul G. Alexander, MD, MPH, executive vice president and chief health equity and transformation officer, RWJBarnabas Health, speaks on strategies his organization implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic to address continuity of care and communication challenges in underserved communities and further efforts to improve health equity.

Kirk Campbell, MD, FASN, Vice Chair for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Department of Medicine at Mount Sinai Health System in New York, spoke on educational initiatives implemented by Mount Sinai to train resident physicians, medical students, and senior faculty on health equity, as well as further research efforts to address disparities.

Data released in the CDC’s latest Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report indicate that patients with end-stage kidney disease on hemodialysis who are Black, Hispanic/Latino, or of lower socioeconomic status (SES) are at greater risk of Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infections, with Hispanic/Latino ethnicity cited as an independent risk factor.

Five leading academic cancer centers are assessing the feasibility of implementing the Health Equity Report Card pilot project as a tool that can both meaningfully and feasibly measure and report on equitable care practices.

The United States possesses the highest infant and maternal mortality rates compared with any other high-income country, even though it spends the most on health care.

Richard L. Martin III, MD, MPH, spoke on the goals he has in his new role as medical director of health equity and community engagement at Tennessee Oncology, and what lessons he has learned so far in providing care to underserved communities.

Paul G. Alexander, MD, MPH, executive vice president and chief health equity and transformation officer, RWJBarnabas Health, spoke on population health management strategies employed by his organization to identify and address health disparities in the communities they serve.

N. Benjamin Fredrick, MD, of Penn State Hershey Medical Center and Penn State University College of Medicine, speaks on the key themes he presented during his session at the 2023 Health Equity Summit in San Diego, California, as well as topics related to the measurement, creation, and implementation of health equity initiatives.

Michelle Y. Williams, PhD, RN, of Stanford Health Care, speaks on the key themes she presented during her session at the 2023 Health Equity Summit in San Diego, California, titled, "Launching a Health Equity Strategy."

To best improve health equity, population-based payment models should both incorporate social goals and increase payment for historically marginalized communities, a recent study has found.

Despite greater incidence of multiple myeloma (MM) reported among Hispanic Americans, these populations report less MM maintenance therapy, longer time from MM diagnosis to novel therapy initiation, and higher in-hospital mortality rates.

Michael Thompson, president and CEO of the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions (National Alliance), addressed the current state of health equity strategies in the workplace and how employers can better address inequities in their benefit designs, programs, and policies in the near future.

Lower US life expectancy attributed to COVID-19, drug overdoses; suggestions to mask up lack teeth even as respiratory illnesses and hospitalizations spike; emergency department (ED) doctors look to curb private equity investments in staffing firms.

Incidence of Parkinson disease in North America was 50% higher than previous estimates of 60,000 diagnoses annually.

The dilemma of Alzheimer disease in primary care, as well as other health challenges in aging populations, was the focus of a recent Institute for Value-Based Medicine® event in Portland, Oregon.

Leaders from Ochsner, Xavier, and their partners gathered on September 13, 2022, in New Orleans to offer an overview of the Healthy State initiative during a session of the Institute for Value-Based Medicine®.

Non-White patients with hidradenitis suppurativa reported longer delay in diagnosis than their White counterparts. In addition, Black patients did not receive dermatologic care as early in their disease course as other racial groups.

Patients exposed to childhood maltreatment were at greater risk for developing atopic disease compared with unexposed counterparts, and risk of atopic dermatitis and allergic rhinoconjunctivitis may have been attentuated by misdiagnosis.

A partnership between a university and the local Black community in San Bernadino County, California, illustrated how pharmacists can actively work to improve vaccine uptake in their communities.

A cross-sectional study showed that patients experiencing homelessness were at more than 2-fold greater age-adjusted mortality risk due to COVID-19 compared with the general population, with these increased risks observed across race/ethnicity and sex status.

The monthly volume of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine doses administered have returned to the level observed prior to the COVID-19 pandemic among children in an integrated health care system in California, but HPV vaccine coverage remains lower compared with prepandemic levels.

Liz Lightstone, MBBS, PhD, FRCP, professor of renal medicine for the Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, discussed the influence of genetics and background on the care management of lupus nephritis.

Jason Ezra Hawkes, MD, MS, FAAD, board-certified dermatologist and associate professor of dermatology at the University of California Davis in Sacramento, discussed why it is important for dermatologists to educate patients on atopic dermatitis (AD) and keep an open mind on variations in disease presentation by skin color.

Representation of Black and Latinx resident trainees was shown to be worse in dermatology vs other specialties, and annual representation in dermatology remained unchanged between 2005 and 2020.

Individuals who completed their full primary series of COVID-19 vaccination were more likely to report getting the influenza vaccine vs those who did not, and vice versa.