As we discussed in our 2019 edition of 10 Issues to Watch, health care systems and payers are increasing their attention on and investment in addressing social determinants of health (SDOH) – conditions like income, employment, education, housing, safety, transportation options, and others that influence individual and population health. In a recent piece, PatientEngagementHIT writer Read More

In 2018, three important pieces of legislation were signed into law that have the potential to move the dial on our nation’s abysmally high maternal and infant mortality rates, as summarized below and by policy experts at the Nurse-Family Partnership. The Preventing Maternal Deaths Act of 2018 (H.R. 1218) authorizes and funds administration of new Read More

Advocacy & Communication Solutions, LLC is pleased to announce Nikki Reiss as our new Senior Strategist. Ms. Reiss will direct and support government relations and advocacy, policy analysis, strategic communication planning, and strategy development for ACS clients in Ohio and across the country. Ms. Reiss brings a sharp legal mind and more than 15 years Read More

Rapid re-housing is a short-term, crisis intervention model that has expanded in recent years to help households quickly, minimize the time spent homeless, prevent a return to homelessness, increase self-sufficiency, and ultimately end homelessness. In October 2018, The Urban Institute released a brief that reviews the evidence to date regarding the effectiveness of rapid re-housing Read More

Several states, including Ohio and Michigan, have recently released study results that show Medicaid Expansion continues to improve health and support employment of their states’ residents. This research showed significant benefits, such as: Michigan has seen financial benefits from its expansion, which now covers more than 650,000 residents. In a paper released by Economist Sarah Read More

America’s health insurers – in partnership with state- and federal-programs – have begun to address the non-medical, social, and physical environments which affect a person’s overall health – also called the Social Determinants of Health (SDOH or SDH). Research continues to show that these factors, such as housing, access to healthy food, education, and employment Read More

The National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) issued a policy update about the Early Childhood Education Workforce and its ongoing collaboration with the National League of Cities (NLC) and the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). The policy brief details successful statewide collaborations with state school boards in Michigan and Read More

Infant Mortality – the death of a child before his or her first birthday – has been a serious crisis since well before the advent of modern medicine. But it’s come into a new light in the last few years, particularly regarding African American children, because these children die at an alarmingly higher rate than Read More

In 2019, a new requirement in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)* will require schools to report per-pupil spending data. Currently, school districts allocate their resources however they see fit – evenly across every school, more in schools with higher need, or less in schools with higher need. Requiring schools to share this data will Read More

Voters in three states, Utah, Idaho and Nebraska, passed Medicaid expansion in yesterday’s midterm elections. Thirty-one states, plus the District of Columbia, have already expanded Medicaid in the last few years. This expansion broadens coverage to Americans with incomes up to 138% of the poverty level, roughly $17,000 for an individual and $35,000 for a Read More