USPHS Scientific & Training Symposium: SCIENTIFIC PROGRAM AGENDA
09:45 a.m. – 10:45 a.m. Track 1: Strategies for Improving Health Care Access in the United States
Maricopa Room, Tucson Convention Center
Improving Health Outcomes for the Uninsured
Nancy Johnson, RN, MSN, Executive Director of St. Elizabeth's Health
Presentation (pdf, 5.77 MB)
This presentation will explore an effort to improvise health outcomes in the uninsured population in Tucson through the design of innovative models of integrated community-based care. Models of care and patient clinical and utilization outcome data will be presented with implications for care delivery systems.
At the end of the session, participants will be able to:
• Analyze various models of care delivery for the uninsured and underserved populations utilizing various resources and methods
• Identify components of best practices in managing the care of a high risk and uninsured population to optimize health outcomes
• Review clinical and utilization outcomes for at least two uninsured patient populations
11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Track 1: Strategies for Improving Health Care Access in the United States
Maricopa Room, Tucson Convention Center
Behavioral Health as the Access Linchpin
CAPT Kevin M. McGuinness, Chairman, Mental Health Functional Advisory Committee (MHFAC) and Team Leader Disaster Mental Health Team Four
This presentation will explore the central role of behavioral health in providing true access to care. In the present decade it is estimated that overall only 40 percent of patients who have access to care adhere to any given treatment regime. Based upon that number, even if the United States did achieve 100 percent access to healthcare practitioners, the nation would still only have about 40 percent of its residents being cared for effectively.
True access to health care depends invariably upon what takes place after the patient gains initial access to the practitioner. The presentation will examine the interaction between the practitioner and the patient, wherein the behavior of each determines the level of access to the resources of the other and, therefore, the relative success of the consultation.
The presentation is divided, conceptually, into two parts. In part one, literature is reviewed that illustrates in greater detail the role of behavioral health as the crucial link between physical and mental health. In part two, the growing impetus to integrate behavioral health care into primary care is reviewed and strategies for doing so are considered.
At the end of the session, participants will be able to:
• Discuss relevant current literature in health psychology and primary care practice
• Describe the relationship between physical and mental health as equal contributors to public health and healthcare
• Discuss strategies for achieving effective healthcare access through practical integration of behavioral health into clinical healthcare practice
01:30 p.m. – 02:00 p.m. Track 1: Strategies for Improving Health Care Access in the United States
Maricopa Room, Tucson Convention Center
Promoting Medicare Preventive Services
Sarah Wells, MPP, Associate Director, Women In Government
Presentation (pps, 6.07 MB)
This presentation will describe the work of the Medicare Preventive Services Policy Resource Center. Recognizing the importance of prevention in improving the quality of life for Medicare beneficiaries, Women In Government launched the center to identify specific policy issues related to Medicare’s disease prevention and early detection services. The resource center supports state legislative and outreach activity and serves as a clearinghouse of information. Women In Government’s Women and Heart Disease Task Force also has issued policy recommendations to support preventive services to reduce the burden of heart disease.
At the end of the session, participants will be able to:
• Identify Medicare's preventive services and opportunities to increase education and awareness
• Identify collaborative opportunities to improve utilization of Medicare's preventive services
• Discuss efforts of state policymakers to address Medicare's preventive services and reduce the burden of chronic disease
02:00 p.m. – 02:30 p.m. Track 1: Strategies for Improving Health Care Access in the United States
Maricopa Room, Tucson Convention Center
Improving Access to a Quit Tobacco Service
Stephen Michael, MS, Director, Arizona Smokers’ Helpline, University of Arizona Zuckerman College of Public Health
Presentation (pps, 5.13 MB)
This session will examine efforts to improve access to a quit tobacco service. Tobacco use remains the leading cause of death and disability in the United States, accounting for 445,000 deaths annually, the greatest burden of which falls on those with the lowest socio-economic status. In an effort to reduce the impact of tobacco use and secondhand smoke, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has mandated that all states offer tobacco cessation quit lines. While these quitlines vary in services provided, most offer healthcare professionals a proactive referral system via facsimile (fax) machine.
In fiscal year 2006-2007 the Arizona Smokers Helpline (ASHLine) re-branded its proactive fax referral program, creating ASHLine QuitFax, and implemented a new outreach strategy (utilizing a pharmaceutical detailing model) designed to increase the number of referrals by 100 percent At the end of fiscal year 2006-2007 referrals had increased 95 percent over the preceding year.. Now in its second year, ASHLine QuitFax continued to grow at 30 percent over the 2006-2007 fiscal year.
At the end of the session, participants will be able to:
• Discuss the potential for increased program enrollment when utilizing fax referral systems with healthcare providers
• Describe how to utilize pharmaceutical detailing for public health program outreach
• Recognize opportunities for increased collaboration with public and private healthcare organizations
02:45 p.m. – 03:15 p.m. Track 1: Strategies for Improving Health Care Access in the United States
Maricopa Room, Tucson Convention Center
Healthcare Reform in California
CAPT Joannie Shen, MD, PhD, USPHS, California Department of Public Health
Presentation (pps, 443 KB)
This presentation will discuss California Governor Schwarzenegger's comprehensive plan to reform the state’s healthcare system in order to achieve an accessible, efficient, system that encourages population health through wellness promotion, disease prevention, and universality of coverage. The lessons learned from California will likely impact the national healthcare reform effort because California has 12.5 percent of the U.S. population
The essence of the California comprehensive healthcare reform bill, named the Health Care Security and Cost Reduction Act (the Act), incorporates three vital components in an integrated manner and contains innovative measures for all of them: (1) prevention, health promotion, and wellness; (2) affordability and cost containment; (3) healthcare coverage for all Californians. From a disease prevention perspective, the Act structures health benefits to promote prevention, wellness, and healthy lifestyles; creating diabetes, obesity, and smoking cessation initiatives to improve population health. From a health economic perspective, the Act promotes personal responsibility by rewarding healthy choices and targeting chronic disease conditions, such as obesity and diabetes, for long-term cost containment. From the perspective of universality, the Act strives to ensure that health plans, hospitals, employers, individuals, and the government share the responsibility in achieving healthcare access for all.
At the end of the session, participants will be able to:
• Describe the comprehensive nature of California’s healthcare reform plan
• Identify the health promotion and disease prevention components of the reform bill
• Discuses the lessons learned from California’s reform effort.
03:15 p.m. – 03:45 p.m. Track 1: Strategies for Improving Health Care Access in the United States
Maricopa Room, Tucson Convention Center
Track Review and Wrap Up
Brad Kirkman-Liff, PhD, Professor of Health Policy and Biotechnology, School of Health Management and Policy, W. P. Carey School of Business, Arizona State University
Dr. Kirkman-Liff will return to pull together the information shared during the two days on this track and look ahead to what is next in the effort to improve health care access in the United States.
At the end of the session, participants will be able to:
• Describe three key lessons learned about efforts to improve access to health care in the United States
• Discuss likely next steps in efforts to improve access