The Pennsylvania Association of Community Health Centers (PACHC) is hosting several career events this spring. Click on the event name for more information and to register.

• Community Health Career Networking Evening in Hershey (April 26) – Physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, dentists, LCSWs, therapists, and other providers are invited to attend.
• Northeast PA Community Health Career Fair in Scranton (April 27) – Medical assistants, dental assistants, community health workers, LPNs, RNs, and other frontline staff are invited to attend.
• Northeast PA Community Health Career Networking Evening in Scranton (April 27) – Physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, dentists, LCSWs, therapists, and other providers are invited to attend.
• Central PA Community Health Career Fair in Harrisburg (May 2) – Medical assistants, dental assistants, community health workers, LPNs, RNs, and other frontline staff are invited to attend.

For more information, contact Judd Mellinger-Blouch at Judd@pachc.org.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health published the Pennsylvania State Health Improvement Plan (SHIP) that outlines goals, objectives, and strategies to improve the health of all Pennsylvanians over the next five years. This unveiling of the plan coincided with National Public Health Week, April 3 through April 9.

The 2023-2028 SHIP was developed in collaboration with the Healthy Pennsylvania Partnership (HPP), with support from Harrisburg University. The HPP is made up of nearly 300 health care professionals, associations, health systems, health and human services organizations, community collaborations, local public health agencies, government agencies, and others focused on improving health outcomes across the Commonwealth.

“The Department’s vision is to create a ‘Healthy Pennsylvania for All,’” said Dr. Debra Bogen, Acting Secretary of Health. “Achieving that vision will take all of us working with people and organizations across the Commonwealth to increase opportunities for people to access quality health care, impactful programs, and needed resources.”

Under the overarching goal of improving the health status and life expectancy of Pennsylvanians, and eliminating health inequities, there are nine goals in the 2023-2028 SHIP:

• Increase financial well-being, food security, and safe affordable housing;
• Increase community safety by reducing the number of violent incidences that occur due to racism, discrimination, or domestic disputes;
• Improve environmental health, focusing on environmental justice communities;
• Increase the population at a healthy weight through increasing availability and accessibility of physical activity and affordable nutritious food;
• Reduce the impact of tobacco and nicotine use;
• Increase access to medical and oral health care;
• Improve mental health and substance use outcomes through improved mental health services, trauma-informed trainings, and substance use interventions;
• Improve health outcomes through improved chronic diseases management; and
• Improve maternal and infant health outcomes by improving prenatal, perinatal, and postnatal care.

Pennsylvania Governor Shapiro’s 2023-2024 budget supports many of the SHIP’s goals by proposing investments in key areas like $2.3 million to expand maternal health programming and study ways to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity, $500 million over the next five years for mental health services for students, and $16 million to increase the minimum Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefit by 50%, among other investments.

The SHIP acts as a road map for the HPP and others to improve health outcomes and eliminate health disparities by working across the continuum from the social determinants of health, preventative interventions, and accessing quality and culturally humble care.

More information on the SHIP can be found on the Department of Health’s website at State Health Improvement Plan (pa.gov) or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Philadelphia Inquirer, Jason Nark, April 5, 2023

Berwick, a town of about 10,000 in Columbia County, is without a hospital for the first time in more than a century.

The emergency room was dark, the doors locked for months now, and a young woman stood outside in the rain, clutching her stomach and sobbing. No one was coming out to help.

The frantic people who drove the ailing woman to the hospital stood, dumbfounded, in the mostly empty parking lot.

“This is insane,” the driver said. “I’m going to have to call 911.”

On Sept. 17, the Pennsylvania Department of Health shut down Berwick Hospital Center’s emergency room because of a lack of staffing, accelerating a closure its owners planned out earlier that summer. Signs on the doors still advise patients to head to hospitals in Hazleton, 20 miles to the south, or Bloomsburg, 14 miles west, for emergencies. The 90-bed facility is currently operating only as a 14-bed inpatient geriatric psychiatry facility — but not everyone in this town of 10,349 on the Susquehanna River in Columbia County, knows that.

On that dreary March morning, the ill woman was carried back to a car to wait for an ambulance. Bette Grey, a Berwick resident and private medical advocate who fought, unsuccessfully, to keep the hospital open, was there to talk to The Inquirer. First, she watched her fears unfold.

“Hey, stay awake. Open your eyes,” Grey yelled, to the woman in the car, clapping her hands.

Read more.

During April, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Office of Minority Health (CMS OMH) recognizes National Minority Health Month. This health observance promotes education around the health inequities affecting people from underserved and marginalized communities, and the theme for this year’s observance is “Better Health Through Better Understanding.”

Our office is proud to embody this theme through initiatives like the Coverage to Care (C2C) program. C2C resources and programs aim to help patients understand their health coverage and connect to various primary care and preventive services, in line with the CMS Framework for Health Equity 2022–2032. Priority 4 of the Framework is to advance language access, health literacy, and the provision of culturally tailored services, which C2C incorporates by offering resources in up to ten different languages. As 36% of adults in the United States have basic or below basic health literacy, C2C resources also take care to explain health coverage in an easily digestible way and to break down information about preventive services by audience.

National Minority Health Month is a great opportunity to encourage those in your community to make the most of their health coverage in order to live a long, healthy life. Share the resources below throughout the month to help members of your community understand their health care.

In addition, we are happy to announce that registration for the inaugural CMS Health Equity Conference is now open. The conference will be held at Howard University in Washington, D.C. on June 7 and 8. Participants will have the option of attending in-person or virtually. This event will provide an opportunity to learn more about health disparities that exist within our communities as well as give participants the chance to connect with peers, build relationships, learn about new initiatives, and share research findings. There is no cost to attend, so be sure to register soon as spots will fill up quickly. Visit our CMS Health Equity Conference website for more information and to register by May 19.

We hope to see you there!

Resources:

• View the C2C Roadmap to Better Care, which is available in 9 languages. This resource explains what health coverage is and how to use it to get primary care and preventive services through 8 clear steps.
• Download materials through the C2C Prevention Resources webpage so your patients can learn about services available at no cost to them under most health coverage. These resources are each available in 8 languages and are individually tailored to adults, men, women, teens, children, and infants.
• Read about the Connected Care campaign, which describes the benefits of chronic care management (CCM) for patients with multiple chronic conditions and provides health care professionals with resources to implement CCM, like the CCM Connected Care Toolkit.
• Review the CMS Framework for Health Equity 2022–2032, which informs all of CMS OMH’s work and aims to further advance health equity, expand coverage, and improve health outcomes for the more than 150 million individuals supported by CMS programs. Similarly, the CMS Framework for Advancing Health Care in Rural, Tribal, and Geographically Isolated Communities explains how CMS is working to promote access to high-quality, equitable care in rural, Tribal, and geographically isolated communities.
• Follow the Guide to Developing a Language Access Plan to ensure persons with limited English proficiency have meaningful access to your organization’s programs through high quality language services.
• Use the Mapping Medicare Disparities Tool to identify disparities between subgroups of Medicare enrollees (e.g., racial and ethnic groups) in health outcomes, utilization, and spending.
• Explore the Health Equity Technical Assistance Program to receive guidance on taking action against health disparities and embedding health equity into your organization’s work.

Visit the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health website to find additional resources that you can use and share during National Minority Health Month.