What's New | December 19, 2012

Reducing Health Disparities Among Children

Low-income, urban, and minority children often have poor access to appropriate health care and experience higher rates of asthma, obesity, and other chronic health conditions. In addition to lack of adequate health insurance, cultural and linguistic barriers prevent many children from receiving equal care.

The featured innovations describe efforts to reduce health disparities among children, including a program that provided culturally competent asthma care to Latino families, a state policy that increased access to Medicaid coverage for uninsured children, and a medical center’s use of text messaging to increase vaccination rates among low-income minority children.

The featured QualityTools present resources and information to help health care providers and other organizations deliver culturally appropriate services and improve care for at-risk children.

Featured Innovations:

• Hospital-Community Organization Partnership Uses Culturally Competent Community Health Workers to Support Latino Families With Asthmatic Children, Reducing Hospitalizations and Emergency Department Visits

• State Automatically Enrolls Low-Income Children in Medicaid Based on Information From Food Program Application, Reducing Number of Uninsured and Administrative Costs

• Text Messages to Parents Increase Influenza Immunization Rate for Low-Income, Minority Children

Featured QualityTools:

• A Guide To Improving Children's Oral Health Care: Tools for the Head Start Community
Developed by Center for Health Care Strategies, Inc.; New Jersey Smiles initiative

• Improving Cultural Competency in Children's Health Care: Expanding Perspectives
Developed by National Initiative for Children's Healthcare Quality

• Improving Outcomes for Children in Child Welfare: A Medicaid Managed Care Toolkit
Developed by Center for Health Care Strategies, Inc.

Featured Articles:

• Public- and Private-Sector Initiatives Are Reducing Health Disparities Among Children: A Conversation With Kathryn Santoro, MA, Director of Policy and Development for the National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation

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Also in This Issue:

Innovations >

• Community Health Collaborative Reduces Inappropriate Emergency Department Use by Providing Access to Health Care, Social Support for Low-Income Clients

• Community Health Navigators Use Pathways Model to Enhance Access to Health and Social Services for Low-Income, At-Risk Residents

QualityTools >

• Diabetes Self-Management: Resource Toolkit for African Americans With Diabetes
Developed by East Carolina University; Vidant Health

• Million Hearts™ Toolkits
Developed by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Million Hearts