In the ever-evolving healthcare landscape, prioritizing employee satisfaction has become a critical factor in delivering exceptional patient care and ensuring the success of healthcare organizations. Staff satisfaction surveys have emerged as powerful tools, providing invaluable data to drive positive change, optimize policies, and enhance employee retention. This new STAR² Center infographic is designed to support health center teams as they focus on staff resiliency, wellness, satisfaction, and engagement by guiding teams through the process of conducting staff satisfaction surveys. Click here to access this new resource!

KFF News reports that the suicide rate for Hispanic people in the United States has increased significantly over the past decade. The trend is seen coast to coast, and in both rural and urban communities. For Hispanic children 12 and younger, the rate increased 92.3% from 2010 to 2019. Read more.

Duquesne University is celebrating the opening of its new College of Medicine building. Officials and partners convened last week at a ribbon cutting for the medical college that will welcome its inaugural class of students in July. Duquesne President Ken Gormley said, “the medical school will promote equitable access to health care, especially in urban and rural underserved areas, by educating and training the next generation of physicians for this region and beyond.” The college will start by enrolling 85 students, with the plan to increase annual enrollment to 170 a year beginning in 2026. Duquesne University hopes the school will attract a large and competitive national pool of several thousand applicants. North Side Christian Health Center in Pittsburgh has announced it will partner with the new Duquesne School of Medicine, serving as a clinical rotation site for third- and fourth-year medical students.

Visit HHS’ Poverty Guidelines webpage for the 2024 guidelines.

Seventeen hospital associations and 30 providers filed amicus briefs last week in support of the American Hospital Association’s suit against the restrictions imposed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on website tracking. In the briefs, the parties warn the restrictions would threaten their ability to provide needed health services. Read more on the case and review HHS’ Use of Online Technologies by HIPAA Covered Entities and Business Associates.

The PA CHW Collaborative is conducting a Community Health Worker (CHW) Statewide Survey to gather information about the scope of practice for CHWs in Pennsylvania (PA), and specifically in Community Health Centers and Community Based Organizations. The aggregate information collected will be provided to the PA Department of Human Services and will help to shape the forthcoming state plan amendment which, if approved, will authorize payment for CHW services under PA Medicaid (anticipated 1/1/25). Please work with your CHWs and leadership teams to organize a response and submit only one per organization. Please respond by Friday, February 2.

The PA Department of Human Services (DHS) has launched a survey of Medicaid recipients on their Medicaid renewal experience. The survey is being conducted in partnership with the University of Pittsburgh’s Medicaid Research Center, and feedback collected will be used to inform renewal outreach strategies moving forward. Learn more.