ARC has released the 13th update of The Appalachian Region: A Data Overview from the 2017-2021 American Community Survey, also known as “The Chartbook.” The report, written in partnership with the Population Reference Bureau, features more than 300,000 data points comparing Appalachia’s economy, income, education, and more with the rest of the nation.

The 2023 report shows that Appalachia continued to make progress in educational attainment, labor force participation, income levels, and poverty rates from 2017-2021. Despite positive trends, work remains for the Appalachian Region — particularly its oldest, youngest, and most rural residents — to achieve parity with the nation.

To address Appalachia’s key vulnerabilities, ARC launched the Appalachian Regional Initiative for Stronger Economies (ARISE) for large-scale economic transformation. The funding opportunity has a new application process that will be reviewed in detail during ARC’s pre-application webinar on June 22.

Several rural counties are featured in a report from the National Association of Counties on behavioral health needs and access challenges.

The DHS Unwinding Renewal Tracker records 1,322,553 individuals listed as the Total Maintained Population during the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency continuous coverage period. This is the total number of individuals who would have been ineligible or did not return a renewal and had their Medicaid coverage maintained between March 2020 and March 2023. The Tracker also breaks down information by zip code, age group, and county. As of April, for the Maintained Population, 77,129 completed renewal packets with 1,245,424 yet to have a renewal completed. Of the 77,129 renewals, 7,908 were closed and 69,221 remained eligible for Medical Assistance. Closures were due to consumers being determined ineligible based on information provided, failure to return documentation, and enrolling in Pennie. For the entire Medicaid population, 3,708,405 recipients were enrolled in Medicaid, 28,366 were newly enrolled and 15,560 were closed, indicating enrollment increased despite closures. The number of individuals who were eligible for Medicaid in the previous month and maintained coverage in the current month was 3,680,039.

Pennsylvania Acting Insurance Commissioner Michael Humphreys announced the Pennsylvania Insurance Department (PID) has strengthened its review of mental health and substance use disorder coverage in 2024 health plans. Insurers under PID regulation must file their plans with the Department for approval. Now, for 2024 filings, PID is enhancing its compliance review of mental health and substance use disorder parity requirements to prevent potential violations before they have a chance to harm Pennsylvania consumers. PID pushed insurers to correct parity issues found during the large group and student health filing review process, resulting in insurers correcting 100% of the issues identified during the front-end product review. Some of the corrections included requiring insurers to remove session limits for rehabilitative and habilitative therapies when prescribed for mental health, and to provide clearer exclusions of cost-sharing or session limits for mental health services. For more information on the mental health and substance use disorder parity, or to file a complaint or ask a question, visit the department’s Bureau of Consumer Services at www.insurance.pa.gov/consumers or call 1-877-881-6388.

The Maine Rural Health Research Center released its Ambulance Desert Chartbook. This chartbook analyzes 42 states in 2021-2022 and identifies places and people that are more than 25 minutes from an ambulance station, also called an ambulance desert. The report found that out of 4.5 million people living in an ambulance desert, 2.3 million (52%) were in rural counties. The reports also found that 84% of rural counties are an ambulance desert.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Office of Minority Health (CMS OMH) released a report detailing the quality of care received by people enrolled in Medicare Advantage (MA).

The Disparities in Health Care in Medicare Advantage Associated with Dual Eligibility or Eligibility for a Low-Income Subsidy and Disability report presents summary information on the performance of Medicare Advantage plans on specific measures of quality of health care reported in 2021, which corresponds to care received in 2020. Specifically, this report compares the quality of care for four groups of Medicare Advantage enrollees that are defined based on the combination of two characteristics: (1) dual eligibility for Medicare and Medicaid or eligibility for a Part D Low-Income Subsidy (LIS) and (2) disability.

Overall, the report showed that people who were dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid or eligible for the Low-Income Subsidy received worse clinical care than those who were not. The largest differences between the two groups were in the areas of Follow-up After Hospital Stay for Mental Illness (within 30 days of discharge), Avoiding Potentially Harmful Drug-Disease Interactions in Elderly Patients with Dementia, and Avoiding Potentially Harmful Drug-Disease Interactions in Elderly Patients with a History of Falls. Disparities by dual eligibility status/Low-Income Subsidy eligibility status were least common among Hispanic individuals and most common among White individuals. The report also shows more pronounced disparities in clinical care for dually eligible/Low-Income Subsidy eligible individuals in urban areas as compared to rural areas.

This report is based on an analysis of data from the Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS). HEDIS collects information from medical records and administrative data on the technical quality of care that Medicare Advantage enrollees receive for a variety of medical issues, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and chronic lung disease.

Health care professionals, organizations, researchers, and hospital leaders can utilize this report along with other CMS tools and resources to help raise awareness of health disparities, develop health care interventions for Medicare Advantage enrollees who are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid/Low- Income Subsidy eligible and those with disabilities, and implement quality improvement efforts that improve health equity.

Help CMS to advance equity by sharing this report and our resources on prevention and health equity initiatives. Also, sign up for our listserv or visit https://go.cms.gov/omh for more information.

 The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report titled, “Why Health Care is Harder to Access in Rural America.” The report found many rural residents face several challenges, including fewer health care providers, longer travel distances to get to health care, fewer transportation options, and less broadband internet. The report recommends that federal agencies learn more about the needs of rural residents and address the gaps in information regarding the healthcare needs of people living in rural areas. Join NRHA in fighting for rural health.

Ground-breaking study provides national and state-level estimates of the economic burden of health disparities by race and ethnicity and educational levels.

New research shows that the economic burden of health disparities in the United States remains unacceptably high. The study, funded by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD), part of the National Institutes of Health,  revealed that in 2018, racial and ethnic health disparities cost the U.S. economy $451 billion, a 41% increase from the previous estimate of $320 billion in 2014. The study also finds that the total burden of education-related health disparities for persons with less than a college degree in 2018 reached $978 billion, about two times greater than the annual growth rate of the U.S. economy in 2018.

The findings from this study by researchers from NIMHD; Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans; Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore; Uniformed Services University, Bethesda, Maryland; TALV Corp, Owings Mills, Maryland; and the National Urban League were published in JAMA.

This study is the first to estimate the total economic burden of health disparities for five racial and ethnic minority groups nationally and for all 50 states and the District of Columbia using a health equity approach. The health equity approach set aspirational health goals that all populations can strive for derived from the Healthy People 2030 goals. It establishes a single standard that can be applied to the nation and each state, and for all racial, ethnic, and education groups. It is also the first study to estimate the economic burden of health disparities by educational levels as a marker of socioeconomic status.

“The exorbitant cost of health disparities is diminishing U.S. economic potential. We have a clear call to action to address social and structural factors that negatively impact not only population health, but also economic growth,” said NIMHD Director Eliseo J. Pérez-Stable, M.D.

Read more.

Today, the U.S. Census Bureau released the Vintage 2022 population estimates for metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas and local governmental units, including incorporated places, minor civil divisions, and consolidated cities. They also released housing unit estimates for the nation, states and counties. Learn more and access the data here.

We’ve created a brief focused on the population change in Pennsylvania municipalities that visualizes changes between 2020 and 2022.

Read more on our Research Briefs page or click here to go straight to the brief.