Young adults aged 18-29 years old who live in rural areas and self-report injection drug use are at risk for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection.  Researchers in New Mexico identified gaps in knowledge about risk and prevention, screening, treatment, and reinfection as a source of this risk and highlight the importance of risk reduction counseling by frontline public health providers.  The study was published earlier this year and is now available in the library of the National Institutes of Health.  Click here for the full report.

A report from the RAND Corporation “describes a basic, multi-level framework for mapping the system of factors and mechanisms that most influence positive and negative outcomes in rural communities.”  Researchers sought to go beyond data and statistics on national trends and investigate variables at the local level.  The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization researching solutions to public policy challenges.

The opportunity to prosper begins with preventive health care when children are young. A healthy start includes immunizations, screenings, regular dental care, well-child visits and access to nutritious food.  However, 124,000 Pennsylvania children do not have health insurance, and children under six are the most likely to be without coverage according to our newest report, “State of Children’s Health Care in Pennsylvania: Powering Up Healthy Kids.”

While Pennsylvania’s uninsured rate falls below the national average, it remains stagnant at 4.4 percent, with Pennsylvania ranking in the middle of the pack at 24th for the percentage of uninsured children.

According to a new report released by the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families, the number of uninsured children increased nationally by more than 400,000 between 2016 and 2018, reversing a long-standing positive trend.

No child should be without health care insurance and our report sets a clear agenda to strengthen both access and coverage benefits in health care for the Commonwealth’s children.

Access the full report here.

Researchers at the Urban Institute identified several factors that contribute to a higher rate of insecurity in rural areas.  Their report features an interactive map with county-level data on these risk factors and a rural-specific list of facts and resources to disrupt food insecurity.  The report can be accessed here.

The Congressional Research Service (CRS) serves all congressional committees and Members of Congress by analyzing all aspects of current policies and the impact of proposed policy alternatives.  In this report, the CRS identifies the federal agencies involved in mapping broadband access across the United States, and factors contributing to the urban/rural digital divide.  The Federal Communications Commission currently has a map that shows residential internet service connections per 1,000 households and the CRS report seeks to make it easier to understand how rural areas are impacted.  The report can be accessed here.

The National Center for Health in Public Housing (NCHPH) released a new publication, Increasing Access to Healthy Food and Exercise in Public Housing Communities, that addresses the existing challenges of living in communities with poor access to healthy foods and safe places to exercise. It includes examples of Public Health Housing Primary Care Grantee strategies and programs that have increased access to healthy food, exercise and weight control.

During the week of September 23, 2019, the Wolf Administration released a report, “Governor’s Ready to Start Task Force: A Four-Year Framework to Support Pennsylvania’s Infants and Toddlers,” for how best to care for the state’s youngest residents.

Research shows that a child’s brain develops faster in the first three years than at any later period in life, building the foundation for all future learning, behavior and health. The Wolf Administration is an invaluable partner in helping set Pennsylvania’s youngest children on a path for future success in school and life, and we look forward to continuing to advance our shared goal of expanding access to high-quality programs for infants, toddlers, and their families.

Growing up in a community of concentrated poverty — that is, a neighborhood where 30 percent or more of the population is living in poverty — is one of the greatest risks to child development.

Alarmingly, 1 in 8 children in Pennsylvania live in concentrated poverty according to “Children Living in High Poverty, Low-Opportunity Neighborhoods,” a new KIDS COUNT® data snapshot released from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Other findings from the snapshot show that:

• In Pennsylvania, 42 percent of Black or African American children live in concentrated poverty, which is worse than the national average of 28 percent. The number of Hispanic children living in concentrated poverty in Pennsylvania is 35 percent, also worse than the national average (19 percent).
• Additionally, 36 percent of children under 18 in Pennsylvania live in low-income families. Approximately 44 percent of children under 18 in rural counties and 34 percent of children under 18 in urban counties are low income, according to our State of the Child

Federal, state and local governments must act to revitalize impoverished communities and transform them into areas of opportunity.

The national Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program (Flex) Monitoring Team has released a new policy brief on Critical Access Hospital (CAH) participation in Flex financial and operational improvement activities. The brief aims to identify the patterns of CAH participation in Flex-funded activities from 2015 to 2018 and to investigate whether CAHs at greater risk of financial distress were more likely to participate in financial and operational improvement activities.  The brief may accessed via the link below or on the Flex Monitoring Team website.