This new data brief from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services explores the extent to which rural Medicare beneficiaries bypass their nearest rural hospital and which hospital services rural Medicare beneficiaries most often seek locally and at distant hospitals.  Traveling to a distant hospital for services rather than using the local rural hospital, aka ‘rural bypass’, can increase financial pressure on rural providers, especially Tribal hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals.

In partnership with the Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL), PolicyLab at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia released the 2020 Pennsylvania Family Support Needs Assessment (FSNA).

This assessment is a requirement for Pennsylvania to continue receipt of federal Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) funds.  For the last two years, the research conducted a robust assessment that examines a wide range of maternal and child social, environmental and health factors impacting the well-being of children, families and communities across state.

The report can be accessed at:  https://policylab.chop.edu/reports-and-tools/2020-pennsylvania-family-support-needs-assessment.  A partner toolkit also has been developed that includes information on social media distribution and other dissemination tools.  See:  https://policylab.chop.edu/reports-and-tools/partner-toolkit-2020-pennsylvania-family-support-needs-assessment.

New report released from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia

Gender Disparities in Financial Well-Being from the Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking provides in-depth analysis of gender differences in banking, credit access, and retirement outcomes. This new report also explores whether financial literacy helps explain these gender differences.

Overall, the research finds significant gender differences in the majority of financial outcomes analyzed from the descriptive analysis. Men are more likely to experience better banking and retirement accounts outcomes than women. Women are more likely to own at least one credit card than men, but they are also more likely to report a recent credit denial and have lower credit confidence than men. Accounting for financial literacy, however, mitigates most of these gender differences.

The results from Gender Disparities in Financial Well-Being from the Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking illustrate that familiarity and frequent use of one type of financial product does not automatically guarantee the same for other financial products and outcomes.

Read the full report: Gender Disparities in Financial Well-Being from the Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking

The Association for the Advancement of Physician and Provider Recruitment (AAPPR) reports that “primary care specialties of family medicine, internal medicine, and hospitalist physicians are the most sought-after specialties, making them among the most competitive positions to fill.” This is a finding from AAPPR’s annual benchmarking survey, which comprises data gathered from before the COVID-19 pandemic. The 150 responses came mostly from large health systems, but some of the data is applicable to Community Health Centers. According to the survey, filling physician positions took less time last year, a five-year low for primary care placements. Purchase a copy of the benchmarking report.

CMS announced that, through the Accountable Health Communities (AHC) model, 750,000 screenings have been completed to identify and address health-related social needs (HRSN) for eligible Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries.  The AHC model operates in 21 states and tests the impact of screenings for HRSN and referrals to community resources on health care costs and health care utilization in rural and urban communities.  Of the screenings completed, one-third reported at least one HRSN with food being the most prominent need.

In a brief, the CDC reports that, between 2009 and 2018, the rate of overdose deaths involving cocaine rose significantly across all age groups, gender identities, and racial/ethnic categories.  The overdose death rate in 2018 involving cocaine with concurrent use of opioids was triple the rate of those without any concurrent opioid use. Among all regions of the country—Northeast, Midwest, South, and West—rates were significantly lower in rural counties than in urban counties; however, the rate in Northeastern rural counties was about triple the rates of Midwestern, Southern, and Western rural counties.

A new data brief from the CDC reports that motor vehicle traffic (MVT) deaths generally declined between 2000 and 2018, but rates were about twice as high in rural than urban areas for both males and females.

Yesterday, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) released a report on health equity across the United States.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, health equity is achieved when no one is disadvantaged from achieving their full health potential because of social position or other socially determined circumstances.

The 2019 data from the National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH), released on Child Health Day, provides the latest on national and state-level data on the health and health care needs of children as well as information about their families and communities. Survey topics include children’s physical and mental health; health insurance status; access to and utilization of health care services, including receipt of preventive and specialty care; Patient-Centered Medical Home and services to support transition to adult health care for adolescents; lifetime exposure to adverse childhood experiences; and more.