“Know your audience” is a mantra familiar to communicators everywhere. We think that’s the easy part – but is it? Communicating with your audience in a way that is accurate, respectful, and inclusive of everyone is more challenging.
Learn more about this invaluable resource from the CDC here:
Health Equity Guiding Principles for Inclusive Communication
Health literacy is more than just words. In a new study, Weert and colleagues examined graphical format preference and tested understanding of risk information in younger and older adults. Learn more: Visual Displays of Risk
The U.S. Cancer Statistics Data Visualization tool has been updated this year to make it easier to explore and use the latest cancer data. Check it out!
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), through a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), developed the “Protect Tiny Teeth Toolkit” to assist pediatric providers to address oral health during routine, non-urgent pediatric and prenatal visits. The AAP invites pediatric providers to participate in a 7-month quality improvement project to assess pediatric providers’ ability to screen, counsel, and refer children to a dental home using the toolkit and a learning collaborative led by the Project Advisory Committee. Practices will create a plan for implementing Protect Tiny Teeth tools in practice, identify a measurable goal, track, and report outcomes. Participating practices will be compensated $4,000 to defray costs and will be provided with the necessary materials. Applications are due by November 30th.
The Temple University Kornberg School of Dentistry (TUKSoD) in collaboration with the Center for Obesity Research and Education at the College of Public Health developed an online training module, “Nutrition Counseling for Obesity Prevention: Applications in Dentistry.” The modules aim to serve as an evidence-based resource for interested dental schools and dental hygiene programs to increase the knowledge and skills of students on understanding childhood obesity and assessment and counseling tools for dental providers.
Dr. Sean Boynes, Vice President of Health Improvement at the CareQuest Institute for Oral Health, shared his perspective on how to help bridge the communication gap between primary care and oral health. Dr. Boynes shared more with Medical World News on their “Deep Dive” segment about the first implementation guides published by CareQuest and how they will improve collaboration and care.
The National Rural Health Association (NRHA) is pleased to announce the final selections for the 2022 class of Rural Health Fellows. After a competitive review process, 17 fellows were selected to participate in this yearlong, intensive program aimed at developing leaders who can articulate a clear and compelling vision for rural America.
“Rural health care delivery – both inside and outside of rural hospitals and clinics – continues to confront a variety of issues that are unique to rural areas,” says NRHA CEO Alan Morgan. “Fortunately, NRHA’s Rural Health Fellows program and its graduates are prepared to effectively address these issues and strengthen rural hospitals and health care delivery across the nation by improving the quality and depth of executive leadership.”
The 2022 NRHA Rural Health Fellows are:
About NRHA
NRHA is a nonprofit organization working to improve the health and wellbeing of rural Americans and provide leadership on rural health issues through advocacy, communications, education, and research. NRHA’s membership is made up of diverse individuals and organizations from across the country, all of whom share the common bond of an interest in rural health.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Minority Health (OMH) is promoting the latest recommendations provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to prepare healthcare workers to begin vaccinating children 5 to 11 years old. HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra issued this statement on the landmark moment to increase children’s protection during this pandemic.
The spread of the Delta variant resulted in a surge of COVID-19 cases in children throughout the summer. Vaccination, along with other preventative measures, can protect children from COVID-19 using the safe and effective vaccines already recommended for use in adolescents and adults in the United States.
OMH continues to focus on raising awareness about the importance of getting the COVID-19 vaccine. We encourage you to promote the latest CDC recommendations (English|Spanish) and other languages visit the OMH website (English|Spanish) for guidance on establishing vaccine confidence, and combatting vaccine hesitancy, especially among racial and ethnic minority groups.
The Biden-Harris Administration is requiring COVID-19 vaccination of eligible staff at health care facilities that participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. The emergency regulation issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) protects those fighting this virus on the front lines while also delivering assurances to individuals and their families that they will be protected when seeking care.
“Ensuring patient safety and protection from COVID-19 has been the focus of our efforts in combatting the pandemic and the constantly evolving challenges we’re seeing,” said CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure. “Today’s action addresses the risk of unvaccinated health care staff to patient safety and provides stability and uniformity across the nation’s health care system to strengthen the health of people and the providers who care for them.”
The prevalence of COVID-19, in particular the Delta variant, within health care settings increases the risk of unvaccinated staff contracting the virus and transmitting the virus to patients. When health care staff cannot work because of illness or exposure to COVID-19, the strain on the health care system becomes more severe and further limits patient access to safe and essential care. These requirements will apply to approximately 76,000 providers and cover over 17 million health care workers across the country. The regulation will create a consistent standard within Medicare and Medicaid while giving patients assurance of the vaccination status of those delivering care.
Facilities covered by this regulation must establish a policy ensuring all eligible staff have received the first dose of a two-dose COVID-19 vaccine or a one-dose COVID-19 vaccine prior to providing any care, treatment, or other services by December 5, 2021. All eligible staff must have received the necessary shots to be fully vaccinated – either two doses of Pfizer or Moderna or one dose of Johnson & Johnson – by January 4, 2022. The regulation also provides for exemptions based on recognized medical conditions or religious beliefs, observances, or practices. Facilities must develop a similar process or plan for permitting exemptions in alignment with federal law.
CMS accelerated outreach and assistance efforts encouraging individuals working in health care to get vaccinated following the Administration’s announcement that it would expand the requirement for staff vaccination beyond nursing homes to include additional providers and suppliers. Since the Administration’s announcement, nursing home staff vaccination rates have increased by approximately nine percentage points – from 62 to 71 percent. This increase is encouraging, and this regulation will help to ensure even greater improvement in the vaccination rate among health care workers.
CMS will ensure compliance with these requirements through established survey and enforcement processes. If a provider or supplier does not meet the requirements, it will be cited by a surveyor as being non-compliant and have an opportunity to return to compliance before additional actions occur. CMS’s goal is to bring health care providers into compliance. However, the Agency will not hesitate to use its full enforcement authority to protect the health and safety of patients.
The requirements apply to: Ambulatory Surgical Centers, Hospices, Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly, Hospitals, Long Term Care facilities, Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facilities, Intermediate Care Facilities for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities, Home Health Agencies, Comprehensive Outpatient Rehabilitation Facilities, Critical Access Hospitals, Clinics (rehabilitation agencies, and public health agencies as providers of outpatient physical therapy and speech-language pathology services), Community Mental Health Centers, Home Infusion Therapy suppliers, Rural Health Clinics/Federally Qualified Health Centers, and End-Stage Renal Disease Facilities.
CMS is taking necessary action to establish critical safeguards for the health of all people, their families, and the providers who care for them. CMS knows that everyone working in health care wants to do what is best to keep their patients safe. Yet, unvaccinated staff pose both a direct and indirect threat to the very patients that they serve. Vaccines are a crucial scientific tool in preserving and restoring efficient operations across the nation’s health care system while protecting individuals. This new requirement presents an opportunity to continue driving down COVID-19 infections, stabilize the nation’s health care system, and ensure safety for anyone seeking care.
To view the interim final rule with comment period, visit: https://www.federalregister.gov/public-inspection/2021-23831/medicare-and-medicaid-programs-omnibus-covid-19-health-care-staff-vaccination.
To view a list of frequently asked questions, visit: www.cms.gov/files/document/cms-omnibus-staff-vax-requirements-2021.docx.
Following the U.S. Food & Drug Administration’s (FDA) recent action authorizing the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19 in children 5 through 11 years of age and a recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is reminding eligible consumers that coverage is available without cost-sharing under Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and in the commercial market for this critical protection from the virus without cost sharing. As with all vaccines, the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine was tested thoroughly in this age group prior to its authorization for emergency use. While the effects of COVID-19 for a child can last for several months, the most commonly reported side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine in the clinical trial participants were generally mild to moderate in severity, and most went away within one to two days.
“The COVID-19 vaccine is the best way to keep children safe. The strongest protection against COVID-19, including the Delta variant, is to get vaccinated,” said CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure. “I encourage parents everywhere to talk with their pediatrician, school nurse, or other trusted healthcare provider about any questions they may have and to get their children vaccinated as soon as possible.”
Thanks to the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP), nearly all Medicaid and CHIP beneficiaries are eligible to receive coverage of COVID-19 vaccines and their administration without cost-sharing. Beneficiaries with Medicare pay nothing for COVID-19 vaccines or their administration, and there is no applicable copayment, coinsurance, or deductible. COVID-19 vaccines and their administration will also be covered without cost-sharing for eligible consumers of most issuers of health insurance in the commercial market. People can visit vaccines.gov (English) or vacunas.gov (Spanish) to search for nearby locations to receive a vaccine.
Additionally, under the terms of the CDC COVID-19 Vaccination Program Provider Agreement, health care providers and other entities administering COVID-19 vaccines must agree not to deny anyone a COVID-19 vaccination based on their health coverage status, and must also agree to administer COVID-19 vaccines at no out-of-pocket cost to recipients. More information regarding the CDC COVID-19 Vaccination Program Provider Requirements and how the COVID-19 vaccine is provided through that program at no cost to recipients is available at https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/vaccination-provider-support.html and through the CMS COVID-19 Provider Toolkit.
