Health at work and community tightly linked: New employer engagement tool

Health at work and in the community is tightly linked. Unhealthy communities can compromise employer investments to improve employee health and productivity and present an economic barrier to product consumption and economic investments.

A healthy community, on the other hand, may be more desirable to live and work and therefore, good for business. For several years the National Business Coalition on Health (NBCH) has facilitated engagement between employers and community stakeholders in population health improvement strategies. NBCH has supported community health grant projects, provided technical assistance, and developed educational materials for business coalitions and partners.

This newly-developed engagement tool helps coalitions partner with local employers and other stakeholders to improve health in their communities. It includes:

• Assessment of an employer’s priorities and why they might want to participate in community-level health improvement activities
• Results from County Health Rankings, ranked by local opportunities for improvement relative to the national average
• Potential next steps and resources
• Employer case studies
• Financial impact analysis framework and calculator

More information, including links to the tool and an informational webinar, is available here. This project was conducted with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s County Health Rankings and Roadmaps Program. The tool was developed by Discern Health.

Latest Research on Our Nation's Health: Poor Diet and Lack of Physical Activity Have Significant Impact

Yesterday findings from the first major analysis of the health status of the U.S. population in more than 15 years was released by a global collaborative of scientists led by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, The research found that while Americans are showing progress in reducing death rates (adjusted for age, across a variety of diseases), our poor diet and inadequate physical activity are dramatically impacting our nation’s health. Additionally, death rates from illnesses associated with obesity, such as diabetes and kidney disease, as well as neurological conditions like Alzheimer's disease, are on the rise.

“If the US can make progress with dietary risk factors, physical activity, and obesity, it will see massive reductions in death and disability,” said Dr. Ali Mokdad, head of the US County Health Performance team for IHME and former director of the Behavior Risk Factors and Surveillance Survey at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Unhealthy diets and a lack of physical activity in the US cause more health loss than alcohol or drug use.”

The findings were presented by Dr. Christopher Murray, IHME Director and one of the lead authors on the study at an event for mayors and other local officials hosted by First Lady Michelle Obama as part of the Let’s Move! Cities, Towns, and Counties anniversary convening.

In a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association on July 10 – “The State of US Health, 1990-2010: Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors” – researchers show the impact of premature deaths in children and young adults, the significant toll of disabling conditions, and the overall burden on health systems from a range of fatal and non-fatal health factors. It includes estimates for death and disability from 291 diseases, conditions, and injuries as well as 67 risk factors.

To explore the trends for the United States in depth, go to our Global Burden of Disease visualization page and search for the US in any of our tools: www.ihmeuw.org/GBDCountryViz.

How does your city stack up among fittest communities?

For the third year in a row the Twin Cities — Minneapolis-St.Paul — are the healthiest, fittest cities in the nation according to an analysis of the 50 most populous metropolitan areas in the U.S.

Released today, the annual American Fitness Index from the American College of Sports Medicine, is based on a number of health behaviors including smoking, exercise, obesity rates, chronic health problems and access to health care. It also looks at the environment including availability of parks, recreational facilities, walking trails and farmers' markets. The fitness index was designed by health and medical experts.

Other top fit cities: Washington, D.C., Portland, San Francisco and Denver.

Treasury Department Publishes Proposed Rules on Community Health Needs Assessments for Charitable Hospitals

The Affordable Care Act requires charitable hospitals to take an active role in improving the health of the communities they serve. The Department of the Treasury has taken the next step in refining new policies already in place that hold charitable hospitals to a higher standard when it comes to addressing the health needs in their communities. The proposed rules add details on how hospitals should conduct community health needs assessments and define how the IRS will enforce any violations of the new standards.

The ACA requires charitable (tax-exempt) hospitals to:

• Limit charges. The hospital may not charge individuals eligible for financial assistance more for emergency or other medically necessary care than the amounts generally billed to patients with Medicare or private commercial insurance.

• Establish and Disclose Financial Assistance Policies. Each hospital must establish and widely disclose a financial assistance policy that clearly describes the eligibility criteria for financial assistance and the method for applying for financial assistance. 

• Abide by reasonable billing and collection requirements. A hospital is prohibited from engaging in certain collection methods (for example, sending a debt to a credit agency or garnishing wages) until it makes reasonable efforts to determine whether an individual is eligible for assistance under the hospital’s financial assistance policy. 

• Perform a community health needs assessment. Each charitable hospital must conduct and publish a community health needs assessment at least once every three years – and disclose annually on its tax form the steps it is taking to address the health needs identified in the assessment. 

Charitable hospitals are more than half of the nation’s hospitals. These hospitals receive many benefits, including tax-free earnings and receipt of tax-deductible contributions. Coalitions may want to consider looking to charitable hospitals, and the community health needs assessment programs as a potential funding source for coalition activities that are focused on population health improvement.

New NBCH Action Brief on Community Health

According to the County Health Rankings, an annual breakdown of the health of counties in every state, there are a multitude of factors that influence health, including where people live, learn, work, and play. Improving the health of a community should be everyone’s business, and employers play a critical role in helping to build healthy communities and promote a healthy population. This Action Brief outlines the scope of community health; how health plans are addressing the issues based on data from eValue8™ — a resource used by purchasers to track health plan performance — and actions employers can take to partner with others and invest in the health of a community through sustainable and evidence-based interventions.

NBCH gratefully acknowledges the support of the American Public Health Association’s Community Transformation Grant Program funded through CDC grant #5U58DP003757-02, CDFA #93.531 for the development of this Action Brief.

RWJF Roadmap to Health Prizes

As you might be aware, the latest County Health Rankings were released last week. Up to six RWJF Roadmaps to Health Prize winning communities will be honored in 2014 and each will receive a no-strings-attached $25,000 cash prize. Winning communities’ success stories will be celebrated and shared broadly in a variety of ways and may include live local and national celebratory events, meetings and conferences, Web and online platforms, and video, social, broadcast and print media—all with the goal of raising awareness and inspiring locally-driven change across the country. The invitation to apply for this prize is being extended to all U.S. communities working toward better health. The prize is an opportunity for RWJF, UWPHI and the nation to honor and promote these successes.

The Call for Applications for the second round of the RWJF Roadmaps to Health Prize was released March 20 in conjunction with the release of the 2013 County Health Rankings. The Phase I application will be due May 23, 2013. To find out more about the prizes and application process, you are invited to join RWJF on Tuesday, April 2 from 12-1 pm Central Daylight Time (1-2 pm Eastern Daylight Time) for the RWJF Roadmaps to Health Prize Informational Webinar. This informational webinar will provide details about the second round of the prize, including theapplication and selection processes. We encourage anyone having an interest in the prize to participate. There will be time to answer participant questions as well.

New Resource for Community Health Assessment and Improvement Planning

The National Association of County and City Health Officials has developed the Resource Center for Community Health Assessments (CHAs) and Community Health Improvement Plans (CHIPs) to support local communities in their community health improvement efforts. This resource center is an online, publicly accessible venue available at no cost, that contains over 150 resources developed by and for health departments and their partners, including:

• Practical, customizable tools; 
• Key resources; 
• Example high-quality CHAs and CHIPs; and 
• “How-to” webinars and training materials. 

To access the CHA/CHIP Resource Center, visit www.naccho.org/chachipresources.

We hope NBCH members and their employer members will find the resource center helpful to their work.

For any questions, please e-mail: CHACHIP@naccho.org.

HRSA Grant Opportunity: Healthy Tomorrows Partnership for Children Program

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has posted a funding opportunity for a grant to support development of community programs focused on health care access for children, youths, and their families, as well as preventive strategies. The grant is also intended to promote collaboration and partnerships with other community stakeholders, including businesses.

HRSA anticipates availability of approximately $377,021 annually to fund eight grant awards of up to $47,127 per year for five years. Continued funding after year one is contingent on availability of appropriated funds, grantee performance, and a decision that it is in the best interest of the Federal government to continue funding. Grantees must also have matching funds in years two through five of the project period. Applicants may be any of the following: state governments; county governments; city or township governments; special district governments; independent school districts; Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally-recognized tribal governments); nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with IRS, other than institutions of higher education; for-profit organizations other than small businesses; small businesses; and others. Applicants must have fiduciary and administrative responsibility for the project.

Applications are due September 21, 2012. More information is on the Grants.gov website.

Community Commons: interactive mapping, networking, and learning utility for the healthy, sustainable, and livable communities’ movement

Through Community Commons, an interactive mapping, networking, and learning utility for the broad-based healthy, sustainable, and livable communities’ movement to revitalize our great nation, community by community. You can find allies, see what's working, get data and make a map.

Registered users have free access to:

• Over 7,000 GIS data layers at state, county, zip code, block group, tract, and point-levels.
• Contextualized mapping, visualization, analytic, impact and communication tools and apps.
• Searchable profiles of hundreds of place-based community initiatives (multi-sector collaboratives) working towards healthy/sustainable/livable/equitable communities - funded by government and private philanthropy - complete with text & video narratives on "what's working."
• Peer learning forums in the "interactive commons" with colleagues exploring similar interests and challenges - hosted by leading national Technical Assistance providers.

New data from CDC: nation's leading causes of death, 38 million Americans are binge drinkers

Two reports were released from the CDC this week that should be of interest to the purchaser community.

Leading killers
Heart disease, cancer, lower respiratory disease, stroke and diabetes are four of the top 10 leading killers in the U.S. The report indicates two major trends: homicides are down and deaths from certain diseases are on the rise as the population ages. The full list and January 11 National Vital Statistics Report can be found here.

Binge drinking is growing problem
New research shows that four times a month, one in six Americans goes on a drinking binge, knocking back an average of eight alcoholic beverages within a few hours. The report finds that drinking too much, including binge drinking, cost the United States $223.5 billion in 2006, or $1.90 a drink, from losses in productivity, health care, crime and other expenses.



States and communities can:

• Implement effective community strategies to prevent binge drinking such as those recommended by the Community Guide.
• Routinely track and report how many people binge drink, how often, and how much they drink when they binge.
• Develop community coalitions that build partnerships among schools, community- and faith-based organizations, law enforcement, health care, and public health agencies to reduce binge drinking.

United Health Foundation’s 2011 America’s Heath Rankings®

Yesterday the United Health Foundation released the 2011 America's Health Rankings finding that troubling increases in obesity, diabetes and children in poverty are offsetting improvements in smoking cessation, preventable hospitalizations and cardiovascular deaths. A link to the news release can be found here.

The report finds that the country’s overall health did not improve between 2010 and 2011 – a drop from the 0.5 percent average annual rate of improvement between 2000 and 2010 and the 1.6 percent average annual rate of improvement seen in the 1990s.

Additional findings include:

• Modest decreases in smoking and preventable hospitalizations
• Dramatic increases in obesity and diabetes, combined with still-too-high levels of tobacco use, are putting more people at risk for preventable illness and higher health expenditures
• 2011 is the first year no state had an obesity prevalence under 20 percent

RWJF Call for Nominations: Community Health Leader Awards

The CHL award is the culmination of a three-stage selection process described in more detail in the full call for nominations brochure. Nominations for this solicitation must be submitted electronically. Visit http://www.rwjf.org/cfp/chl and use the Apply link for this solicitation. You will be required to register at MyRWJF before you begin the application process. Nominators without computer access should contact the national program office for direction.

Click Here for Overview of the 2012 Call for Nominations

Up to 10 awards in the amount of $125,000 each will be made in the 2011 cycle. Each new leader will receive a personal award of $20,000 to recognize his or her accomplishments and $105,000 to support a defined two-year project at the organization with which the leader is associated. Deadline: November 28, 2011. Click here for more details...

Roadmaps to Health Community Grants

The Roadmaps to Health Community Grants, which support two-year state and local efforts among policymakers, business, education, health care, public health and community organizations, are managed by Community Catalyst, a national consumer health advocacy organization.

These grantees are working to create positive policy or systems changes that address the social and economic factors that impact the health of people in their community. Read on to see the first round of awardees...

Employers Join the Community Health Movement: A NewPublicHealth Q&A

NewPublicHealth spoke with Andrew Webber, President and CEO of the National Business Coalition on Health, and Jeff Levi, Ph.D., Executive Director for Trust for America’s Health, about the critical role of employers in community prevention efforts.

NewPublicHealth: Workplace is a critical venue for improving health. But what makes it important to involve businesses in community health efforts outside their walls?

Andrew Webber: In terms of optics at the community level, it says that improving community health is not just the responsibility of the traditional public health community. It is too broad a challenge for that. For us to be successful, we need every stakeholder group involved in making contributions. Each one of us in the community has both a responsibility and can benefit from population health. This is an agenda that we all share. Read on...

HHS awards $137 million to states to boost prevention and public health

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today awarded up to $137 million, partly supported by the Affordable Care Act, to states to strengthen the public health infrastructure and provide jobs in core areas of public health. Awarded in nearly every state, the grants enhance state, tribal, local and territorial efforts to provide tobacco cessation services, strengthen public health laboratory and immunization services, prevent healthcare-associated infections, and provide comprehensive substance abuse prevention and treatment. Read the full release...

What Community Health Centers Mean to Economic and Health Security

"In our current economic climate, community health centers continue to absorb rising numbers of uninsured patients, providing high-quality and affordable care while generating billions in savings to the health care system. As they struggle to meet ever-growing demands for services, our nation’s largest primary care system also faces deep cuts in federal and state aid—another byproduct of the economy. Reductions in funding for health centers threaten to erode health center capacity and jeopardize access to care for millions of Americans." Read the full post...